Organisers of next month’s Kikrby Lonsdale Poetry Festival are getting ready to celebrate the spoken word.
It will take place at several venues across the town from August 12 to August 14 and the line-up boasts nationally-celebrated and locally-based talent in a programme of slam poetry performances, live music, plays, writing workshops, flashmobs, an open mic, and much more.
YouTube’s Savannah Brown, disability rights activist Hannah Hodgson and Barrow-based rapper-producer duo Swerve and JD will be performing.
Luke Kennard, who won the prestigious Forward Prize 2021, will be lyrically battling it out against William Shakespeare in the flesh, played by local actor Duncan Lindsay. Also from Barrow, Kim Moore, who has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize 2022, will be performing with poet and beatboxer Jasmine Gardosi.
There will be a focus on the political power of poetry. The festival will begin with a workshop on Poetry as Protest and end with a panel on Cumbria, Poetry and the Climate Crisis.
Poets will also gather to celebrate the beauty of Ruskin’s View, fundraising to save the historic site from collapse.
The festival will also celebrate our poetic heritage. As well as playing Shakespeare, Duncan Lindsay will star in The Keats Project — two plays about the poet John Keats that will be performed in the gardens of Avanti and The Snooty Fox.
A relay of readings by local poets will take place in The Book Lounge, and volunteers will perform for the elderly at The Fairbank Society. All around town, busking poets with typewriters will write to demand for passers-by.
Writing workshops will take place throughout the weekend in the Methodist Church on everything from Voice and Performance, Blackout Poetry and Sensory Experience. For those aged four to 12, the festival has a creative kids hub in yurt at St Mary’s Church.
Festival director Matt Sowerby said:, “It’s going to be really lively and family-friendly. A lot of people feel that poetry isn’t for them, I want to prove them wrong. This is a great opportunity to bring something new to the town where I grew up.”
Matt, 21, is himself a national youth poetry champion who has performed in the Houses of Parliament and on BBC Radio 3, and has had his work exhibited by the UN. He has lived in Kirkby Lonsdale for 15 years.
Most events are free, and ticketed events can be booked through Eventbrite. Find out more at kirkbylonsdalepoetry.co.uk
The festival is funded by The Christopher Robins Charitable Trust.
