Arts Council England is to launch talks between publishers and black and Asian poets to try to get more of them published. The move comes after research indicated that 8% get work into print despite their popularity at poetry readings.

A report commissioned by the council and the writers' group Spread the Word disclosed that poetry presses failed to enter a black or Asian writer for the Next Generation Poets list in 2004. Paul Keegan, Faber poetry editor, said: "Poetry is an inherently conservative genre. It tends to open up relatively slowly and has not diversified as freely as fiction."