After many weeks of reading, reviewing, deliberating, and discussing over 500 entries received from around the world for this year’s competition, our judges are delighted to share this year’s Poet of the Year Competition longlist!

The long-listed poems will be published in our annual anthology which may be purchased soon from the Festival Office for £5 each.  The shortlisted poems will be eligible for the Poet of the Year Award, along with second and third places. Keep an eye out on the Festival’s website for the announcement!

Join us online on National Poetry Day for this year’s Awards Evening. The event will take place on Zoom with readings from this year’s finalists and feedback from our judges on Thursday 3rd October at 7.30pm.

                This isn’t a poem by Veronica Aaronson

                Futurity by Katie Beswick

                On Reading Audre Lorde at Annaghmakerrig by Partridge Boswell

                A Brief History of Modern Music by Partridge Boswell

                Aubade of a Blended Eschatology    by Partridge Boswell

                Hanami by Jane Burn

                Book Ends by Linda Burnett

                Delivery Room by Ryan Caidic

                Path, Feather, Mud by Nancy Charley

                Walking in the Footstpes of Iguanodons by Martin Cordrey

                Charles Dicken’ Guinea Pig is Dead by Charlotte   Cornell

                Glose for the Girls by Charlotte Cornell

                In Memoriam: Billy Gunn by Philip Dunn

                Ghost Story by Barry Fentiman Hall

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

                Project by Andrew George

                Matins by Andrew George

                The Dead Zone by Christopher Horton

                Trout by Christopher Horton

                Viewpoint by Christopher Horton

                Visigoths by Nigel King

                What You Want by Vanessa Lampert

                Vulpes Vulpes by Julie Leoni

                Flow by Stephen Littlejohn

                Skinning by Stephanie Powell

                Calendar months by Stephanie Powell

                Clio’s Salon by Leon Prescod

                In the Eastern Townships, Québec by Kerry Rawlinson

                Celan’s drive with Heidegger through the Black Forest, 1967 by Greta Ross

                Siren by Gary Michael Studley

                Prairie by Gary Michael Studley

                Our Road in Summer by Gary Michael Studley

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

                salt lick by Royston Tester

                of script by Royston Tester

                Shift by Mark Totterdell

                Waxwing in a Tesco Car Park by Mark Totterdell

                Snail by Christian Ward

                Picking the Pears by Sarah Wedderburn