All Ears Poetry hosted the UK’s first-ever poetry exhibition last Friday in Liverpool, bringing together creatives from across the country to create an inclusive space to share ideas, performances, and promote poetry events, to promote spoken word to a wider audience.
Hosted in the Liverpool Exhibition Centre, All Ears Poetry gathered a collection of schools and poets both from the local area and further afield to attend and participate in workshops, panel talks, and live performances from some of the UK’s most up-and-coming poets.
Founded in 2024 by Joseph Roberts; a rising Liverpool poet popular for his collaborations with the likes of LFC, Nike, and the England Lionesses’, All Ears Poetry has been spreading their message about the power of spoken word and the positive benefits it brings communities and schools.
“It’s been an incredible experience working on this event for the past 12 months.
“I just turned 21 when I first had this idea and for me it’s about raising the profile of poetry and pushing its boundaries to a new meaning, because it has done so much for me and I just love writing poems.” Said Joseph.
With poets traveling from places like: London, Birmingham, Wales, Manchester, and Leicester, to attend the expo, Joseph talked about how he wanted to give spoken word a bigger stage to present its positive self, and for it to be taken seriously by those who just see it as ‘rhyming a bunch of words’, but actually as ‘a way of communicating the important things people feel need addressing in their day to day lives’.
The expo began with a sold-out morning session, inviting 22 regional schools (involving over 300 children) to the centre to take part in creative activities, conversations with local leaders, and opportunities for children to learn more about poetry.
All Ears have been attentively promoting the use of poetry within schools for educational development within children and for them to consider unexplored creative pathways.
This was their first opportunity to share this message on a regional level, where schools and local leaders like Liverpool Lord Mayor Barbara Murray; a published poet herself, agreed that children deserved the opportunity to discover creative pathways and expand their minds through poetry.
Stalls were planted around the hall, offering a unique perspective on how poetry and other creative art forms can be used to advance the education of all ages and bring communities together.
Go Play Studios is a production and mastering studio based in the Baltic Triangle whose stall advocated creative career pathways for young people, including roles within the music industry and how to create their own music.
Ben Kofi owns the workspace and was at the event introducing people to what they could offer.
Ben said: “For me, it’s one of the most important things ever to try and get young people into music.
“I’ve been a creative most of my life and to help people get their ideas and emotions across through music is a way I feel I can give back and help people reach their dreams or even just allow them to express themselves.
“So, when Joseph came to me with this idea, my first thought was, yes, I must be a part of this”.
- Watch Naithan Coughlan’s TikTok report here:
@merseynewslive The UK’s first ever poetry exhibiton hosted by All Ears Poetry in the Liverpool Exhibiton Centre #poetry #creative #education #news
The afternoon session opened for the public to participate in – local poets and curious onlookers arrived to connect and develop their ideas about what spoken word means to them and how they can invest in this community.
‘Giz A Word’ collective host a spoken word performance night once a month, championing the idea that those experienced in or beginning their creative journey should always have a no-judgment zone where they can express their art.
Organisers Rachel Wilton and Hayley Gordon were invited to the expo to host a stand presenting what they offer at their spoken word night and ideas of what people can do to get involved.
Their stall gained lots of attention and became a positive talking point, aligning with the ethos of attendees and the All-Ears message.
Hayley Gordon said: “We are definitely benefiting from being here tonight, we have had lots of people show an interest in our event and have already signed up for the next one so it’s great to be a part of this wonderful event on where people are coming to connect and you can see the creativity in the room its great”.
- Are the creative arts in Liverpool taken seriously? Vote in our poll here:
https://x.com/merseynewslive/status/1944742255006289924
“We had someone from Bolton come up to us earlier and say, ‘Oh, I’m new here, but I’ve just started writing, and you guys seem really welcoming’.
Rachel Wilton added: “It’s cool to have people connect with us that we would never have had the chance to meet without this event”.
Performances by Joseph Roberts and other poets ended the exhibition, where attendees were thanked for coming and being the first members of a prosperous community that All Ears hopes to continue for a long time.
The expo is set to return in 2026 after it was a massive hit this time around, but when leaving, people seemed eager for more connectivity sooner rather than the once-a-year event, as well as a physical place where they could routinely go and share their ideas with others.
However, ideas were floating about at the expo to ease enthusiastic minds in the meantime, like the council hosting sessions at the newly rebuilt Spellow library for people to come down and share their words, and events.
More is set to be revealed about this by the council soon.
For the time being, you can find out more about All Ears and what they’re up to on their socials and website where they also promote other creative activities in the city on their website here.
All photos (c) Naithan Coughlan
