Latest Winchester Poetry Festival declared a success by organisers

Taking place across three days at The Arc from October 13 to October 15, the programme featured a range of both established poets, as well as up-and-comers in the scene.

Participants were able to share ideas which explored the festival theme of “languages of the UK”. Audiences revelled in Daljit Nagra’s ‘Indiom’, shared in Romany with Sarah Wimbush, and witnessed a wealth of words (many featuring one vowel) from prolific performance poet Luke Wright. 

Matthew Hollis delivers a lecture on The Waste Land (Image: Winchester Poetry Festival)READ MORE: University marks National Poetry Day with performances and workshops

The winner of the Winchester Poetry Prize 2023 was also announced during the festival. The competition attracted more than 1800 entries this year.

While the top three winners were UK-based, there were entries from 37 countries including Yemen, Israel, Ukraine and Haiti.

The winner was Isabelle Baafi, from Middlesex, who had entered the competition for the first time this year. The winning poem was The Path Of Least Resilience. The second prize went to Emilie Jelinek with the poem My Father Washes His Hands Of Me.

Isabelle Baafi was the winner of the 2023 Winchester Poetry Prize (Image: Winchester Poetry Festival)Meanwhile, the third prize went to Yasmin Inkersole with Nefis. The Prize for the best poem by a Hampshire-based poet, sponsored by Warren & Son, was won by Joan McGavin for A Long Answer To A Short Question.

SEE ALSO: Political satirist bringing latest comedy show to Winchester next year

All of the entries were read and judged blind by the poet Zaffar Kunial, who presented the special prize-giving event as part of the festival programme. The longlisted poets travelled from around Europe and the UK to be there to discover their place, with global poets attending online.

All of the winning, commended and highly commended poems are collected in an anthology entitled A Cough of Pollen which can be purchased from Winchester Poetry Festival’s website, or from P&G Wells Bookshop.

Clare Pollard, artistic director of Winchester Poetry Festival, said: “It was such a pleasure to be Artistic Director of the 2023 festival and to see so many local friends getting involved: reading, participating in workshops, queuing for signed copies, volunteering, attending our busy events and applauding competition wins.

"We had Bengali music and LatinX films; serious lectures and silly kids' songs; tearful moments and tears of laughter. What a rich, memorable few days, and a tribute to Winchester's literary community.”