POETRY WEEKEND 2025

Join us for the 2025 Poetry Weekend, with Ella Frears, Cecilia Knapp, Francesca Martinez, Alabaster DePlume and many more…

Our second magical weekend of poetry readings, workshops, performances including, music and comedy!

Featuring: Ella Frears, Cecilia Knapp, Francesca Martinez, Alabaster DePlume, Jen Feroze,  Rhian Thomas, Lue Mac, Barry Tempest and more …

ALL READINGS ARE FREE WITH THE GENEROUS HELP OF T S ELIOT FOUNDATION, “OLD POSSUM’S PRACTICAL TRUST”

WORKSHOPS WITH Ella Frears and Cecilia Knapp are only £15! Book early, places limited.

Friday 1st AUGUST 7:30pm – 10:30pm

• 7:30pm – 10pm – Friday evening music and spoken word from Alabaster Deplume — Tickets £18/£12 (book tickets here)
• BAR AND FOOD ALL EVENING

Saturday 2nd August 11:30pm – 6:00pm

• 11:30 – 12:00 Rhian Thomas and Lue Mac READINGS (FREE)
• 12:00pm – 1:45pm – Cecilia Knapp poetry workshop — £15 to attend (limited places, book early. Book tickets below)
• 1:45 – 2:30pm  Late Lunch Break with music
• 2.30 – 3.30 pm Reading and Discussion with ELLA FREARS & CECILIA KNAPP (FREE)
• 3:45pm – 5:30pm  Ella Frears poetry workshop — £15 to attend (limited places, book early. Book tickets below)
  
• All Day – Jen Feroze bespoke poems on the spot!
• Improvised saxophone playing with the brilliant ROB MILLS
• Bar and food all day

Sunday 3rd August 11:00am – 6:00pm

• 11:00am – 12:00pm “Words to Inspire” Purbeck Sounds Radio, poetry session with Fiona Sturrock  (FREE)
• 12.15pm – 12:45pm Local Poets Reading (FREE) – local Purbeck Poets read from their work.
• 12.45pm – 1:15pm Lunch (bar and food on site, music and Jen Feroze bespoke poems on the spot!)
• 1:15 – 1:45pm DORSET POETS talk and reading, Barry Tempest and Virginia Astley (FREE)
• 1:45 – 2:15pm JEN FEROZE reading (FREE)
• 2:30 – 4.00 pm FRANCESCA MARTINEZ  poetry and comedy performance. Support: RICK FOOT double bass, drole poetry (£12 — book tickets here)
• All Day – Jen Feroze, bespoke poems on the spot
• Improvised saxophone playing with the brilliant ROB MILLS
• Bar all day

Friday 1st AUGUST

We kick off our 2025 POETRY WEEKEND with something really exciting – a one off gig with the acclaimed saxophonist, singer, songwriter, and poet-philosopher ALABASTER DEPLUME! This one night gig will form part of his world tour to coincide with the release of his new album and poetry book entiteld: “A BLADE BECAUSE A BLADE IS WHOLE”. Don’t miss this enchanting and extraordinary start to our weekend. Tickets can be booked on our separate Alabaster DePlume event page. Early booking advised. 

BAR and FOOD available. 7 – 10:00 pm

SATURDAY 2nd AUGUST

11:30am – 12:00pm  RHIAN THOMAS + LUE MAC

Two poets return to read after having both been shortlisted for / winning awards since their first performance at Sandy Hill Arts last year!  

RHIAN THOMAS grew up in Anglesey where poetry was hard to avoid. After a couple of decades in London she can now see Wales across the Severn from her adopted home town of Stroud. She has been shortlisted for the Laurie Lee Prize, the New Welsh Review’s Borzello Prize and published in journals including Poetry Wales and Ink Sweat and Tears. She was the joint winner of the Black Eyes Publishing and Gloucestershire Poetry Society’s 2024 Friendship Prize. Her work has been published by Planet and Honno.

