Wisbech Words is back after lockdown with successful evening of poetry

Poets from across Fenland descended on Wisbech Castle on Thursday evening for an evening of poetry reading.

A socially distance audience enjoyed spoked performances from around half a dozen poets at the event organised by Elizabeth Sennitt for the Arts Council-funded Wisbech Words project.

Afterwards Elizabeth praised the volunteers at Wisbech Castle for their careful organisation of the event, which was the first to be held since lockdown and under social distancing rules.

She said: "It was a really lovely evening, everyone kept their distance. The Castle volunteers worked really hard to make sure everyone could attend safely and I think those that came really enjoyed it.

"We are now hoping to hold another event next month. Normally Wisbech Words is held quarterly, but obviously we weren't able to hold an event in April, after the one in January."

In the meantime Elizabeth is keen to encourage local poets to enter the Fenland Poet Laureate competition for 2020/21.

She said there have already been a number of entrants, but she is keen to see more, particularly from younger writers.

The closing date is September 30 and there will be an awards night in January when MP Steve Barclay will be among the guests.

This year's judge for Fenland Poet Laureate is John Lyons, the Trinidad-born poet, painter, illustrator, educator and curator.

He has worked as a theatre designer, exhibition adviser and as a teacher both of visual art and creative writing and has a number of poetry anthologies published.

For further details or to submit your entry visit the Babylon Arts website, or email: fenlandpoetlaureateaward@gmail.com