As the magnificent Winter Gardens throws opens its doors to a stellar line-up of poets at this year’s Morecambe Poetry Festival things are also hotting up at Morecambe library. Following the success of last year’s work with young people in schools by Louise Fazackerley and Michael Rosen, this year the library is hosting a mini festival for children and young people, with its own impressive line-up on Saturday. This year would have been Eric Morecambe’s 100th birthday. To celebrate this and the festival’s fifth birthday the library is throwing a party - a  poetry party! Hot Poets, Jonny Fluffypunk and rapper Testament are joining forces with Joy France and Dommy B to provide a day of fun activities and workshops which are designed with the young at heart in mind as well.

Before the poetry festival Testament and Jonny Fluffypunk will have delivered four days of workshops in schools and some of the children they have worked with will be performing at the event.

Testament is an acclaimed poet, rapper, playwright and record-holding beat boxer.His spoken word/beatbox radio play received a special commendation and a nomination for Best Drama at the BBC Audio Drama awards 2023.

Jonny Fluffypunk appeared at Morecambe Poetry Festival last year and is equally at home on cabaret, poetry and alternative comedy stages.He has won countless poetry slams and has come second three times in the UK National all stars slam.

Multi-award-winning slam poet Joy France, and Dommy B, two-times winner of the Saboteur best spoken word award, will be out and about in the library throughout the day. Look out for panda heads and dinosaurs. They will also be running their own workshops. There will be also be an opportunity for some impromptu climate change themed open mic.

Similar to last year, much of the event is being powered by wRide Out Loud with our pedal-powered fixed bikes which generate electricity to power the music and the PA system for the mic. So if you are already local or planning to attend Morecambe Poetry Festival this year, make your way down to Morecambe Library on Saturday and bring the sunshine with you. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

As well as taking over the library Hot Poets are also joining forces with National Poetry Day, which is on 1 October this year, with the theme of ‘Wonder’. They have developed a programme that puts creativity, hope and science side by side in classrooms. Hot Poets work to communicate climate change, science and action through spoken word and poetry, with the aim to ignite a sense of wonder about our natural world and the urgent need to protect it, individually and collectively.

 

 

 

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