Poetry in Aldeburgh’s
2026 Pre-Festival Events
Thursday 1 October
Pathways: Connections with Nature
A poetry workshop with Rebecca Goss
in association with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the University of Suffolk
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“Researchers have identified five different pathways to achieve nature connection:
senses, emotion, compassion, meaning and beauty.”
– Katharine Townshend, Wild Learning Intern, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, 2022
Join award-winning poet Rebecca Goss to consider these five pathways that enable our interactions with nature. Through conversation and writing you will navigate a variety of poetic directions, exploring the rich and fruitful ways to voice your connection with the East Anglian landscape.
10am to 12pm at the Waterfront Building, University of Suffolk, Neptune Quay, Ipswich IP4 1QJ
Tickets are £15 and can be booked here. There are some free places for UoS students, available on a first come, first served basis (booking link for students)
And in the evening, Eliza O’Toole, who has appeared at our Poetry Night at socialbar series in Saxmundham, will be reading at The Green Room in Ipswich. The event is hosted by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Booking here.
Rebecca Goss is a poet, tutor and mentor living in Suffolk. Her second collection, Her Birth, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize, won the Poetry category in the East Anglian Book Awards, and was shortlisted for the Warwick Prize and the Portico Prize. Her most recent collection, Latch, was published by Carcanet in 2023. Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies, as well as in The Guardian and The Financial Times, and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She was a Poetry Book Society Next Generation Poet and is Writer-in-Residence for CW+, the charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Saturday 17 October
Shed
A multi-media theatre piece commissioned by Théâtre Volière
set on the Suffolk coast with Martin Figura
In his final hour Jack offers up the small downfall of his life – the loss of his father and young wife in WW2. He’s retreated into a private world and is watched over by creatures and finds solace in obsessive ritual, fantasy and the hoarding of keepsakes.
Performances at 2pm and 4pm at the Aldeburgh Beach South Lookout, 31 Crag Path, Aldeburgh IP15 5BS (as it is situated on the beach, we regret the Lookout does not have disabled access).
Tickets are free but must be booked in advance, and are limited to two per person.
Martin Figura’s collection and show Whistle were shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and won the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show. He was Salisbury NHS Writer in Residence; the resulting pamphlet, My Name is Mercy (Fair Acre Press) won a national NHS award, followed by Sixteen Sonnets for Care. His collections include Shed (Gatehouse Press), Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine (Cinnamon Press) and The Remaining Men (Cinnamon Press), and his new collection Mortality, I Could Live Without It is out with Nasty Little Press in November. A selection of his work, Coal, was published in Greek for the Thessaloniki Poetry Festival.
Saturday 31 October
New Poetry of the Suffolk Coast
New poems inspired by a historical coastal walk
and writing workshop in Dunwich.
With the Open University and Sonic Wave
This two-part event begins with an afternoon poetry-writing workshop led by poet and lecturer Wanda O’Connor, who will suggest a series of inclusive writing activities which engage imaginatively with the coastline.
The workshop features a screening of Walking the Lost Coast, a short documentary by local filmmaker Graham Daniels about the Dunwich walk.
The evening event will be introduced by novelist and lecturer Sarah Bower, and will begin with a further screening of Walking the Lost Coast. This will be followed by poetry readings from several participants on the Dunwich walk, accompanied by Will Fergusson on piano, Zoë Anderton on harp and Jason Parr on guitar. The trio will also perform a specially commissioned piece inspired by Dunwich.
There will also be a chance to hear about the Open University’s work in coastal communities.