LEDBURY POETRY

This year’s judge is Joelle Taylor, winner of the 2022 T.S. Eliot Prize. Joelle Taylor says ‘I’m excited to judge the Ledbury Poetry Prize and to welcome poetry that surprises, that twists, that…

Wake Up The Wonder at The Poetry House! The Poetry Pharmacy Wednesday 20 April, Wednesday 27 April and Wednesday 4 May 11am – 4pm Visit the pop-up Poetry Pharmacy where…

Poets, Artists and Musicians Fundraiser for Ukraine in Ledbury on Saturday raised £1,575.10 for the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Thanks to the poets, artists, musicians, and volunteer helpers. Thanks to…

Request a FREE bundle of these four Versopolis chapbooks posted straight to your door here: Versopolis with Eleni Cay (Slovakia), Volha Hapeyeva (Belarus), Ruzanna Voskanyan (Armenia) and Danae Sioziou (Greece) A…

Online Workshops with Casey Bailey Performing your Poetry Friday 11 February 7pm – 9pm on Zoom. Tickets available here Suggested ticket donation £8, but for anyone on low income or…

Segments and  (below) Poetry and Pictures SEGMENTS: Poetry and heritage meet in these popular workshops which use artefacts and everyday objects as starting points for poetry and discussion Meet on-line…

Tree Writing Workshop Thursday 3 February, 7pm – 9pm on Zoom. Tickets available here Suggested ticket donation £8, but for anyone on low income or unable to pay at this…

Maps of the Imagination Greet the new year as a time to try something new and get the creative juices flowing! Maps of the Imagination workshops, led by artist Andrea…

Judges Sandeep Parmar and Naomi Shihab Nye’s comments on the books shortlisted for the Ledbury Munthe Poetry Prize for Second Collections: Anthony Anaxagorou’s After the Formalities combines the poet’s trained…

The Sweetshop of Words is at The Poetry House in the Barrett Browning Institute, The Homend, Ledbury from 11am on Thursday 2, Friday 3 and Saturday 4 December and is…

Poetry on Platforms Ledbury Poetry Festival and West Midlands Railway are celebrating the poetic heritage of the railway line from Worcester Shrub Hill to Ledbury. From the group of young…

Winning Poem Evolution of a brother gone quiet by Jess Murrain driving into accidents he is the boy who fell from a building site down he died to the sound…

Thank you to judge, Anthony Anaxagorou for reading over 3,000 poems with such care. The winning poems are: Adults: 1st Prize ‘Evolution of a brother gone quiet’ by Jess Murrain…

Conversation with Claudine Toutoungi, who is the winner of the Ledbury Munthe Poetry Prize for Second Collections for Two Tongues, published by Carcanet. The judges announced Claudine as the winner…

We will read and chat about the books shortlisted for the Ledbury Munthe Poetry Prize for Second Collections and at the end of our final session, we will select our…

Prize Ceremony on Tuesday 7 December, 7.30pm – 9.30pm, on Zoom. Reserve free tickets here: Prize Ceremony Tickets Ledbury Poetry Festival is excited to announce the shortlist for the 2021…

FESTIVAL PRODUCTION ADMINISTRATOR £20,000 pro rata – 3 days per week Applications are invited for the post of Festival Production Administrator. The successful applicant will have some experience in arts…

Volunteers’ Gathering You can fill in the form below and email to director@poetry-festival.co.uk 2021 Volunteers’ form We have missed our volunteers at the last two editions of Ledbury Poetry Festival.…

The Poetry School and Ledbury Poetry Festival presents: A New Angela France Ledbury Seminar New opportunity for experience writers. Intimate monthly seminars with Angela France at the Barrett Browning Institute…

Autumn Opportunities! Drawing, Asemic Writing and the Temptation of Translation A two-part creative workshop about not knowing led by artist Harriet Carter and writer/researcher/translator Ricarda Vidal “A line goes out…

Invitation to Coat of Hopes Coffee Mornings and Patch Making sessions at Ledbury’s Barrett Browning Institute. Saturday 25 September – Friday 1 October, at 11am each morning. Pick a morning…

Festival extras! Pop-up happenings, installations and family events! Sweetshop of Words – Friday 2 and Saturday 3 July, Barrett Browning Institute, 11am – 4pm, Free  Sally Crabtree has been delighting audiences around the world with her…

Friday 2 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. Festival Launch including a special pre-recorded reading and conversation with…

Saturday 3 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. One to Ones with Robert Selby 10am – 12noon, Zoom,…

Sunday 4 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. John Challis workshop: Appearances and Excavations   10am – 12noon,…

Monday 5 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. Workshop with Martina Evans: Notorious 10am – 12 noon, Zoom,…

Tuesday 6 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. Workshop with Phoebe Stuckes 10am – 12noon, Zoom, £20, Tickets…

