Image: Isabelle Baafi – Winchester Poetry Prize 2023 winner.
The first full Winchester Poetry Festival weekend since the pandemic proved that poetry still excites and delights people of all ages. Almost 1000 tickets were sold, with many events reaching capacity. This year attendees travelled to Winchester from all over the UK, and from all over the world for hybrid events.
Winchester Poetry Festival 2023 took place at The ARC over three days, and at fringe events during October. The programme featured established, as well as up-and-coming poets, sharing ideas that explored the festival theme of “languages of the UK”. Audiences revelled in Daljit Nagra’s ‘Indiom’, shared in Romany with Sarah Wimbush, and witnessed a wealth of words (many featuring one vowel) from prolific performance poet Luke Wright.
Clare Pollard (Artistic Director of Winchester Poetry Festival) said: “It was such a pleasure to be Artistic Director of the 2023 festival, and to see so many local friends getting involved: reading, participating in workshops, queuing for signed copies, volunteering, attending our busy events and applauding competition wins. We had Bengali music and LatinX film; serious lectures and silly kids’ songs; tearful moments and tears of laughter. What a rich, memorable few days, and a tribute to Winchester’s literary community.”
The winner of Winchester Poetry Prize 2023 was announced in front of a packed room at The ARC as part of the festival programme. The competition attracted over 1800 entries this year, with 43 entries paid for by other poets/donors using a Pay it Forward Scheme allowing those on low-incomes to participate. Although the top three winners were UK-based, there were entries from 37 countries including Yemen, Israel, Ukraine and Haiti.
The winner was Isabelle Baafi, from Middlesex, who had entered the competition for the first time this year. The winning poem was The Path Of Least Resilience. Second prize went to Emilie Jelinek with the poem My Father Washes His Hands Of Me. Third prize went to Yasmin Inkersole with Nefis. The Prize for the best poem by a Hampshire-based poet, sponsored by Warren & Son, was won by Joan McGavin for A Long Answer To A Short Question.
All of the entries were read and judged blind by the poet Zaffar Kunial, who presented the special prize-giving event as part of the festival programme. The longlisted poets travelled from around Europe and the UK to be there to discover their placing, with global poets attending online. The event was live-streamed so that audiences around the world could watch.
All of the winning, commended and highly commended poems are collected in an anthology entitled a cough of pollen which can be purchased from Winchester Poetry Festival’s website, or from P&G Wells Bookshop.
The programme for Winchester Poetry Festival 2023 combined 25 performances, workshops, discussions and readings. Thanks to support from Winchester City Council, key events this year were BSL interpreted for the first time, and live-streamed.
Jane Bryant (Chair of Winchester Poetry Festival) said: “Our 2023 Festival was a glorious celebration of the creativity and diversity of the languages of the UK. Our programme, so well curated by Artistic Director, Clare Pollard, attracted a great diversity of participants and audiences of all ages and backgrounds – from 2 years upwards!”
Winchester Poetry Prize 2024 will open in April next year. Winchester Poetry Day is planned to take place at The ARC on Saturday 5th October 2024.
To find out more, visit www.winchesterpoetryfestival.org
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