National poet Laureate Simon Armitage is coming to Cheshire this March.
He’s made Ellesmere Port Library the final stop on the 2023 leg of his ten-year Laureate’s Library Tour.
He will be appearing at a free live poetry event on Thursday 23rd March (7-8pm) along with national canal laureate Roy McFarlane plus two young poets from the Boaty Theatre Company and Theatre Porto.
Patrick Gambles (Theatre Porto) and Mia Kellett (The Boaty Theatre Company) have been selected to read one of their poems each for the event.
Cheshire West and Chester Council leader, Cllr Louise Gittins said: “Every spring during this decade, Simon Armitage will give readings across the UK, from the flagship libraries of the big cities to smaller libraries serving rural and remote communities.
“Using the alphabet as a compass, his journey celebrates the library as one of the great and necessary institutions. Ellesmere Port is part of this year’s ‘E to G Libraries’.
“We’re honoured he is coming to Ellesmere Port as part of this year’s tour.”
The event is free to attend, but booking is advised.
Simon Armitage
Simon Armitage was born and grew up in West Yorkshire. He is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.
He has published over a dozen poetry collections, including Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems, and acclaimed medieval translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Owl and the Nightingale.
He is the author of two novels and three non-fiction bestsellers: All Points North, Walking Home and Walking Away.
A regular broadcaster, Armitage presents the popular BBC Radio 4 series The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed.
He’s also an award-winning dramatist, and his play The Last Days of Troy was performed at Shakespeare’s Globe.
He writes, records and performs with the band LYR and has received an Ivor Novello Award for his song writing. His new book Never Good with Horses (due out in April 2023) features his song lyrics.
Armitage is also professor of poetry at the University of Leeds.
Roy McFarlane
Roy McFarlane is a poet, playwright and former youth and community worker, born in Birmingham of Jamaican parentage.
He’s the national canal laureate and former Birmingham poet laureate and Starbucks poet in residence.
He has performed from Amsterdam to Philadelphia – sharing his passion for social justice, equality and love.
His debut collection, Beginning With Your Last Breath, was followed by The Healing Next Time (shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and longlisted for the Jhalak Prize).
His third collection, Living by Troubled Waters, was published by Nine Arches Press in October 2022.
