9th Festival of Suffolk Poety – live!

Open Mic Event

Contact: festival@suffokpoerysociety.org

Website: suffokpoerysociety.org

The second day of the 9th Festival of Suffolk Poetry is live at the John Peel Centre, Stowmarket.

10:00-12:30 Workshop with Helen Ivory: Poetry and Magic: Incantations and Spells

The incantation Abracadabra literally means I will create as I speak in Aramaic. An incantation is a charm, or a spell made up of words. And spell is, well...spelling, and moreover a book of spells is called a grimoire, which is a French term meaning book of grammar. You see, we have magic on the tips of our tongues.

In this workshop we will use words to summon and transform; embrace and expel; kindle the occult and make the invisible appear before our very eyes.

10:00-12:30 Workshop with Martin Figura: We look to photographs as fixed signposts back through our blurred and fractured memory. We keep them in albums; we post them on Instagram and Facebook; we text them - by and large we hate to lose them.

Bring some photographs that evoke a strong emotional response and identify its ‘punctum’. These can be personal snapshots and / or an image in a magazine, or on a gallery wall that resonated strongly with you.

We’ll take the ‘Punctum’ as a starting point to writing poems that really mean something to us – poems from the heart. Along the way, we’ll look at what photography and poetry have in common.


During the afternoon, there will be readings from the Suffolk poetry cafés, close readings and storytelling from Dave Tonge.

In the evening we will hear from two SPS poets, Sue Mobbs and Roger West, followed by a talk on Dr Ronald Blythe CBE, then Martin Figura and Helen Ivory will round out the day.

Watch suffolkpoetrysociety.org for developing details.

Price: £0.00. (TBA)

Time: 10:00-21:30