Well, we’re almost there. We’ll be launching Nottingham Poetry Festival on the evening of Thursday May 5th at The Fox and Grapes in Sneinton, with the festival running through until May 15th.
It’s been a tough couple of years. We want to share how words helped us all get through, celebrate that we can perform live again, but embrace the lessons we’ve learned about connecting online, and keep in touch with the people who aren’t able to access live events for a multitude of reasons – so we’ll be streaming and zooming and filming. We have workshops and masterclasses to help you hone your craft, and debates with guests from across the country. We’ll have showcases from local poetry collectives GOBS and Poets off the Endz, and from London, Malika’s Poetry Kitchen.
We said we’d put the PO into poetry with positivity, reflect the diversity of our city, celebrate the talent in our region and be led by our poetry community. And they have shown up, joined in, tweeted, shared, and produced an absolute mountain of content for the events in this year’s festival. Every single event that has been submitted for inclusion in the programme has been like a bright spark in the sky and made me go Oh! Ah! Wow!
We have juggled and jostled through 2021 to keep poetry out and about in the city and surrounds with our Word Walks and we’ll be sharing the poetry produced at a special launch event with all the Word Walkers attending.
Word Walk in Market Square (NPF Team: Bridie Squires, Anne Holloway)
We’ve invited Michael Rosen to be with us, T.S. Eliot prize winner Joelle Taylor, our founder and Notts-lad Henry Normal, and Simon Armitage with his band LYR bringing a fusion of music and poetry - but at the heart of what we’re doing, are the people of Notts. We’re making sure that everyone gets the chance to be involved, with open mic events across the city, The Poetry Takeaway pulling up at the heart of The Creative Quarter, in Sneinton Market, to serve up bespoke poems for passers-by.
The Poetry Takeaway
The master Vincent Van Gogh will be wandering the streets to gather inspiration before heading to Waterstones to share his drawings, thoughts and stories at Van Gogh Kid Yourself and Van Gogh Find Yourself, immersive, participatory theatre performances.
Walter DeForest as Vincent Van Gogh
You can join in the hunt for poetry treasure with our treasure hunt, leave a poem of your own in the hidden lockboxes, or share your poetry with us on social media, as you sit on one of two After Life Benches we have here in Nottingham.
Poetry Hunt Treasure Map, and Bea Udeh, NPF Outreach Manager, sits on an After Life Bench in Highfields Park, Nottingham
We have a Poets’ retreat organised by Apples & Snakes, who promote and develop spoken word nationally, and numerous events which promote wellbeing through words.
Everyone is welcome to Nottingham Poetry Festival, whether you want to perform or read or watch and listen. Because we are all poets. A poem isn’t a certain number of words or lines or stanzas. A poem is a moment noticed, sometimes shared. Some of us use words, some of us use images, music or song, paint or chalk or food, or a mobile phone, or kicking a ball, or swimming, or smiling at someone on the street. It’s all about connecting. For some people a poem might be getting out of bed and letting their feet connect with the floor.
Have a watch of the film below and you’ll get a taste of what we’re about, and if you like what you hear, come along and take part, in whatever way you can.
