Saturday
All performances will be of approximately 45 minutes duration and followed by book signings, unless specified otherwise.
Tickets go on sale 11 February - click here.
Friends and under 26s - concession prices in brackets.
Contact: boxoffice@wenlockpoetryfestival.org Tel: 07969 253221
Priory Hall 10am £3 (£2.50)
BORDER POETS – TINA COLE, PAUL FRANCIS, MIRIAM OBREY, COLIN SUTHERILL - KILPECK POEMS
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Border Poets meet in various parts of the region, but their session at Kilpeck was particularly productive. They’ll be reading from their latest collection Sheep, Smoke, Stone, but also from "Voices out of the Eaves of Kilpeck Church", a sequence by Miriam Obrey.
The Pottery 10am £5 (£4.50)
READINGS FROM POETS published by CINNAMON PRESS
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Cinnamon Press is an independent, innovative, international publisher.
SUE ROSE, SUSAN RICHARDSON, ANNE CLUYSENAAR, DAVID UNDERDOWN will read from their latest works
Methodist Church 10am £8 (£7)
DR SAM WARD
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THE JOHN CLARE LECTURE – WRITING LARKS
Sam Ward is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Nottingham. He has published widely on Clare and Romantic poetry, and edits Skysill Press. Writing Larks will provide an introduction to the "Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" John Clare (1793-1864), looking in particular at his engagement with the environment and responses to agricultural change.
Priory Hall Yard 10am-4pm Free
SALLY CRABTREE
The cart-wheeling, bingo-playing, edible-poem maker will be wowing the crowds today with her infectious energy, fun-filled and very PINK approach to poetry. Bring the children but expect to be charmed yourself!
DEB ALMA EMERGENCY POET
Last year we had the Poetry Takeaway, this year the world's first (and only) mobile poetic first-aid service for poetry will be at your disposal. The vintage ambulance is equipped with the latest diagnostic techniques & first rate practitioners will be on board to assist you! No experience of poetry is necessary, indeed the service was first established in order to overcome poetic allergies or phobias. Be admitted to a private poetic health consultation and within 10 minutes you'll be prescribed the appropriate poem, verse or lyric! A fun way to bring poetry to people.
The Edge Arts Centre 11am £20 (£18)
Note change of time from the printed brochure
SARAH GILLESPIE & GILAD ATZMON
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Composition workshop
Sarah Gillespie and Gilad Atzmon's workshop focusses on 2 aspects of composition in an accessible and exciting way, encouraging authentic freedom of expression and originality. Gilad elaborates on aesthetics and engages students in 'hands on' exercises exploring what it is that makes music beautiful. Sarah focuses on introducing students to the art of composition via the musicality of language. Drawing on established genre motifs, Sarah interacts with students, scribbling words, playing instruments, counting, clapping and before they know it – composing songs. All participants will need to bring instruments or singing voices.
The Edge Arts Centre 10.30-11.45am £2 (£2)
Note change of time and venue from the printed brochure
MANDY ROSS
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Children’s Workshop 7-12 years
MUCH RANDOM POETRY GENERATOR MACHINE
Twice shortlisted for the Birmingham Poet Laureate Mandy Ross has written over 60 children’s books.
Priory Hall noon 11.30 - 12.30 £3 (£2.50)
Note change of time from the printed brochure.
THREE MEN ON THE MOON – BARRY TENCH, TOM WENTWORTH & ADAM RUTTER
Priory Hall 12.30-4.30 Free
JOHN GORMAN and the Wirral Alliance of Poets
will be at home in the Priory Hall where their performance poetry will include the World Premiere of the Shropshire Symphony No 2 on A Flat [table] for Voice, Sounds, Words & Music.
DEAN JOHNSON will present his acclaimed ‘Bullets and Daffodils’, based on the Life & Poems of Wilfred Owen.
There will also be readings by the Wirral Young Poet Laureate 2012, the Deputy WYPL, and past Laureates: Carol Ann Duffy is their Patron.
– and it is all free! Call in to Priory Hall to see what’s going on:
12:30-13:00 - 3 Poets
13:00-13:30 -3 Poets
14:00-14:30 - Bullets& Daffodils: a play based on the Life and Poems of Wilfred Owen by Dean Johnson
14:30-15:00 - 3 Poets
15:00-15:30 - The Masked Poet and his Challenge
15;30-16:00 - 3 Poets
16:00-16:30 - 3 Poets
When the poets aren't reading they shall be circulating the shops, cafes, restaurants, library, 20/20, museum, car parks, the square, the streets, Raven Hotel, etc. They will be busking on the streets, and in nooks, crannies and niches; invading cafes, shops and other venues with the Poetry Hit Squad; they will be in your face, at your elbow, on your case; they will leave the air thick with poems; poems will be running in the gutters; poems will sprout where normal poems fear to be read – experience them at your own risk! And watch out for the Masked Poet … and his challenge!
