Poetry workshops are underway at Wellsway School, Writhlington School and the Bath Community Academy in a search for young poets to take part in the Word in the West festival.
The festival, which runs from 26th – 30th May, is being organised by Bath & North East Somerset Council, in partnership with North Somerset and arts organisation BoomSatsuma, funded by Arts Council England.
During the festival, some of the UK’s most cutting-edge poets and spoken word artists will be performing at Keynsham, Paulton and Midsomer Norton libraries.
They will be running free workshops and performances for children, young people and more established writers.
They’ll also be working with the community to create a free-form poem on a wall of words in each library.
The school workshops are being led by poets and spoken word artists Rebecca Tantony and Vanessa Kisuule.
Two poets will be chosen from each school and will join the poets at Kenysham and Midsomer Norton libraries from 26th – 29th May.
The young winners will also join in the finale of the festival on Saturday 30th May, when all the spoken word artists and poets will take to the streets to perform in bus queues, cafes and public spaces.
Word in the West will be curated by Joelle Taylor (founder and Artistic Director of SLAMbassadors) and features nationally renowned poets Rebecca Tantony, Hussain Manawer and Vanessa Kisuule, Sally Jenkinson and Lucy Lepchani.
You can find out more at www.wordinthewest.com, on Facebook (wordinthewest) and Twitter @wordinthewest
