Poetry at the Parsonage

This weekend the Brontë Parsonage holds its first Poetry at the Parsonage Festival:

Brontë 200 - Poetry at the Parsonage Festival 2016
A weekend extravaganza featuring over 100 poets!


Come and join us for the first Poetry at the Parsonage Festival - a summer extravaganza celebrating the talents of verse-smiths and rhymers, lyricists, storytellers, rappers, slammers, verbal improvisers, street rhetoricians, pop-up poets and spoken word artists of every persuasion.  The line-up includes Kate Fox, Helen Mort, Gaia Holmes, Clare Shaw, Winston Plowes and a host of other Yorkshire talent, so be sure to come along from 12 noon each day to enjoy the fun and soak up the atmosphere.

The festival will take place in the Parsonage garden, the Old School Room and West Lane Baptist Centre with refreshments available. Admission is free (donations of £3 a head appreciated) and everyone is welcome. See below for what's in store!

Saturday's line up on Charlotte's Stage at The Old School Room, Haworth includes:

John Hepworth; Kristina Diprose; Lorna Faye Dunsire; Poems, Prose and Pints (more info in The Harrogate Advertiser); OWF Press; Jimmy Andrex; Vicky Foster; Dan Whitaker; Ian Harker; Word Space; Andy Humphrey; Oz Hardwick; Tom Weir; Leads to Leeds; Sabrina Piggott; WORD CLUB; Matt Abbott; Poetry and a Pint; Toria Garbutt; Gary Kaye; Helen Mort.

The Charlotte Stage will be compered on Saturday by Mark Connors, Winston Plowes, Gennevieve Walsh and Craig Bradley. Click the links for other Saturday goings-on, including a performance of a Brontë poetry cycle:

Eddie Lawler performs 'Ringing the Bells'
A performance of a Brontë song cycle with Charissa Hutchins
July 02nd 2016 12:00pm - 12:30pm

 and a poetry workshop with Char March:

Workshop: Inspired by the Brontës
July 02nd 2016 12:00pm
Award-winning poet Char March will immerse you in the treasures and wild setting of the Parsonage to inspire you to write entirely new Brontë poems. Come with paper, pen, sensible shoes and a spirit of adventure! Char has won many plaudits and gongs for her poetry, playwriting and short fiction. Her credits include a short story collection Something Vital Fell Through, five poetry collections including The Thousand Natural Shocks, six BBC Radio4 plays and seven stage plays. She is an experienced tutor, writing coach and editor.

Sunday's line-up includes:

Bronte Covers; Keith Hutson; John Foggin; Wendy Pratt; Carole Bromley;  The Exhibtionists; Steve Nash; Gaia Holmes;  Siobhan MacMahon; Steve Pottinger; Antony Dunn; Clare Shaw; The Slam; James Nash; Matthew Hedley Stoppard and Kate Fox.

Sunday's comperes are Winston Plowes and Mark Connors. Click the links for other Sunday goings-on, including a family-friendly drop-in session with Glynis Charlton

Drop-in Writing Workshops
A fun family-friendly craft activity
July 03rd 2016 11:00am - 04:00pm

The Brontë children created tiny hand-sewn 'magazines', which they filled with stories and adventures in microscopic handwriting. How small can you write? Try your hand at creating a tiny hand-sewn book, then use dip pens, inks and prompts to being filling the pages. All materials provided in this family-friendly activity led by Glynis Charlton.

and poetry workshops with James Nash

Workshop: Looking at Landscape
July 03rd 2016 1:00pm
James Nash will look at landscape and its impact on people, using this as an inspiration for writing.  James is a poet and writer based in Leeds and Bridlington. In his last two collections Some Things Matter: 63 Sonnets and Cinema Stories, both published by Valley Press, he wrote about different kinds of landscape, from the wildness of the East Yorkshire coast to the vibrant inner city of Leeds.

and Charlotte Wetton:

Workshop: Performing a Poem
July 03rd 2016 10:00am

Charlotte Wetton will take you through the foundations of performance technique, covering the basic technical and emotional pit-falls.  Together you'll go through the process of practising for a piece and preparing for a performance.  Using extracts from well-known poems, you will quickly build the confidence to perform your own pieces.
Charlotte is a page and performance poet based in West Yorkshire.  She has performed at Bridlington Arts Festival, Ilkley Literature Festival and this year won second prize at the StAnza Slam.  She has a spoken word collection out with Dead Ink Books. 

More information in The Telegraph & Argus.