Ballads for Reading Gaol – poems

These are the winning and commended poems from our Ballads for Reading Gaol poetry competition. Click on any poem to open it in a new window.

Thank you to everyone who entered our competition and to Stephen Moss, former literary editor of The Guardian for being our judge. We will publish video recitations of the two winning poems in due course.

Ballads for Reading Gaol logo copyright Sally Castle

The Winners (adult and under 18)

Visual Portfolio, Posts & Image Gallery for WordPress

The Ballad of Reading Gaol Resurrection by Ros Hatt

To Escape by Lilly Bell

Commended entries

Visual Portfolio, Posts & Image Gallery for WordPress

Not the Ballad of Reading Gaol: The Lament of reading jail by Katie Gumbrell

The Life of Oscar Wilde by Saru Ganesh

Exposed by Vic Pickup

Love letter to a dead poet by Amy Sandiford

Clinking by Colleen McDonnell

The Gift by John Froy

The Ballad of Reading Gaol 2022 by Kathy Tytler

Hope Abandoned by Gill Learner