Wednesday 7 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. Ledbury Poetry Festival Community Programme presents Sharing Showcase hosted by…

Thursday 8 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. Workshop with Ruth Stacey: A Symbolist Dream 2pm – 4pm,…

Friday 9 July Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. Workshop with Rosalind Hudis: Alchemy – how to turn science into…

Saturday 10 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. Spellwright, Market House, 10am – 4pm, Free What would make…

Sunday 11 July 2021 Online events will be available for ticket holders to access for two weeks after they finish. Workshop with Jamie Thrasivoulou: Exiting the safe space and moving…

Ledbury Poetry Festival, 2 – 11 July 2021 At a Glance Programme pdf available HERE For the duration of the Festival: ledbury.poetrypin.info is an interactive poetry trail in and around…

Barrett Browning Institute What are your hopes for Ledbury’s Barrett Browning Institute (The Clock Tower)? Find out more here Any questions? Please do email Chloe Garner, director@poetry-festival.co.uk  

Lines, tracks, ancient locations, spiritual sites. Send us your poems to celebrate 100 years of Ley Lines! Invented in Herefordshire! Alfred Watkins – Arthur’s Stone The idea for these invisible…

The 2021 Ledbury Poetry Competition is now closed. Look out for the winners’ announcement! Picture Credit: Alessandro Furchino Capria JUDGE: Anthony Anaxagorou CLOSING DATE: Thursday 15 July 2021 at 5pm…

[wrc_column grid=”2″ width=”1″ type=”start”]What are you reading in these grey days? Please share, using the form below. Perhaps, like me, you are grabbing any opportunity to dive under a blanket,…

Versopolis is a European poetry platform that creates opportunities for emerging European poets. Ledbury Poetry Festival is proud to be a founder member of this platform. Find out more at…

Ledbury Poetry Critics announces its third and largest intake of new mentees, growing from eleven to thirty members. In 2017, in collaboration with Ledbury Poetry Festival, the Ledbury Poetry Critics…

Ledbury Poetry Festival Online 4th – 5th July 2020 The recordings have now expired – we’re sorry you missed them but look out for news about Ledbury Poetry Festival in…

[wrc_column grid=”3″ width=”2″ type=”start”] Photo credit @PaulLigas [/wrc_column][wrc_column grid=”3″ width=”1″ type=”end”] Donate! Ledbury Poetry Festival is a charitable organisation and donations help us to keep the cost of tickets to…

Poetry Competition for Young People (12 – 17 years) and Children (11 years and under)  Entry has now closed. You may not be aware that the annual Ledbury Poetry Festival…

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash Thank you to everyone who has submitted Lockdown poems. On Sunday 5 July, at 12.30pm – 1.30pm, there was a Poetry of the Lockdown…

Links and Resources for Aspiring Writers Don’t forget to enter any poems you write to Ledbury Poetry Competition: https://www.poetry-festival.co.uk/ledbury-poetry-competition/ Deadline – 5pm, 15 July 2021 Judge – Anthony Anaxagorou https://www.writingwestmidlands.org/…

Pictures and Poetry In these workshops, we use artworks as the inspiration for writing ekphrastic poetry (poetry inspired by pictures). They are run in partnership with Hereford Mind, Heffernan House,…

Segments and Poetry and Pictures online Workshops Welcome to Ledbury Poetry Festival’s Community Programme Poetry Workshops! We offer two a month: Segments, and Poetry and Pictures. Make yourself a cup…

This is the Segments workshop which would have taken place on Wednesday 18th March in Ledbury’s Burgage Hall The Festival is very grateful to practitioner Sara-Jane Arbury for sharing her…

[wrc_column grid=”3″ width=”2″ type=”start”]Ledbury Poetry Festival is partnering with Queenswood Country Park to launch our “Poetry of the Woods” on-line poetry submission. We are calling for your poems on your…

LEDBURY POETRY FESTIVAL’S INFLUENTIAL INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION IS OPEN FOR ENTRIES! JUDGE: LIZ BERRY  CLOSING DATE: Thursday 16 July 2020 FIRST PRIZE: £1000, a residential course at Ty Newydd Writing…

Read all about our amazing 10 day festival, and our year round work in schools, vulnerable community groups, emerging poets and poetry critics. Record audiences, volunteers and fantastic poetry competition…

Too late for Christmas now. The Ledbury Poetry Festival shop has now closed.  Sorry we missed you.

