Winchester Poetry Festival is getting ready for its live festival weekend, with lots of events planned.

The Winchester Poetry Festival live weekend takes place from October 8-10 at Winchester Discovery Centre with 13 events over three days.

The live weekend is the culmination of five months of events, both online and in person, as part of the biggest festival programme to date, including the Poet on the High Street community residency.

At the first event, on October 8, Kathryn Bevis, Hampshire Poet 2020–2021, invites a trio of Southampton-based poets called Ghost River Collective, to showcase and celebrate the best of their work.

On the same evening, the poets Clare Pollard and Paul Muldoon will be performing live.

On the morning of October 9, there is a show titled: ‘The Same Greedy Occupants: Ecopoetics of Homemaking Workshop with Caleb Parkin’, which is a playful session, addressing ideas of environmental and social justice.

Later that day, Paul Muldoon will be interviewed in a format called ‘Things Being Various’ which was devised by Jon Sayers for the inaugural Winchester Poetry Festival in 2014.

That evening will see the results of the poetry competition announced, as well as the Winchester Muse showcase where the members will read their work inspired by the themes of community, cohesion and revival.

Also that day, Patience Agbabi has a virtuosic performance of Telling Tales, her retelling of Chaucer, featuring a dazzling cast, while Hampshire Poet, Kathryn Bevis, shares some of her work produced during the last two years.

The final day of the festival, on October 10, begins with a workshop called ‘Exploring the Spectrum: The Colour of Poetry’ with Rebecca Goss and a writing for wellbeing workshop with Jon Sayers.

In the afternoon, poet and broadcaster Aviva Dautch will explore the poem ,‘The New Colossus’ by Emma Lazarus, the poem mounted on The Statue of Liberty.

There will also be a discussion with Hampshire Poet Kathryn Bevis and Bristol Poet Caleb Parkin, about their different experiences of taking on a poet in residence role. Winchester’s Poet on the High Street, Jonny Fluffypunk, will zoom in making this a hybrid event.

In the evening, there will be a showcase of work by three of the region’s best young poets and their mentors, Romalyn Ante, Aviva Dautch, and Caleb Parkin.

The final event will see Liz Berry, who was at the 2014 inaugural Winchester Poetry Festival, perform with Romalyn Ante.

Tickets can be booked online at ticketsource.co.uk/winchester-poetry-festival or via the Winchester Discovery Centre Box Office 01962 873603.