Birmingham’s first poetry festival takes centre stage
Birmingham’s first ever poetry and spoken word festival is set to take centre stage in the city this weekend.
The Verve Poetry Festival will offer both experienced and emerging poets and writers to showcase their talents and learn more about the world of poetry.
The festival will play host to workshops, masterclasses and book launches for both children and adults with an interest in poetry. The team behind the festival are hoping that the event has the potential to become an annual celebration.
Co-director Cynthia Miller believes that there is a gap in the market for poetry in the city. She said: “I had been to a lot of literary festivals across the UK and what I noticed was that there was nothing like it in Birmingham. We have a great literary festival, but nothing poetry focused.
“The interesting thing about Birmingham is that there are lots of pockets of fantastic activity and events like spoken word nights and open mic events, but not one thing to bring all these events together.
“The thing that makes this festival different to others in the country is that we aren’t just focusing on established poets and writers, but we want to equal out the playing field to both poetry and spoken word and give new talent a platform.”
The festival, which runs until Sunday at Waterstones in Birmingham city centre, will feature workshops from established poets and writers, open mic opportunities for local talents to take to the stage, advice on publishing and mini classes for children to begin their love of poetry.
Cynthia is certain that the event will be a success among the creative communities with the city. She said: “There has been a lot of interest from the beginning with the festival, and I think that really speaks to not just the character of Birmingham, but also the creative community in the city. There is a real willingness to get involved and to roll up your sleeves and give creative projects a go.
“I think poetry has always been popular, but it has grown in recent years with certain audiences, especially with people who didn’t think they liked poetry. This is an urban festival and we want to attract a younger and more diverse audience.”
However, Cynthia believes that to keep the community involved, the team behind the festival will need to host events around the year. She said: “We have every intention to host this festival on a yearly basis and we want to see what the reaction is going to be to this festival and how much of a buzz it makes.
“We want to create a creative legacy in the city and we are also keen to keep the community going over the year and put on pop up events.”
