Artistic Co-directors Sasha Dugdale and Sarah Hesketh programmed a diverse and stimulating menu of events aimed at fulfilling our intention to ‘surprise and delight’. Loosely focussed around themes of place and identity, and bracketed by riotously entertaining performances from Ian McMillan and Hollie McNish, the festival included poets from Macedonia, Iran, Ireland and Jamaica.

Artist/poet ‘in residence’, Sophie Herxheimer,  animated the festival space.

'As part of my residency remit, I had the pleasure of working with students at Hampshire based Treloar's College. Students made poetry flags choosing words and pictures to show the world who they are and what they like to do. I hung the flags in the library, where they were admired by many visitors. During the days of the festival itself, I rolled out my story collecting side show, where I asked questions and listened on the subject of books and reading. It was a treat to hear stories from many of the participating poets, as well as the people who had turned up to hear them. Samples of these drawings can be found on the Stories Collected Live in Ink page of this website.'

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