WOW! Look at what we just did – create a Poetry Mosaic of 100 original poems from writers across the Northwest!

We received more than 250 fantastic, newly-penned poems from adults and Lancaster and District school students on the subject of ‘Choice’ for our big online ‘Poetry Mosaic’ to celebrate National Poetry Day which has now been launched here https://litfest.org/litfestpoetrymosaic/ . Grab a cuppa and visit the site to lose yourself in uplifting poems, moving poems and funny poems – these amazing pieces represent our writers’ personal experiences, their creative ideas and their hopes for the future!

Some of the poems have even been chosen to be read out loud at our big, free, online and open-to-everyone National Poetry Day event, which will be hosted by local poet Hannah Hodgson. It’s at 7.30pm today, the 7^th October, and you can book your tickets here: https://litfest.org/autumn21poetry/

The event is part of Litfest’s ‘Autumn Weekend’ which will run from 7 to 12 October. It’s all free of charge and online, and features a Poetry Double Bill with Polly Atkin and Kim Moore; an evening with Sarah Hall in Conversation talking about her new novel Burntcoat, a story of love in a pandemic; and an event with Karen Lloyd who will take us through the issues surrounding the challenges to biodiversity which inspired her new book Abundance: Nature in Recovery.  A special International Fiction Book Club meeting plus a lecture with acclaimed Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez explore how fiction as an artform can be used to make sense of a challenging world.

So come and browse the Poetry Mosaic at www.litfest.org – you can also find details of how to join us online for the Poetry Mosaic launch event and all the other Litfest Autumn Weekend events. And don’t worry if you miss any of them – all Litfest events will be available on YouTube for 30 days after the festival ends.