He had me in stitches” Knitters’ Weekly
“Puts Other Poets in the Shade” Umbrella Collectors Quarterly
“Made my eyes water!” Groin Appreciation Society Online Magazine
It’s almost more fun than we can bear.
Be there or be square!
http://www.festivaloffirsts.co.uk/
http://www.wirralallianceofpoets.co.uk/
http://www.wilfredowenstory.com/bulletsanddaffs.html
The Pottery noon £10 (£9)
FRED D’AGUIAR – The Rose of Toulouse
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Fred D’Aguiar is the author of eleven books of poetry and fiction. His most recent book, Continental Shelf (Carcanet, 2009) was a Poetry Book Society Choice and shortlisted for the UK’s T.S. Eliot Prize 2009. He teaches at Virginia Tech University where he is Professor of English. Fred’s contribution to poetry is immense, and we are very proud he is coming to Wenlock.
Methodist Church noon £8 (£7)
PAUL HENRY
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Words and Music
The popular Welsh poet returns to read from his latest work, ‘The Black Guitar’, which was recently published in India and is a version from his acclaimed selected poems, The Brittle Sea. Described by the late U.A. Fanthorpe as “a poet’s poet” who combines “a sense of the music of words with an endlessly inventive imagination”, Henry is also a musician and will include some of his songs in this event.
The Edge Arts Centre noon £2 (£2)
CHRISSIE GITTINS - LEAPING POEMS
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Children’s Reading 7-11 years
'Chrissie Gittins know just what words can do: she makes them dance, sing, sit still for a moment then leap across the page with joy!" Ian McMillan.
Trapped wasps, sweet-smelling pirates, embarrassing dads; anything is possible in poetry. Come and hear about woks being thrown around the Clun Valley, and loading cannons on a sailing ship. Chrissie's three children's collections - 'The Humpback's Wail', 'I Don't Want an Avocado for an Uncle' and 'Now You See Me, Now You ...' are all 'Choices' for the Children's Poetry Bookshelf. She has read her children's poetry in Shetland, Bangkok and New York. Chrissie also writes poetry for adults, short stories and radio drama.
The Church Green 2-4pm Free
THE POET-TREE
Come and create a 2012 Poet-tree.
Much Wenlock Library 14.00pm £2 (£2)
Note change of venue from the printed brochure
ANGELA TOPPING
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Children’s reading
Angela Topping was recently Highly Commended in the High Sheriff's Prize for Children's Literature in Cheshire, the only poet in the top five entries. Her poem from the 2011 Wenlock Poetry Festival Anthology was featured on this year’s National Poetry Day poem cards. Her work for children often draws on myths and legends or is taken from her own experience. Angela is a firm favourite with Wenlock children: having been here twice before, at the festival, and at our 2011 Poetry Summer School, we are very excited about her 2012 appearance.
The Pottery 2pm £10 (£9)
CHRISTOPHER REID and ROZ GODDARD in conversation - How Poets Work
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Award-winning poet, essayist, cartoonist and writer Christopher Reid and the former Poet Laureate for Birmingham, Roz Goddard will talk about their writing, the importance of poetry in their lives and discuss their varying poetic territories - how a poem comes to life, why poems are abandoned and why it’s important to fill up the creative tank. Both poets will read from their work.
The Edge Arts Centre 2pm £6 (£5.50)
SHROPSHIRE BUTTERFLIES!
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Enjoy a group performance from Nadia Kingsley’s Shropshire Butterflies - a poetic and artistic guide to the butterflies of Shropshire. For butterfly fans and poetry lovers alike, this will be an extravaganza of lepidoptery. Performers include Katherine Swift (author of The Morville Hours), Roger Garfitt and Mario Petrucci. Thank you to Dr.& Mrs Harold Hughes for their generous sponsorship of this performance of Shropshire Butterflies!
The full line up to date:
Nadia Kingsley
Katherine Swift
Mario Petrucci
Roger Garfitt
Matthew Oates
Alwyn Marriage
Nick Pearson
Paul Francis
Emma Purshouse
Tom Wentworth
Charles Worth
Keith Chandler
Methodist Hall 2pm £20 (£18)
IAN DUHIG
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Workshop
Ian Duhig has written six books of poetry, most recently Pandorama (Picador 2010). He has worked extensively with musicians, artists and film-makers. He has won the Forward Best Poem Prize once, the National Poetry Competition twice and three times been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Cholmondely Award recipient. Ian will facilitate a poetry writing workshop where participants will get the chance to work intimately and intensely with this inspirational poet.
The Edge Arts Centre 2pm £2 (£2)
Note change of time from the printed brochure
MANDY ROSS
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Children’s Reading 7 - 12 YEARS
BEWAREEXPECTLOOKOUT!*
Twice shortlisted for the Birmingham Poet Laureate Mandy Ross has written over 60 children’s books.
