Booking now open for all
You can also book in person from 10.00am to 2.00pm Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri; 10.00am to 1.00pm Sat at The Ledbury Poetry Festival Box Office in The Master’s House, St Katherine’s, Ledbury.
Box Office Telephone 01531 636232
Weekend Passes
New from 2019, Weekend Passes offer entry to a number of Ledbury Poetry Festival Events for just £18. Save 50% or more compared to regular ticket prices.
Ledbury Poetry Festival Programme 2019
***SOLD OUT EVENTS**
Event 2. Roger McGough Friday 5 July 8pm
Event 6. On Reading and Writing Difficult Poems with Sandeep Parmar Saturday 6 July 2pm
Event 10 Poetry Breakfast with Jean Atkin Sunday 7 July 9.30am
Event 22. Paradise Lost Part 1 Monday 8 July 12noon
Event 24 Elizabeth Barrett Browning Day Conference Tuesday 9 July
Event 28. Eleanor Bron STUFF Tuesday 9 July 8pm
Event 34. One to Ones with David Constantine Thursday 11 July all time slots
Event 38. Alexei Sayle Desert Island Poems Thursday 11 July 8pm
Event 51 Margaret Atwood Poetry Reading Saturday 13 7pm
Event 54. A Walk with the Troubadour Jean Atkin Sunday 14 July 10.30am
Event 58. Simon Armitage Sunday 14 July 2pm
Join us for a Troubadour Writing Day at Clenchers Mill!
Saturday 18th May 2019, 11am – 4pm : £5 at Clenchers Mill, Eastnor Castle Estate, Ledbury,HR8 1RR
Jean Atkin will lead a workshop at Clenchers Mill, starting with a tour of the restored water mill to learn how it works; and should the waters allow the wheel to turn, we will hear, see and feel the building at work. Jean will then provide various prompts and ways in which to approach writing a new poem. Bring a picnic, pens and paper, and afterwards, weather permitting, there’ll be a brief trip up the Malvern Hills with Jean, to hear more about them, and write from greater heights!
All ages and abilities welcome. Tickets are £5, and to book, email Chloe Garner, director@poetry-festival.co.uk or ring 01531 634156 (Monday – Thursday). Please book by the 16th May, and if you’d like to come to future events, please let Chloe know.
This event is brought to you with thanks to Eastnor Castle Estate, Ledbury Poetry Festival and the Malvern Hills AONB. More about Jean at www.jeanatkin.com
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEMENT – LEDBURY FORTE POETRY PRIZE FOR SECOND COLLECTIONS
“dangerous, risk-taking liberating and wildly ambitious”~ Tom Chivers, Penned in the Margins
Ledbury Poetry Festival announces the six collections shortlisted for the prestigious Ledbury Forte Poetry Prize for Second Collections published in Britain and Ireland in 2017 and 2018.
Judged this year by Lachlan Mackinnon and Linda Gregerson, the biannual prize is the first of its kind and aims to support and encourage ‘mid-career’ poets, with a £5,000 prize for the winner. The vibrant, diverse collections offer a reminder that in turbulent political times poetry – particularly those published by independent and small presses – continues to thrive and flourish.
The prize recognises that a poet’s second collection can be “dangerous, risk-taking liberating and wildly ambitious” according to Tom Chivers, Editor at Penned in the Margins, who says “I welcome a new prize for second collections, to shine a spotlight on work that might otherwise fall down the gap between the excitement of the new and the confidence of the established.”
The shortlisted poets will be invited to read at a Prize Giving event on Friday 5 July 2019 at Ledbury Poetry Festival when the judges, Lachlan Mackinnon and Linda Gregerson will announce the winner. In selecting the judges, Ledbury Poetry Festival consciously sought out poets who are not regularly judging prizes in the UK, in order to try to widen the spotlight and shine a light on poets whose collections might otherwise not receive their due in terms of attention and recognition. The result is a diverse and vibrant shortlist of poets who have not yet been picked out yet by major prizes.
Shortlist
- A K Blakemore Fondue (Offord Road Books)
- Adam O’Riordan A Herring Famine (Chatto)
- Danez Smith Don’t Call Us Dead (Chatto)
- David Tait The AQI (Smith Doorstop)
- Rory Waterman Sarajevo Roses (Carcanet)
- James Womack On Trust: A Book of Lies (Carcanet)
Read all about the 2018 Festival!
The 2018 Annual Report is available to read here
“Put simply, Ledbury Poetry Festival has become an outstanding exemplar of modern arts promotion and development, and we congratulate its management and leadership on their inspired direction and sureness of touch”
John de la Cour , Director The Elmley Foundation
Ledbury Poetry Salons!
Listen to previous Poetry Salons including Nigel McLoughlin, Jean Boase-Beier, Angela France, Jackie Rowe, Roy McFarlane, Roz Goddard and many more.
Photographs of the 2018 by Festival Photographer @PaulLigas
Poetry School Seminars with Philip Gross
in partnership with Ledbury Poetry Festival, at The Courtyard, Hereford
Poetry School seminars are intimate workshops led by some of the best and most exciting poets writing today. These groups have helped many writers around the UK become part of their local poetry communities and to develop their work through long-term guidance. In these seminars, a small group of participants meet on a monthly basis to workshop poems-in-progress, discuss contemporary poetry and develop new skills and confidence in their writing, all under the direction and guidance of a published tutor.
This particular group, organised in partnership with Ledbury Poetry Festival, will meet at The Courtyard in Hereford on (generally) the first Tuesday of the month, with classes taking place 17:45 – 20:15 and running from October 2018 to May 2019. This will be a small and supportive group, with a maximum of 8 students, and will be led by the award-winning poet Philip Gross. Places for the year cost £240 full price, with concessions available of £228 for those over 60, or £192 for those in receipt of state benefits (such as PIP or JSA), and the balance can also be paid in instalments.
Entry into this group is by application only, so if you would like to join please get in touch with the Poetry School admin team on administration@poetryschool.com and they will be able to guide you through the process.
The Festival is proud to be an Arts Award Supporter
For information on what we offer, please see https://www.poetry-festival.co.uk/arts-award-supporter-information/
Ledbury Poetry Festival has some special offers for you.
Visit our Shop page to find out more.
Become a Friend of Ledbury Poetry Festival
If you are interested in becoming a Friend of Ledbury Poetry Festival please contact Sandra our Finance Manager on 01531 636232 (email finance@poetry-festival.co.uk) or you can visit the Friends page where you can now sign up on-line.
Some of our Sponsors
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The Pennington-Mellor-Munthe Charity Trust |