Ledbury Poetry Festival

Ledbury Poetry Festival will take place 28th June – 7th July 2024

Ledbury Poetry Festival is an inclusive, international and inspirational celebration of poetry and spoken word over ten fabulously busy days, live in Ledbury and online to the world.

Surrounded by woods, orchards and hills, poets from all over the world gather to perform, write, read and listen to poetry. Contemporary literary titans stand alongside upcoming talents to illuminate a thrillingly electric mix of events, from readings, performance poetry, masterclasses, walks, talks and films through to breakfasts, music, exhibitions and bike rides. It’s all yours at Ledbury – dig deep into interesting ideas, take in poetry over a pint, craft your own writing style, or showcase your skills in the slam. Sign up to Ledbury Poetry monthly newsletter to be sure to hear all the latest information.

Stephanie Sy-Quia will be a Guest Curator at the Festival in 2024. Stephanie is a writer and printmaker based in London. Her debut Amnion (Granta Poetry) has received an Eric Gregory Award, a Somerset Maugham Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Stephanie is a Ledbury Poetry Critic.

Stephanie Sy-Quia says: Ledbury is such a fantastic home for poetry. This year, I’m really looking forward to programming some more hybrid music/poetry events, making use of the many wonderful open-air spaces around Ledbury, and emphasising collaboration between poets/artists.

Will Harris will be a Guest Curator at the Festival in 2024. A London-based writer, he is the author of the poetry books RENDANG (2020) and Brother Poem (2023), both published by Granta in the UK and by Wesleyan University Press in the US, and the essay Mixed-Race Superman (Peninsula) which came out in 2018. He has won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. He co-translated Habib Tengour’s Consolatio (Poetry Translation Centre) with Delaina Haslam in 2022, and helps facilitate the Southbank New Poets Collective with Vanessa Kisuule. Will is a Ledbury Poetry Critic.

Will Harris says: I’m really interested in all the forms that poetry can take. And so it’s very exciting to be able to invite to Ledbury a range of poets, writers and artists whose work – across different mediums – I’ve found formally and politically inspiring.

Read Stephanie and Will’s blog below where they reveal their programming thoughts and choices.

Ledbury Poetry Critics

In 2017 Ledbury Poetry Critics launched its first year-long intensive mentorship programme, recruiting 12 critics of colour, and has been responsible for increasing the visibility of poets and critics of colour. There are now over 35 critics within the programme founded by Sandeep Parmar and Sarah Howe with support from Ledbury Poetry. Ledbury Poetry Critics introduce and chair events at Ledbury Poetry Festival.