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Morecambe Poetry Festival has announced dates for its 5th edition promising to make it the most spectacular yet. It will take place September 18-20 2026 after embedding itself into the culture of the Lancashire town.
Now the festival is keen to talk to potential sponsors to secure its long term future in what is described as ‘a challenging environment’ for the arts.
Praised for breaking down barriers between poets - established and emerging - and audiences, the three day festival has gone from strength to strength in just four years bringing together people from all walks of life and all corners of the UK for one weekend of wall to wall words.
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Henry Normal - who has performed at the festival every year - said: “I’ve been to poetry, book and literature festivals for over 50 years both as a performer and as a customer and I’ve founded both the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the International Literary Festival) and The Nottingham Poetry Festival and I’m currently a patron of the Hastings Book Festival.
“I’ve never seen a festival to compare to Morecambe Poetry Festival for ambition, enthusiasm, energy and engagement. The community spirit created by the coordinators, the volunteers, the performers and the public is far beyond anything I’ve seen elsewhere. The star names mix effortlessly with upcoming and first time performers and everyone is treated with respect.
“It’s a testament to the organisers that each year they attract the most popular poets in the UK and quality poets from a wide range of backgrounds.”
In testament to the high esteem the festival is held, it has even inspired poems written in tribute from many of its stars including Henry Normal, Jan Brierton, Attila The Stockbroker, Sarah L. Dixon and many more.
Festival founder Matt Panesh said: “The Arts Council has been fantastic, as have the other funders including the T S Eliot Foundation and Morecambe Town Council. The Foundation offered us five years of support giving me the space to focus on making the best festival I can, and it worked. However, those multiyear offers are rare. It is getting harder and harder in the arts to create something sustainable as it's usual to start every year from square one. The truth is that the festival just couldn’t happen without the support from funders. It's our 5th birthday party next year, and I want to make it as spectacular as possible.
“We’ve proved there is an appetite for the festival, with queues forming to get into the Winter Gardens, spoken word nights from around the country bringing their collectives here, open mics til the early hours and more.
“We also know it’s also having a positive impact on the town bringing in hundreds of visitors staying overnight with an uplift seen across the town’s hospitality businesses. We’ve got people travelling from all corners of the UK, down from Glasgow, across from Wrexham and up from Plymouth, so we know we’re on to something with what we’re offering.”
This year saw the Winter Gardens packed out for three double bills of premier poetry from John Hegley, Clare Ferguson Walker, Henry Normal, Nigel Planer, Jan Brierton and Michael Rosen. Equally popular was the second stage at the King’s Arms where local, new and established names were all welcome, with the Last Poet Standing open mic sessions running til the early hours.
This year, the festival also extended its impact into schools with a visit to Castle View Primary Academy by Michael Rosen and workshops with Louise Fazackerley and Young Write Out Loud.
Prior to the festival, Louise worked in two schools, Bolton-le-Sands C.E. Primary School and Castle View Primary Academy. Louise taught the children a flashmob poem of human rights which was performed by children, families and passing poets at the pop up pedal powered poetry at Morecambe Library on the festival weekend.
Louise said: “It’s been glorious to watch cheerful young people jump on one of the bikes to generate the electricity to power the music and the PA system for the mic. Not only are we saving the planet, we're making sure everyone can hear our poems spoken out loud. This is so important when children and young people perform - you want to hear those small voices saying big things.”
Write Out Loud, the online poetry community came to celebrate their 20th anniversary at the festival. Director Julian Jordan said: “The audience and participants represent the whole gamut of poetry and poets, from those just getting started to those already much-published. A work of genius. It's not 'us and them'... it enables novice poetry writers and performers to feel a part of the whole continuum of poetry activity. We're very lucky to have it.”
The festival this year received support from Arts Council England, T S Eliot Foundation, Wordsworth Grasmere, Eden Project Communities and Morecambe Town Council.
Morecambe Town Councillor Martin Bottoms, who volunteered at the Festival, said: “It was great to see first-hand the positive impact of Morecambe Poetry Festival on our town. While volunteering I personally spoke to many visitors that had come from all corners of the country; and anecdotally I’m aware that many local hospitality businesses were busy or full across the weekend.
“The Festival is now an event of national significance, a genuine tourist draw, and providing a welcome boost to our local economy. Morecambe Town Council can be proud of the role it has played in helping it grow into what it is today.”
One of the performing poets, Johnny Fluffypunk, has the final word on what is possibly the most rock and roll poetry festival in the UK:
“Well, blimmin' 'eck… Morecambe Poetry Festival you were a blast. People up and out at poetry gigs at 2 in the morning - I mean, that just DOES NOT HAPPEN. Except in Morecambe.”
Keep up to date with the festival HERE
Header Image: Outside Morecambe's Winter Gardens (Alastair Robbins)