LUE MAC is a poet from Swanage in South Dorset. Their first book, Murmurations, a collaboration with the photographer Billy Barraclough, sold out two editions and was shortlisted for the Marianne Brandt Award. Since then their work has continued to appear in magazines and journals, including Magma, Anthropocene, Ink Sweat & Tears, Amsterdam Quarterly, and The Broken Spine’s 2025 queer poetry anthology out.skirts, and been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize. They are currently a poetry editor at Clarion Poetry, and from September 2025 will be a PhD researcher in ecopoetry at the University of Bristol. Lue’s work touches on themes of alienation, belonging, weird nature, and making home in a turbulent world.

12:00 – 1:45pm  CECILIA KNAPP poetry workshop (£15) 

Join poet and author Cecilia Knapp for a low-pressure, generative, and fun poetry workshop. Develop your ideas, poems, and methodologies through a wide range of playful approaches, including expansive writing exercises, unusual prompts, guided tasks, and close readings of contemporary poetry. If the weather permits, we may even take inspiration from our surroundings. Whether you’re a total beginner or a seasoned poet, this workshop provides the space and time to connect with and express yourself. You’ll leave with full pages, early drafts, and an invigorated writing practice.

1:45 – 2:30 Late LUNCH BREAK with music 

2:30 – 3:30 pm – Reading and discussion with ELLA FREARS + CECILIA KNAPP (FREE)

ELLA FREARS is a poet based in London. Her debut collection Shine, Darling was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and the T. S. Eliot Prize. Her latest book Goodlord, which takes the form of one long email to an estate agent, was shortlisted for The Forward Prize and a Sky Arts Award. Ella has held numerous residencies including for the Tate Gallery, the National Trust, Royal Holloway University physics department, the Dartington Trust’s grade II listed gardens, 16 motorway service stations, and the number 17 bus in Southampton. She is an RLF Fellow at the Courtauld Institute of Art and hosts chat and music show Tears for Frears on Soho Radio.

CECILIA KNAPP is a poet and novelist and the former Young People’s Laureate for London. She was shortlisted for the 2022 Forward prize for best single poem. She is the winner of the 2021 Ruth Rendell award and has been shortlisted for the Rebecca Swift Women’s prize. Her debut poetry collection Peach Pig was published by Corsair in October 2022. Her poems have appeared in The Financial Times, Granta and The White Review. She curated the anthology Everything is Going to be alright: Poems for When You Really Need Them, published by Trapeze in 2021. Her debut novel Little Boxes is published by The Borough Press. Little Boxes was longlisted for The Authors Club Best First Novel Award. Her second novel Lack is forthcoming fromThe Borough Press in 2026. She teaches creative writing in a number of settings.

3:45 – 5:30pm  ELLA FREARS poetry workshop (£15)

Join poet Ella Frears for a fun, low pressure workshop exploring how we can capture the hot and restless summer.

How do your summers feel? All sea swims and holiday romances? Or hot and itchy boardrooms? Bright, hot days? Or shady, sultry nights? Are they too brief and unreasonably cloudy? Or endless, dappled, and pine scented? Looking at poets who do it well, we’ll write through memory, place, sensation, and find new and surprising ways of capturing the season.

No writing experience necessary. Open to all (16+)

Workshop places are limited to 15

All Day – Jen Feroze bespoke poems on the spot

Jen Feroze lives by the sea in Essex. Her work has appeared in publications including Magma, Poetry Wales, Under the Radar, Acumen and Butcher’s Dog. She won the 2024 Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition with her book ‘A Dress With Deep Pockets’.

Jen writes bespoke poems on the spot on her vintage typewriter. She has written at festivals, weddings and events, and is the resident poet at London’s Poetry Pharmacy on Oxford Street. She loves cold water swimming, chunky knitwear and cheese you can eat with a spoon.

Sunday 3rd AUGUST

11:00am – 12:00pm WORDS TO INSPIRE poetry session with Fiona Sturrock from Purbeck Sounds Radio station – FREE

“Words To Inspire is a weekly radio show on Purbeck Sounds, aiming to make poetry accessible to everyone. From ancient verses to modern lines, poetry offers a unique lens through which we can understand the world and ourselves. It reminds us of our shared humanity. In this introductory level workshop, we connect to the important role poetry has in our everyday life. This interactive workshop is enjoyable for all, irrespective of your poetry knowledge and skill. We will collaborative, connect, explore and enjoy.”

