The 2017 Frome Festival Poetry Café will take place will take place on Monday 10th July at 7.30pm at the Garden Café.
Crysse Morrison has been running the Frome Festival Poetry Café at every Festival since the first one, so this will be the 17th Festival Poetry Café.
Poetry café has a familiar format and a loyal following from Frome and surrounding towns and villages. It is held in the cosy surroundings of the Garden Café in Stony Street.
“For the Festival edition, we like to be up in the garden itself, underneath the lovely quince tree, but this is England, and it does depend on the weather,” said Crysse.
Top of the bill on 10th July is rising star Deborah Harvey, who will be reading from her new collection ‘Breadcrumbs’, described as ‘witty, astute and surreal’. She is West Country through and through and lives in Bristol with her border collie Ted. She has won several poetry competitions including the 2012 Wells International Poetry Prize. Her novel Dart is set on Dartmoor during the terrible winter of the Black Death in 1348/9
The central feature of Poetry Café is the open mic session, when poets old and young, published or just starting to write, can read their own work to a supportive audience. This year the best poem from the floor on the ‘Adlestrop Moment’ theme wins its author the title of 2017 Frome Festival Poet Laureate. The winner will also receive a bottle of bubbly kindly donate by Frome Wholefoods.
The Adlestrop Moment gives this year’s open mic a special Edward Thomas twist, fitting in with other Festival events remembering the centenary of the poet’s death in France in 1917.
“Edward Thomas heard birdsong from a train at a small country station and defined the impact of such ordinary moments in his poem ‘Adlestrop,’”, said Crysse Morrison. “Those unexpected moments of delight that make you feel really alive. We want to hear your own profound personal glimpses into the meaning of life, the universe and everything!”
There are no tickets in advance for this event. Admission is £5 on the door. The bar will be open all evening serving hot drinks, cold drinks, beer, cider and wine.
