This years Nottingham Poetry Festival is fast approaching and this year the theme of the event will be “hope”.
The festival, which was founded by Nottingham screenwriter and poet Henry Normal, returned last year after a two year break and is back again, headed up by an all new team, from Friday 26 to Monday 29 May. The festival will feature masterclasses, developmental workshops, local showcases, music performances, VR experiences, poetry nature walks and some fantastic headline acts.
This years headliners are an eclectic mix.
Described as the Banksy of Poetry and Twitter’s unofficial poet laureate, Brian Bilston, headlines the festival on Friday 26 May at The Old Cold Store. With over 200,000 followers Brian is a online favourite and his work has a big fan base, with his work including the Costa First Novel Award shortlisted Diary of a Somebody, Alexa, What is There To Know About Love, Fifty Ways to Score a Goal, which is a collection of poems about football for children and his latest book, Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems, which is available now. Such is Brian’s popularity that the initial show has already sold out, leading to a matinee show taking place at 2pm Saturday.
Saturday’s headiners are Poets Off The Ends at Lakeside Arts, a poetry and spoken word platform born from a YouTube series of the same name and curated by Nottingham’s very own Jah Digga, Poets Off the Ends is a manifestation of powerful creative energy through spoken word, poetry and live music.
Award winning Nigerian British writer Yomi Sode headlines Sunday. Recipient of the 2019 Jerwood Compton Poetry Festival, and shortlisted for multiple awards, Yomi will be debuting Manorism a poetic examination of the lives of Black British men and boys. In this profound performance Yomi asks: what does it mean to find oneself between worlds – to ‘code-switch’, adapting one’s speech and manners to widely different cultural contexts? Who is, and who isn’t allowed to be more than their origins? And what do we owe each other? What do we owe ourselves? Supporting Yomi will be Nottingham’s very own GOBS Collective, founded by Birdie Squires in 2020, they host poetry events and education programmes.
Along with this you can expect a host of great events across the weekend, plus in a collaboration with Bad Betty Publishers and Big White Shed books from local poets will be distributed around festival venues. Pick one up, have a read, put it down, or pass it on!
You can also expect collaborations with Nottingham City of Literature, The Institute of Mental Health and Derby Poetry Festival, while the ace independent bookstore Five Leaves Bookshop will be offering 15% discount across festival dates.
As you can see there is plenty to enjoy, so whether you are a long time poetry lover or simply intrigued by what poetry has to offer – and whether it’s more than what you were taught at school (it is!) – we recommend heading over to the Nottingham Poetry Festival website for all the information.
Nottingham Poetry Festival is supported by Castle Rock Brewery, Arts Council England and Confetti Media Group.
Darren Patterson
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