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Poetry in Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews… Ruth Padel

"A work which tries to be ‘political’ often fails to work as art. You have to make the poem as good as you can as a poem, as art, rather than bang on with its message."

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What people have said about our past festivals and Poet interviews  

Past Progammes
Past Performers
2018 Photo Gallery
2017 Photo Gallery

2020

Christian Wethered reviews PERCEPTION as part of 2020 themes of Place, Perception and Play

This was my first Poetry in Aldeburgh, and though most of us weren’t actually there, it never seemed to matter, the festival being conveyed seamlessly on Zoom

 

Rachel Donati reviews PLAY as part of 2020 themes of Place, Perception and Play 

In lockdown dreaming and play feel even sweeter.  We get to escape.  Play opens us up to a permeability of thinking, allows porous thoughts in, lets ideas seep & steep, to percolate.

2019

Maria Isakova-Bennett and family on their experiences of Poetry in Aldeburgh 2019

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Many thanks again for a wonderful weekend of poetry. I loved each day and evening but especially the close readings and the workshops...

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Sarah Doyle gives her account of her first Poetry in Aldeburgh in 2019

 

I’ve long wanted to attend the poetry festival that takes place in Aldeburgh each year.. 

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2018

2018 Festival review by Kostya Tsolákis 

‘Magical’ is not a word I often use to describe an experience, but my first visit to Poetry In Aldeburgh was certainly that

2018 Festival review by Danne Jobin

The town itself fills up with poetry afficionados for the whole weekend, and everyone is approachable.

Kostya Tsolákis talks to poet, tutor and comics editor Chrissy Williams.

Danne Jobin talks to Pascale Petit

Danne Jobin talks to Richard Scott

2016-17 Interviews

Meet Ben Rogers – the Poetry in Aldeburgh / Poetry School Poet in Residence

Ben Rogers, Poet-in-Residence at Poetry in Aldeburgh Festival

You recently had a recce trip to Aldeburgh in advance of your residency.  How’s it all looking there at the moment?

Poetry In Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews Paul Stephenson

“In the manner of George Perec’s lipogram novel La Disparition, can you explain, without using the letter E, what you like about poetry in Aldeburgh…?”

Poetry In Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews Rebecca Watts

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"A poem should always involve an imaginative act, and pretending to be something other is a good way of triggering one."

Poetry In Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews Chrissy Williams

“Play is fundamental, I think, to anyone interested in artistic expression, and communication.”

Poetry In Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews Ian Duhig

"...childhood is a time of poetry for everybody: we make it just looking around ourselves and thinking, and sometimes later our wonder may find words, if we’re lucky."

Poetry In Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews Blake Morrison

“I have written two memoirs and my poems have become increasingly personal. So yes, I understand the torment.”

Poetry in Aldeburgh Countdown – An Interview with Tamar Yoseloff

“I fell in love with it right from the start, that bleak winter seascape. I’ve been going back ever since.”

 More from 2016

Poetry In Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews Dan Burt

"If a piece has nothing to say, why bother saying it?”

Poetry in Aldeburgh Residency: Ben Rogers talks with Holly Corfield Carr

As soon as we talk about ‘chance’ we’ve already stationed part of the writing process outside ourselves.

Poetry in Aldeburgh residency: Ben Rogers interviews… Julia Bird

“What motivates me to produce, promote or write anything is the idea that there will be people around to receive it meaningfully”

Poetry in Aldeburgh Residency: Ben Rogers interviews… Jacqueline Saphra

“Say whatever you want, invent what you like, use your imagination – that’s what writers do, for god’s sake – if it strengthens the poem.”

Poetry In Aldeburgh: Ben Rogers interviews Geraldine Clarkson

How important is the spirit of rebellion or being allowed to break rules when you write poetry?

What they say
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