We are pleased to announce this year’s shortlisted poems in the Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year competition. They are:

This isn’t a poem by Veronica Aaronson

A Brief History of Modern Music and Aubade of a Blended Eschatology by Partridge Boswell

Book Ends by Linda Burnett

Glose for the Girls by Charlotte Cornell

In Memoriam: Billy Gunn by Philip Dunn

Yesterday at the Car Wash I Cried for my Dead Brother by Linda Ford

Visigoths by Nigel King

Skinning by Stephanie Powell

In the Eastern Townships, Québec by Kerry Rawlinson

Prairie by Gary Michael Studley

For Chiara Vigo, The Master of Sea Silk by Susan Taylor

salt lick by Royston Tester

Waxwing in a Tesco Car Park by Mark Totterdell

The 2024 Awards Evening will be held on-line on 3 October when the shortlisted poets will be invited to read their work and the winners will be announced at the end of the evening. Everyone is welcome to join the event.

Click here to join the Zoom event.

Room will open at 7pm and readings begin at 7.30pm.