New poets and new writing are the life blood of the Festival. For the audience there is nothing more exciting than hearing a new voice that hits a chord.
Ledbury Poetry has a strong programme to help new writers which gives them the skills, training and performance opportunities to help further their careers. We do this in a number of ways:
- The international poetry competition has been running for a number of years. Previous winners have gone on to be published and to win major prizes. Winners are invited back and given readings in a main venue as their career progresses.
- In addition we programme a series of 20 minute events where new writers have the chance to perform in front on an audience. These events are free to attend and are becoming increasingly popular. Poets have the opportunity to sell pamphlets or books -small presses are also welcome and have the opportunity to market their titles.
- We give a platform to winners of three major awards: The National Poetry Society’s Competition, The Eric Gregory Award and the Foyle Young Poets’ of the Year Award.
- Our voice coaching workshop is for poets who have at least one collection published, are starting to get readings and are looking to strengthen their performance style. It is lead by trained Linklater Voice coach, Françoise Walot.
VOICE WITH POETS: A FREE TWO-WEEKEND WORKSHOP
DATES: 20 – 21 APRIL & 4 – 5 MAY, 2024 VENUE: Ledbury Poetry House, HR8 2AA
Ledbury Poetry presents an exciting opportunity for new and emerging poets to improve their performance technique.
We work with poets and publishers in order to reach poets who would most benefit. The workshop fills the gap between publishing and performance, where a poet has the writing skills, but not necessarily the performance skills to deliver their poetry how they wish it to be heard. The poet will have published at least their first collection, and have had some foray into performing at festivals or events.
Six participants will be selected to take part in the workshops, which will take place over two Spring weekends comprising 18 hours of practice in total:
Weekend 1: 20-21 April, 2024
Saturday 20 April: 10am-1pm and 2.30pm-5.30pm and Sunday 21 April: 10am-1pm
Weekend 2: 4-5 May, 2024
Saturday 4 May: 10am-1pm and 2.30pm-5.30pm and Sunday 5 May: 10am-1pm and 3pm-4pm
Workshop details:
The Workshop aims to help poets to speak with confidence and ease in front of an audience, using exercises inspired by the Linklater voice practice:
– By introducing some human principles around the experience of speaking in public.
– By introducing some voice principles to make it clearer how the act of speaking works.
– By learning how to relax the body in order to free energy that is then available for expressive speaking.
– By observing habits around breathing.
– By exploring the relationships between thinking, breathing and speaking.
– By looking at imagery and how it affects voice.
– Awareness of space and how to engage with it.
– By practicing speaking poems; reflecting.
– By creating a toolbox containing simple exercises that will work as reminders of the work done in the workshop (to be used, or just to reflect upon).
Tutor: Françoise Walot is an actor, director and vocal teacher. She graduated from the Conservatoire Royal de Liège (Belgium) with a Premier Prix and a Diplôme Supérieur in Art Dramatique. She is a Designated Linklater Teacher, having completed Kristin Linklater’s ‘Freeing the Natural Voice’ teacher training programme in 1993 in the United States. She currently teaches voice at LAMDA (London). In the past, she worked for the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (UK). She has given many voice and text workshops for different groups in Belgium and in Poland. Her specialty is to explore the links between voice and text with breath the body at the core of the work.
Testimonials:
‘The workshop has been life-changing. I cannot tell you how much I have needed to draw on it.’––Mona Arshi
‘I don’t believe I have ever before encountered such generosity in any workshop situation. The joint commitment of the Festival and its funders to supporting emerging poets is quite extraordinary and deeply appreciated.’––Ian Tromp
‘It is an experience I will treasure and think about for years to come; the people, the place, the supportive atmosphere, the time and space given to think about how to read the poems.’––Dorothy Lehane
To Apply:
Poets and/or publisher please email the following to Sabeen Chaudhry sabeen.chaudhry@ledburypoetry.org.uk:
- A brief bio with publication details;
- A short statement explaining why the workshop is right at this time in the poet’s career (max. 100 words).
Ledbury Poetry can provide accommodation with volunteer hosts and support with travel costs – let us know in your application, if this is required.
DEADLINE: 5PM MONDAY 1 APRIL, 2024
Ledbury Poetry’s Voice with Poets Workshop is generously sponsored by The Foyle Foundation.
