What's On

Browse four days of gala readings, live radio broadcasts, TV and film screenings, music gigs and open mic nights, first edition readings, outreach activity, discussion sessions, cultural tours and workshops.

Children's Poetry Workshop
10:00 - 11:00

Calling all budding poets. Meet Liz Kessler, author of the best- selling Emily Windsnap series which actually started life as a poem. Liz will get your imaginations pumping and your words popping in a workshop described as ‘a sneaky way to write a beautiful poem without even realising it.’ Age 8+

Hull Central Library | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Talking Doorsteps
11:30 - 12:15

Join us for a high energy showcase of poetry, in Partnership with The British Council and The Round House. Ideas and social activism featuring performances from Deborah Stevenson, Joe Hakim and Chiedu Orakld.

Kardomah94 | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

1st Edition Reading: Sean O'Brien
11:30 - 12:30

Sean O’Brien returns to the city he grew up in - Hull. He has won many major prizes including the Cholmondeley Award, the Somerset Maugham award, the E.M. Forster Award and the Forward Prize for Best Collection. His latest collection, The Beautiful Librarians, is a bleak and comic lament for lost England. He is also the editor of The Firebox, an acclaimed anthology of post-war UK poetry. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Newcastle.

Hull Central Library | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Jacob Polley and Michael Dickman
12:30 - 14:00

Readings from the award winning Michael Dickman and Jacob Polley. Michael is the author of three books of poems, as well as a book of plays co-written with his twin brother Matthew. He currently teaches at Princeton University, New Jersey.

Jacob Polley is the author of four acclaimed poetry collections, including the T.S. Eliot Prize-winning Jackself. Born in Cumbria, he now lives and works in Newcastle.

Kardomah94 | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Hull: A City of Poets, in its Own Words
13:00 - 14:30

Be in the audience for a live Radio 4 broadcast. From Larkin and Stevie Smith to Andrew Marvell and Andrew Motion, from loved classics to contemporary observations. A unique opportunity to hear renowned actors including Jeremy Irons and Julie Hesmondhalgh read poems by Hull poets. Presented by Lindsey Chapman.

Jubilee Church | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Glue: Louise Wallwein
13:30 - 14:30

A one-woman show mixing monologue, live art and a sound score. Glue tells the true story of Louise Wallwein and her first two meetings with her birth mother, three decades after being put up for adoption. The audience is invited to share a very private first reunion, but also the subsequent more public second meeting.

Hull College | Map
The Horncastle Building
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

BBC Writersroom
13:30 - 14:30

Join the BBC Writersroom panel of award-winning poets - Simon Armitage, Michael Symmons Roberts and Hannah Silva - as they discuss writing poetic drama. This is a unique opportunity to hear about some of their critically acclaimed work across radio, TV, stage and film, what’s involved in the development and writing process of poetry and scripted drama, and how they traverse across different media.

Hull Central Library | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Poetry Picnic - Poetry Takeaway: Fred Voss
13:30 - 17:00

An afternoon of fun for the family.

Involving workshops, the poetry takeaway and a performance from Fred Voss. Our talented team of poet chefs will carefully craft a free personalised poem for you, perform it and wrap it up to take away.

Queens Gardens | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Unticketed

Hull Rises
10:00 - 12:30 & 13:00 - 15:30

Ever been knocked back and risen again? Did you know the work ‘Lord’ derives from the Anglo Saxon for ‘Loaf Protector’. In these bread-making and creative writing workshops led by poet John Wedgwood Clarke, we’ll explore what this simple foodstuff can tell us about who we are. Come prepared to get floury and share both crust, crumb and word.

Hull College | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Sold out

Misguided Tour
14:30 - 16:15

Richard Tyrone Jones, ‘ringmaster of spoken word’ at the Edinburgh Fringe, brings his infamous Misguided cultural tour to Hull: a city-centre walk featuring fun, facts, and frivolous fiction - but can you tell which is which? Starring local poets David Osgerby, Robert Eunson and Vicky Foster.

