WINCHESTER Poetry Festival has appointed a new artistic co-director.

Poet, editor and translator Sasha Dugdale joins Keiren Phelan in developing the programme for the second festival in October 2016.

She takes over from Winchester poet Stephen Boyce, who recently moved to Dorset but stays a member of the festival board.

Festival chairman Robert Hutchison said today: “The appointment of Sasha to a key role brings an exceptional and stimulating talent to the festival team, adding a wealth of international experience, as well as a highly developed commitment to programming a wide range of voices, backgrounds and ethnicities."

Ms Dugdale was described by The Guardian as ‘one of the most original poets of her generation’.

She is editor of the magazine Modern Poetry in Translation, author of three collections of poetry for Carcanet and has translated two collections of Russian poetry for Bloodaxe.

Ms Dugdale set up the Russian New Writing Project with the Royal Court Theatre and the British Council and has since translated plays for the Royal Court, the RSC and other theatre companies.

She guest-edited Salt’s Best British Poetry 2012 and was Eileen Pun’s mentor for Bloodaxe’s New Wave anthology Ten.

The inaugural Winchester Poetry Festival in September 2014 brought 26 writers to the city and was described by one of them, Michael Longley, as “not just a good festival, it’s a great festival and this city should be very proud to have it.”