12:15pm – 12:45pm – LOCAL POETS READING – a selection of emerging DORSET POETS read from their work. (FREE)

Emerging DORSET poets including SOPHIE LILLIE and JO TATCHELL

12:45 – 1:15 – LUNCH with MUSIC

FOOD and BAR OPEN ALL DAY

1:15pm – 1:45 pm DORSET POETS – BARRY TEMPEST and VIRGINIA ASTLEY

READINGS / DISCUSSION (FREE)

Barry Tempest – I have been writing as a serious amateur for something in the order of 30 or so years, though I have done some writing as long as I can remember. My output has never been huge, but I have a collection, Still Setting Out published by Inklemaker in 2020 (the middle of a pandemic for the publication of one’s first collection is not the wisest choice). Poems by me have been included in Journey to the City of Clocks (ed. Elsa Corbluth); Dorset Perspectives, Hidden Histories (University of Exeter), Acumen, Essential Journey, Poetry News, Write to be Counted, A Poem for Europe, and The New European. I have attended Greta Stoddart’s poetry seminars in Bridport for some years, and am/have been a member of several local poetry groups. I am now retired from full-time work.

Barry Tempest photo by Giacomo Saporito

Virginia Astley is a musician and writer. She produced five albums and worked with musicians ranging from Pete Townshend to Ryuichi Sakamoto. Her award winning The Curative Harp, was published in 2015. Her complete poetry collection, The English River was published by Bloodaxe in 2018. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University. Virginia enjoys working collaboratively and continues to use field recordings to create work around sound and place. Her work is available at https://virginiaastley.bandcamp.com

1:45 – 2:15 JEN FEROZE –  READING from her own work (FREE) 

Jen Feroze will be reading from her latest book ‘A Dress With Deep Pockets’, which won the 2024 Poetry Business International Book and Pamphlet Competition. Judge Jane Clarke said of Jen’s work:

2:30 RICK FOOT performs spoken word and double bass followed by:

POETRY AND COMEDY WITH FRANCESCA MARTINEZ and Kevin Hely! 

A UNIQUE performance by one of the UK’s best loved comedians. Many of you will know that Francesca is very funny but not so many will know that she also writes poetry. Come and listen to some of Francesca’s wonderful poems read by her partner, actor Kevin Hely.

Then bask in the glory of a LIVE comedy performance in our magical marquee with the most marvellous FRANCESCA MARTINEZ. DO NOT MISS!

supported by RICK FOOT – maverick genius drole poet and double bassist – really quite unusual and very original

FRANCESCA MARTINEZ is a comedian, writer, actress and speaker. The only woman to win the Open Mic Award, she has toured the world with her award-winning stand-up shows. TV / Radio appearances include GRANGE HILL, EXTRAS, THE NEWS QUIZ, THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW, and LIVE AT THE APOLLO. Writing credits include the book WHAT THE **** IS NORMAL?!, the radio play HOW WE’RE LOVED in which she starred, the TV show HOW I FOUND MY TWO BEST FRIENDS, and the hit play ALL OF US, which opened at the National Theatre in 2022 with Francesca in the lead. She has two honorary doctorates and cerebral palsy but prefers the word ‘wobbly’.

Kevin Hely co-founded Fly by Night Theatre Company in Dublin in 1992, performing with them in several plays by Conor McPherson, including the one-man play The Good Thief. Since then, he has performed in over forty plays, the most recent being All of Us by Francesca Martinez at the National Theatre. He toured the world with Francesca in her comedy shows In Deep, What The **** Is Normal?! and Wobbly Manifesto. He co-founded Theatre Ortas in London in 2009, for whom he directed Private Thoughts and performed the one-man play The Rose of Jericho throughout the UK and in Dublin.

RICK FOOT Double bassist and writer of sardonic songs. Highly original material. Very unusual, definitely worth catching!

“Splendid and off-the-wall” Festivals For All

TICKETS £12

ALL DAY FOOD and BAR

Wandering saxophone improvisation with the brilliant ROB MILLS !