The Edge Arts Centre 3pm £2 (£2)
JACKIE KAY
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Children’s reading
One of our favourite and most accomplished poets, Jackie Kay will give a reading of her children’s poetry to a very lucky audience! This is a not-to-be-missed chance to let your children enjoy the vivacity, warmth, humour, and sheer delight of a Jackie Kay performance.
Wenlock Priory 4pm £25 (£22.50)
MURIEL PASSEY – “Upstairs, Downstairs And In My Lady’s Chamber” – poetry all over the house
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Muriel Passey’s lectures have been described as "elegant, erudite and entertaining". Despite this encouragement, she has never published a slim, suede-bound volume of occasional verse, but is truly delighted to have been invited to Wenlock Poetry Festival to air her poetic views! We are thrilled that Muriel’s presentation will take place in Wenlock Priory, home of Gabrielle Drake and Louis de Wet. There will be an informal reception following her talk. We advise that there are uneven surfaces and steep steps at this venue, and it is not suitable for wheelchairs.
We are enormously grateful to Gabrielle Drake and Louis de Wet for their kind generosity in hosting this event.
Much Wenlock to Hughley Church 2pm £10 (£9)
PAUL EVANS
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Guardian nature writer Paul Evans will lead one of his famous walks along Wenlock Edge to Hughley Church (immortalised in Housman’s A Shropshire Lad). The walk will be followed by afternoon tea in the church, and by a talk on Housman (see below).
Hughley Church 4pm £10 (£9)
THE HOUSMAN SOCIETY – Shoulder The Sky – The Seventy Springs of A E Housman devised by GABRIEL WOOLF
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Performance
This talk will give an intense flavour of the life and the work of A.E. Housman. His serious poems are peppered with witty light verse, and salted with brilliant parodies. These seemingly effortless simple ballads stay in the heart and mind ( and irritate the intellectuals so much) and are here put in the context of the events that brought them so unexpectedly into existence. Sponsored by the Housman Society.
Pottery 4pm £6 (£5.50)
Note this is a new event, not in the programme
ROSS DONLON
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Reading - ‘THE BLUE DRESSING GOWN’ and other poems
Ross Donlon comes to us from Australia. He was won international poetry prizes, including the Wenlock Festival Poetry Prize and the MPU International Poetry Competition and was lately shortlisted for the Bridport prize. He has toured Australia reading his poetry, where he has also won awards for spoken word events. He will be reading new work as well as poems from his latest book, The Blue Dressing Gown and other poems, whose discontinuous narrative of a moving sequence of 'father poems' has attracted high praise. Ross is once again a welcome visitor to our festival.
The Edge Arts Centre 4pm £12 (£10)
DAVID WHYTE
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Reading - Able for It -Shaping an Imaginative, Resilient Self through Poetry
One of the powers of poetry is to establish an inner imaginative discipline, which allows us live a fiercer, more courageous, if simpler life at the centre of momentous events and besieging circumstances. In this way, we are able to create a more beautiful mind, to find a clearer focus, to work from a surer internal foundation than the one the media tries to establish for us, all the while cultivating a sense of humour and celebration that binds our independent selves into a larger community.
In this presentation, David Whyte will look at a body of poetry, his own and others, which looks at the ability of the imagination to create a robust, independent self that is equal to, if not larger than, the tenor or difficulty of the times.
Church Green / Priory Hall 4.45pm Free
UNVEILING OF THE FESTIVAL STONE
At our first Poetry Festival, John Nielsen created a stone sculpture incorporating a line from the poem ‘Bees’ written by Carol Ann Duffy for the festival. We subsequently made a gift of this beautiful stone to the town of Much Wenlock and it has now been permanently placed on the church green. The Poetry Stone will be officially unveiled by Carol Ann Duffy.
Priory Hall 5pm Free
WENLOCK POETRY FESTIVAL COMPETITION
Readings
The winners and runners up of this year’s competition will read their poems and GILLIAN CLARKE will present the prizes.
The Edge Arts Centre 7.30pm £15 (£13)
CAROL ANN DUFFY, ADAM HOROVITZ, ANN GRAY
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Reading
The Poet Laureate will read from her latest work, Bees – a luminous collection of poetry and her first new collection since accepting the laureateship. The poems within are described by the Scottish Makar Liz Lochhead, as being witty, nakedly honest, accessible and mysterious: they are also heart-stoppingly moving. Carol Ann will share the stage with emerging poet Adam Horovitz, who was Poet in Residence for the Glastonbury Festival website, was arts editor for the Stroud News and Journal, and has supported himself by ghostwriting, copy-writing, sheep dipping, bar work and more. His debut collection, Turning, was released by Headland in 2011. We are happy to nurture his career in poetry with this opportunity. Ann Gray is known to last year’s festival-goers as the one who made us cry the most! Her poetry is moving, wryly humorous, and always engaging. Ann will be reading from both published and new work, travelling from Grief, through Hope to Joy. We are so pleased to welcome her back. This event is generously sponsored by Headland Publications.