Text by Sandeep Parmar. Aleš Šteger is a poet, prose writer and essayist, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His work has been widely translated into several languages including German, Czech, Croatian…

Passengers passing through Ledbury station during the July poetry festival noticed something unusual. The railway station was renamed “Ledbury: Junction for Poetry” in honour of the town’s poetry festival and…

Four new mentees join the existing cohort of eight poetry critics: Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Joanna Lee, Stephanie Sy-Quia and Sarah-Jean Zubair Victoria Adukwei Bulley is a British-born Ghanaian poet, writer…

Congratulations to A.K. Blakemore who is the winner of the 2017/18 Ledbury Forte Poetry Prize for Second Collections for Fondue published by Offord Road Books. You can hear a podcast of…

The 2019 Festival Programme! Friday 5 – Sunday 14 July, 2019 To view the programme please click the link below: Ledbury Poetry Festival Programme 2019 Want a programme sent to…

Ledbury Poetry Festival’s first ever crowdfunding campaign is launched!     Ledbury Poetry Festival is launching its first ever crowd funding campaign with Kickstarter. This campaign aims to raise funds to…

LEDBURY POETRY FESTIVAL FULLY FUNDED LINKLATER METHOD VOICE COACHING RESIDENTIAL WORKSHOP FOR NEW POETS   DATES: 5 – 8 MAY 2020 HELLENS MANOR, MUCH MARCLE NR LEDBURY, HEREFORDSHIRE, HR8 2LY…

Applications are now being taken for this fantastic opportunity! Think you have what it takes to be Festival intern? Meet famous poets, celebrities and performers! Learn skills in event managing,…

Ledbury Poetry Festival and The University of Roehampton Poetry Centre are offering a fully catered, immersive poetry residential 1 – 4 July 2019 Dates Midday Monday 1st July to 2pm, Thursday…

Ledbury Emerging Poetry Critics The successful national mentoring programme, to encourage diversity in poetry reviewing, returns and opens for applications from new and emerging critical voices Application deadline: April 1st…

[wrc_column grid=”3″ width=”2″ type=”start”] Troubadour of the Hills, Jean Atkin was commissioned to write One uncertain history of the Malverns by Ledbury Poetry Festival and Malvern Hills AONB. Please feel…

Unity Lottery Ledbury Poetry Festival has teamed up with Unity Lottery, a charity lottery, and we receive a significant proportion of the payment into it where we are the participant’s named…

Hear Ledbury, a poem by Eloise Unerman, Ledbury Poetry Festival Young Poet in Residence         https://www.poetry-festival.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Ledbury-Eloise-Unerman.mp3   As winner of the Young Person’s category of the Ledbury Poetry…

Margaret Atwood Visits John Masefield High School Ledbury Poetry Festival arranged for English students at John Masefield High School to have an intimate audience with world famous Canadian author Margaret…

Special for 2018 – these earthenware mugs are a bespoke project by Emma Bridgewater especially for Ledbury Poetry Festival. They are completely unique and once they’re gone, there will be…

On Sunday 8th July Ledbury will be celebrating in the street! Music, performers, local food and drink suppliers and other local businesses will join the Festival to celebrate all that…

Tickets for the 2018 Ledbury Poetry Festival are now on general sale.  Events are listed in a number of ways: [wrc_column grid=”3″ width=”1″ type=”start”]Events Table[/wrc_column][wrc_column grid=”2″ width=”2″ type=”end”]The quickest way…

Tuesday 5 June 2018 with featured poet Jacqui Rowe (postponed from 3 April) In the Panelled Room of The Masters House, 7pm – 9pm Jacqui Rowe has had four poetry…

Chant works by the Latin poet Venantius Fortunatus, 530 – 609, including ‘Vexilla Regis prodeunt’, ‘Pange lingua gloriosi’ and ‘Salve festa dies’   This event has now taken place.

Tuesday 8 May 2018 with featured poet Roy McFarlane Roy McFarlane was born in Birmingham of Jamaican parentage and spent most of his years living in Wolverhampton. He has held…

Feeling inspired? Feel like to learning to express yourself better? Get your poetry muscles flexing at these wonderful events, ALL of them are FREE to attend so that income is…

In the Panelled Room of The Masters House, 7pm – 9pm Tuesday 6th March Roz Goddard will read from a new pamphlet Spill published by Flarestack Press. Previously she published…

Tuesday 6th Feb 2018.  7pm – 9pm The Panelled Room in The Master’s House, £5 (on the door) Do you want to discover more about poetry? Have you been looking for…

Read all about Ledbury Poetry Festival in 2017. record audiences! fantastic international programme everything the festival does in schools and the community massive community involvement …and much much more. A…

[wrc_column grid=”4″ width=”3″ type=”start”] LEDBURY POETRY FESTIVAL 2018 Alexis Taylor, Benjamin Zephaniah, Michael Palin, Sabrina Mahfouz, Chris Difford and Jackie Kay join international cast of poets and musicians for the…

Festival News! Malika’s Kitchen Saturday 8 July Malika’s Poetry Kitchen cooks up a feast of poetry on Saturday 8 July. Featuring a delectable array of contemporary and spoken word poets…