How do we look at a difficult past? Carolyn Forché has put forward the notion of ‘poetry of witness’ for a category of poems that ‘bear the race of extremity’ and end up as ‘evidence of what occurred’. Three poets explore very different and difficult themes with Will Harris moderating.  

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The word ‘stanza’ means room. And so the poem itself is a house, often a construct of many rooms. Four poets read from work – including three debut collections – that is by no means immobile or quietly domestic.

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To celebrate 50 years of the Manchester-based independent poetry publisher, this event brings together Carcanet poets of

all ages and provenances. Two feature readings from Alison Brackenbury and Peter Sansom, followed by a five poet showcase.

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Tony Hoagland read at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in 2015. The concert hall at Snape was packed and all his books sold out. Sadly, he died only three years later in October 2018.

 

This event brings together two British and two American poets to celebrate his life and work. Moderated by Kathryn Maris, we hear personal insights from Martin Shaw (Hoagland’s close friend and co-author), Josh Weiner and Peter Sansom.

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Grace Nichols and Maria Jastrzębska live on the South Coast, as Clare Best did too until last year when she moved to the Suffolk coast and this year joined the Poetry in Aldeburgh festival team.  Grace Nichols was born in Guyana and spent the first 27 years of her life there, arriving in the UK in the 1970s, and her poetry still carries Caribbean rhythms, memories and cultures. In her most recent collection, The Insomnia Poems, ‘memories of her own Guyana childhood mingle with the sleeping spectres of dreams and folk legends such as 'Sleeping Beauty’. 

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Our festival finale of poetry fireworks brings together four hugely distinct voices with new collections and work. Mona Arshi, who won the Forward Prize for First Collection in 2015, reads from her much-awaited second collection 'Dear Little Gods', which was included in The Guardian's June 2019 best recent poetry round up. Dzifa Benson was selected for the Ledbury Emerging Poetry Critics Scheme in 2017. The intersections between science, art, the body and ritual animate Dzifa’s practice. John McCullough launches his third full collection 'Reckless Birds' which Richard Scott has called 'such transformative magic!'. Following her popular and moving reading with the Laureates in Aldeburgh Church in 2018, 

Rebecca Goss performs work from her recently published third collection 'Girl'. After the four readings, do stay on at the end for the big party!

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