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With live literature events and independent poetry presses, there are many literary places scattered about the city of Sheffield.
Sheffield, like Rome, is built on seven hills, so it follows that Sheffield, like Rome, attracts a poet or two. For the modern-day Keatses and Shelleys, there are plenty of literary places in Sheffield. There are live events to pop along to and perform at, and more independent poetry presses than you can shake a stick at. Three Drops Press and The Poetry Business, publishers of the Poet Laureate’s annual Choice series, were both founded in Sheffield.
Modest in size, La Biblioteka is more than just a top-notch bookshop – the upstairs boasts some of the city’s most popular live literary events. Additionally, you’ll find regular book launches and a monthly open mic night over in the cosy and welcoming ‘hub in a pub’, the Gardeners Rest. You’ll also find top-quality literature and spoken word events happening in the Theatre Deli on Eyre Street.
Sheffield is the proud home to Off the Shelf, one of the largest literary festivals in the UK, attracting some of the most prolific names in literature and media to Sheffield every year. And bookshop Rhyme & Reason are the official booksellers for the festival, as well as being dab hands at ordering in those tricky to find publications.
Carol Ann might be based in one of the Rainy City’s seats of learning, but over in the Steel City, there’s always plenty going on at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University too.
Here are our picks
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1. La Biblioteka
La Biblioteka La Biblioteka, Kommune, Castle House, Sheffield, S3 8LN - Visit now
It doesn’t just sell books – the upstairs room also plays host to some bulging-at-the-seams live literature shindigs, including the regular Electric Arc Furnace poetry reading series, which showcases innovative guest poets from the South Yorkshire hinterlands as well as rather more further-flung destinations.
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2. Centre for Poetry and Poetics at University of Sheffield
University of Sheffield Centre for Poetry and Poetics at University of Sheffield, Jessop West 1 Upper Hanover Street, Sheffield, S3 7RA - Visit now
Run out of the University of Sheffield, the CPP is a hotbed of research that also aims to make and promote writing, symposia, conversations and readings welcome to all. Keep tabs on the centre’s Facebook page for up-to-the-minute details on events, including visiting guests from as far afield as across the pond.
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3. Gardeners Rest
Gardeners Rest Gardeners Rest, 105 Neepsend Lane, Sheffield, S3 8AT - Visit now
This independent, community-run hub in a pub has all kinds of cosy, welcoming events, including craft beer festivals and live jazz nights, plus regular book launches and the monthly open mic night Gorilla Poetry, which takes place every third Monday, and is free and open to all (and not just poets!).
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4. Rhyme & Reason
Rhyme & Reason Rhyme & Reason, 681 Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, S11 8TG - Visit now
Official booksellers of the Off the Shelf literature festival, indie bookshop Rhyme & Reason can be spotted at other events around the city, and in their own bricks and mortar premises, where you’ll find fiction, non-fiction, poetry and kids’ stuff/YA. Forget online – shop local; they’ll order anything you fancy.
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5. Theatre Delicatessen Sheffield
Theatre Delicatessen Sheffield, 202 Eyre Street, Sheffield, S1 4QZ - Visit now
You’ll find a top-quality literature event or two to make a beeline for at multi-arts venue Theatre Deli. Home to feminist arts collective Verse Matters’ bi-monthly platforms for poetry, spoken word, storytelling and more, it also sees regular events and workshops from the likes of Yorkshire-based literature organisation Word Life.
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Theatres in Sheffield
Sheffield is home to the world-famous Crucible, the W R G Sprague built Lyceum and Sheffield’s home for the avant-garde, the Theatre Delicatessen.
Literary places in Sheffield
Literary places are scattered about Sheffield, which has plenty of live literature events to pop along to and perform at, and more independent poetry presses than you can shake a stick at.
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