Write Out Loud is going to Morecambe poetry festival in September! To mark our regard for this fabulous festival combining top names and grassroots poets - and to celebrate our 20th anniversary year - we will be hosting a couple of events there.

Who’s on the bill? It’s a poetry world Who’s Who! Now in its fourth year, the seaside town’s festival promises three nights of wall to wall poetry with the nation’s favourites along with grassroots performances, family activities, workshops, poetry takeovers and open mics.

Weekend passes will give guaranteed access to every single event and performance, including the pre-festival ‘Best of Morecambe’ showcase event on Thursday.

Festival founder Matt Panesh said: “I’m so excited for this year’s festival. We’ve finally managed to get Michael Rosen, which is a big coup for the festival, along with many of our poets coming back for the third or even fourth time! I’m always amazed at how quickly we’ve grown with the bill being filled earlier than ever this year.

“Of course, the great thing about poetry is that it’s for everyone, and everyone can have a go. You don’t even need to spell or use grammar. And the festival celebrates that by bringing together the local and the national, the amateur and the professional to create something really quite special.”

Among the big poetry names lined up, Michael Rosen will take to the stage with Clare Ferguson Walker. Michael is one of the best-known figures in the children’s book world, and renowned for his work as a poet, performer, broadcaster and scriptwriter, while Clare already has a string of awards after she began performing her own poetry a couple of years ago.

John Hegley, on his third visit to the festival, and Jan Brierton, the Irish poet who has just supported John Cooper Clarke on his stadium tour, are the next pairing.

Henry Normal returns for a fourth year, bringing with him Nigel Planer, infamous Young One. A regular performer at the festival every year, Henry describes Morecambe as “the biggest and best new poetry festival in the country, possibly the world, maybe even the universe”.

Robin Ince returns after making a big impact last year with his honest and candid poetry about his autism/adhd diagnosis.

A selection of legendary film work of Britain’s leading theatre and film poet Tony Harrison will be screened. Created during his long collaboration with BBC director and producer Peter Symes, it will be followed by a Q&A with the director.

The Hovis Presley Memorial will mark the 20th anniversary of the death of the legendary Bolton poet. It includes an exhibition of artworks from his collection Poetic Off Licence and a reading of the play Hovis in Wonderland by Dave Morgan.

The UK’s leading poetry publisher Bloodaxe Books  - editor Neil Astley judged our 20th anniversary poetry competition earlier this year - will be in attendance. This follows the BBC leading spoken words shows - The Verb and Loose Ends - broadcasting from the festival last year.

A pedal-powered stage outside the library will invite children to pedal and perform their own poetry, created during free poetry workshops in local primary schools with poet Louise Fazackerley, and part of Write Out Loud’s contribution to this year’s festival. The workshops will see the children learn a flash mob poem which can be performed at the festival as well as writing class and individual poems.

The tradition of takeover events at the festival continues with Speech Therapy, Nottingham’s longest running spoken word night, as well poetry takeovers from London, Wordsworth Grasmere and Manchester poets remembering poet and friend Jackie Hagan.

And not forgetting us! We will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special event at the festival at the King’s Arms. More details to follow soon.

Best of Morecambe showcase will take place on Thursday 11 September featuring work from the monthly poetry night run by festival director Matt Panesh, Big White Shed publisher Anne Holloway, Big Charlie Poet and Bryan Griffin, Carnforth's first poet laureate.

Weekend passes are available now at £65 plus booking fees for access to every single event and performance including a pre-fest meet up on the 11 September. The full schedule and event tickets will be released at a later date.

Morecambe Poetry Festival is supported by Waterstones, the TS Eliot Foundation, Eden Project Communities, Wordsworth Grasmere and Morecambe Town Council.