Poetry at Sidmouth Folk Festival!
Its my favourite time of year again, we’ll be making the long drive down to Sidmouth folk festival on Thursday for a week of folky madness; song, dance, storytelling, music and of course poetry, which has found a little corner of the folk festival to call its own. In fact the ‘corner’ is the splendidly luxurious Edwardian Drawing Room of the Glen hotel on Glen road. Inspiration is never far away as we relax in the comfy armchairs under the crystal chandeliers and drink our morning coffee!
This year I’ve prepared a series of workshops on ballads, love, writing the body and how to write about everyday objects from quilts to pineapples. The final workshop will be the ever popular poetry games, if you haven’t played Poetry Countdown, or Poetry What’s in the Bag, you haven’t completed your poetry journey 🙂
The workshops will be held from 11.30- 1pm on Sunday 5th to Thursday 10th August at the Royal Glen Hotel, no booking necessary, just turn up on the day, you don’t have to be a festival participant to join the workshops, they are open to all. The workshops are supportive, encouraging and fun. No previous experience in writing poetry is required but they will also cater for more experienced poets or writers. The workshops are all stand alone and there is also a chance to collaborate on a piece of work and join in performing it in Friday’s Showcase concert.Â
If that’s not enough there is also a Poetry Open Mic – 5-6.30pm Thursday 10th August at the Royal Glen Hotel. Experienced writers or newcomers welcome, just sign up on the door to read your own work or bring a favourite poem or two to share. Or if you just fancy relaxing and experiencing the splendour of the Edwardian drawing room whilst listening to some poetry, come and join us!
After the success of the Kimpton Folk Festival poetry workshop, it’s on to Sidmouth Folk Week 3rd- 10th August. I’ll be holding five poetry writing workshops from Sunday to Thursday at the lovely Royal Glen Hotel, 11.30am – 1pm. These are stand alone workshops so you can come to individual ones or even better all five.  We’ll be reading poems about the sea and ballads about doomed lovers ( always a popular folk theme!) and then using these and other writing prompts to write our own poems. There’s also a chance to read poems written during the week at the Friday showcase concert. It’s the first time there’s been poetry at Sidmouth, so a chance to show how poetry fits in anywhere. You can also swim in the sea, eat lots of ice cream, dance the night away as various ceilidhs and listen to some of the best folk music in the world, how exciting is that!
Ilse Pedler Poet 