Pies thrown prior to poetry events (8)
I believe the answer is:
episodes
'events' is the definition.
(episode is a kind of event)
'pies thrown prior to poetry' is the wordplay.
'thrown' indicates an anagram.
'prior to' says to put letters next to each other.
'poetry' becomes 'odes' (ode is a type of poem).
'pies' anagrammed gives 'epis'.
'epis'+'odes'='EPISODES'
(Other definitions for episodes that I've seen before include "Events forming part of a sequence" , "Incidents or events as in a story" , "Instalments" , "So espied in parts of stories" , "Occurrences in a series" .)