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 Sara Jane Arbury
10am – 12pm, Zoom, Free, Tickets here
Sara Jane Arbury hosts this event featuring participants and poetry from across the Festival’s vibrant Community Programme. From Segments to World of Words, Poetry and Pictures and Poetry of the Woods and everything in between, expect a kaleidoscope of words, images, memories and experiences shared in poetry.
Writing and Poetic Process: Workshop with Kim Addonizio
5pm – 7pm, Zoom, £20, Tickets here
In this session, I’ll talk about what I look for in a poem and aim for in my own work. I’ll discuss the writing and revision process of one of my own poems, and then we’ll turn to reading some other pieces and using them to launch your own in-class writing. If we have time, you’ll be able to share what you’ve just created and get some feedback on how you might develop it further. This will be a fun, informative session to get you thinking and writing, and inspired for more! This workshop is for everyone, no matter your level of writing experience.
Kim Addonizio is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose. Her most recent poetry collection is Now We’re Getting Somewhere (W.W. Norton). Her memoir-in-essays, Bukowski in a Sundress, was published by Penguin. She has received NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships, Pushcart Prizes in both poetry and the essay, and her poetry has been widely translated and anthologized. Tell Me was a National Book Award Finalist in poetry. She lives in Oakland, CA. https://www.kimaddonizio.com
Ledbury Poetry Salon and Open Mic, featuring Poets from Zimbabwe and Botswana
7.30pm – 9.30pm, Zoom, £5, Tickets here
Headlines poets from Zimbabwe and Botswana will kick-off this very special Ledbury Poetry Salon. Please email director@poetry-festival.co.uk to request an Open Mic slot.
Batsirai E Chigama is a spoken word poet, a short story writer and a socio-political gender activist. Gather The Children, her first collection of poems, is ‘a reflection on Zimbabwe in the last ten years; chronicling stories of displacement, loss and desperation.’ Batsirai’s work has been featured in over fifteen anthologies. In 2014, Batsirai came second in the Stanza Poetry Festival Digital Slam ahead of 8 other contestants chosen from all over the world.
With a belief that art is a catalyst for change, Tinashe Tafirenyika has disrupted the Zimbabwe Poetry Scene. In 2017 she became the first woman and youngest person to receive a National Arts Merit Award in Spoken Word Poetry. The same year she also received a Bulawayo Arts Award. When not stringing words together Tinashe practices as a Medical Laboratory Scientist in her home town, Bulawayo.
Peggie Shangwa (known as Umind) is a Christian writer, Senior Editor at Groove Magazine International, a regular in Local Magazine, The Voice, singer, speaker, MC and spoken word artist who thrives on word passion and speaks her mind in connection with her spirit, laying down heart issues on any platform. She is also the founder of Page Poetry Alive, a poetry collective.
Mandisa Mabuthoe, based in Maun Botswana, is a poet, vocalist and playwright. She is an alumni of the University of Iowa’s, International Women’s Creative Writing Mentorship, winner of the Shoko Festival 2011, International Slam in Harare, Zimbabwe. Her work is featured in Badilisha Poetry Xchange. Mandisa co-directs Gilbert House (Pty) LTD, which runs reading & creative writing clubs for children and youth; leadership programs; cultural events and cultural exchange activities.