Starts at Jubilee Church | Map
Ends at Kardomah94
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Imtiaz Dharker: This Tide of Humber
15:15 - 15:45 & 16:30 - 17:00

JoinedUp Dance Company present a new piece of contemporary dance inspired by Imtiaz Dharker’s specially commissioned poem This Tide of Humber. This Tide of Humber captures the inexplicable pull of a city where dislocation and separation mix with images of water and sky to create a unique sense of place. Imtiaz Dharker’s wonderful evocation of the city of Hull and the River Humber is interpreted by JoinedUp Dance Company to create a wistful, enigmatic performance piece with an original score by composer Joe Roper.

Hull College | Map
The Horncastle Building
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

BBC Writersroom: Top Tips
15:15 - 16:15

Ever wondered how to get noticed by the BBC? How to send your script and what happens when you do? How do they assess your work? What grabs them and what puts them off? If you’re after some tips, this is a session not to be missed.

Hull Central Library | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Orbita
16:30 - 17:30

Orbita is a creative collective of Latvian poets writing in Russian whose works are dedicated to dialogue between various creative genres and cultures. Since 1999 Orbita has published a number of almanacs in which literary works appear side by side with works of visual art. Orbita has created several multi-media poetry videos, performances and installations; produced a number of bilingual (Russian-Latvian) poetry collections and 3D poetry works. Part of the European Writers’ Tour 2017, supported by EUNIC, the European Commission and in partnership with The Royal Society of Literature.

Kardomah94 | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

New Voices
18:00 - 19:30

This open mic event will feature BBC Radio 3’s The Verb New Voices: Laura Potts, Sarah Sayeed and Kirsty Taylor. It is a chance for anyone to get up and share their poetry with a wider audience - whether it is the first time you have presented your work or just another opportunity to shine, this event is for you.

Hull Central Library | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

BBC Philharmonic: A Clockwork Orange
18:30 - 20:30

Contains Strong Language and Radio 3 present a new dramatisation of the controversial dystopian classic A Clockwork Orange using an original score composed by author Anthony Burgess with new orchestration by Iain Farrington. Experience this thrilling performance of a radio drama with music performed by the BBC Philharmonic before it is broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday 1 October.

University of Hull | Map
Middleton Hall
FREE ADMISSION | Sold out

Isaiah Hull
18:00 - 20:00

In the last year alone, Isaiah Hull has supported Kate Tempest, Lemn Sissay and Skepta at major events for the BBC. And he’s just 19. Inspired by poet Saul Williams, author Philip Larkin and classical Greek tragedies, the Old Trafford writer and spoken word artist is one of the Roundhouse and BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Words First finalists. He is a member of the young writers collective Young Identity.

Kardomah94| Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Hull 17: Contains Strong Language - A City of Poets in its Own Words
20:00 - 21:00

Live from Hull in a special hour-long programme on Radio 4, Jeremy Irons and Julie Hesmondhalgh perform poetry inspired by the city and its poets.

Presenter Lindsey Chapman will guide us through Hull’s rich poetic heritage, exploring how Hull has proved so inspiring to poets across the ages and why the city continues to be such a vibrant and creative destination for poets today.

Work performed by Jeremy Irons and Julie Hesmondhalgh will include To His Coy Mistress by seventeenth century metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell, Toads by Hull’s most famous librarian Philip Larkin, Hull-born Stevie Smith’s Not Waving but Drowning and Imtiaz Dharker’s special commission for Hull 17, This Tide of Humber.

Hull College | Map
FREE ADMISSION | Book tickets

Kate Tempest
20:30 - 22:30

Kate Tempest and her band will be performing Mercury nominated Let Them Eat Chaos in Hull Minster. With full support from her band and a stunning backdrop, this will be an unmissable performance of Kate’s explosive second solo album.

Born in 1985, Kate grew up in Lewisham, and is a lyricist, playwright, musician, and novelist. She has written three plays, and in 2012/13 she wrote and performed Brand New Ancients, an hour-long epic poem which won the Ted Hughes prize, a Herald Angel award, and an Off West End award. She has released three albums. The first, Balance, in 2011 with her band Sound of Rum, and the second and third (Everybody Down in 2014, nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in the same year, and Let Them Eat Chaos in 2016) with producer and long-term collaborator Dan Carey.

Tempest has published two poetry collections, and was named Next Generation Poet by the Poetry Society in 2015. Her first novel, The Bricks That Built the Houses, was published in 2016.

Hull Minster | Map
Tickets: £25 from hull2017.co.uk