Poetry lovers in Cheltenham will be able to indulge their passion when an eight-day festival dedicated to the art begins in the town on April 19.
A host of world-renowned writers will be gathering for a series of events, including readings, discussions and even a ‘slam’ competition.
Matthew Hollis, Liz Berry and Don Paterson will be among those taking part in this ‘celebration of verse’ founded by Cheltenham-based writer and tutor Anna Saunders.
“We try to be thought-provoking, intellectually stimulating and inspiring, but also fun,” says Anna. “We were once described by The Guardian as ‘a poetry party with a healthy dose of anarchy’.”
Although having a national and international feel, the Festival will shine a spotlight on
Gloucestershire and Cotswolds writers, past and present, including Edward Thomas.
It also encourages visitors who haven’t tried writing to give it a go – and how to write about grief will be among the topics touched on by Carrie Etter on April 20, when she discusses her collection, Grief’s Alphabet, a moving elegy for her mother.
It’s a book that resonates with the theme of this year’s festival, ‘to taste life twice’, exploring bereavement and celebrating Carrie’s love for the woman she describes as “incredibly strong, generous and who appreciated the best of me better than I could”.
“Sometimes when people write elegy, they try to get it all into a single poem,” she says. “I approached it by trying to get it all into one book – and that helped because individual poems could isolate particular moments and experiences I had with my mother and single aspects of her character. That enabled me to particularise rather than generalise – and that’s often the key to making poems about grief original and vivid.”
Carrie will be joined on stage at the Quakers Friends Meeting House by poet and novelist Tim Relf. “I can’t wait to come to Cheltenham,” Tim says. “The Cotswolds has an incredible artistic community and I spent many summers in Painswick as a child, so am very fond of this area.
“The Festival is the perfect chance to listen to some great poetry and meet fellow poetry-lovers in a friendly and supportive environment.”