Enfield Poets began life as the Salisbury House Poets founded in 2000 by Anthony Fisher, Valerie Darville, and the late Jane Elder. Our primary purpose is to provide an opportunity for local poets to perform their work in a supportive and stimulating environment. We left the Dugdale and are now Poets in Residence at Forty Hall – https://www.fortyhallestate.co.uk/ – where, in co-operation with the Forty Hall team, we organise performances of both music and poetry.
In addition, we host a two-day Literary Festival which is generally in September and a Poetry Competition. Though there are currently no monthly in-person meetings we have a Zoom poetry evening on the second Thursday of the month which includes an open mic session and usually a guest poet. We hope to start live meetings again later this year.
We have played host to Ruth Padel, Andrew Motion, Carole-Anne Duffy and, twice, Simon Armitage. Whilst at the Dugdale we pioneered jazz poetry evenings with Louis Cennamo and Special Edition.