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Festival of Suffolk Poetry
Friday 16th May Online

Heidi Williamson will lead a workshop from 10:30-13:00 on Zoom: ‘Quite Contrary – contradictions in poems‘ – “How can you inject more ‘oomph’ into your poems, deepening them with pleasing contradictions? Poems often thrive on internal tensions that pull the sounds, images, and themes in the poem taut. In this 2.5 hour workshop, we’ll look at some poems containing opposing effects or contents, then create new work that dances on both sides of the fence at once.”

This workshop is sold out

Tickets and more events

Festival of Suffolk Poetry
Saturday 17th May Live

Catherine Smith workshop

“Trust the Image”

Catherine will be leading some poetry writing exercises which explore ways of finding and using/extending different types of imagery, figurative language and symbolism, to energise poems and deepen their connection to readers.

Lewis Buxton workshop

“Writing the Body”

Join poet Lewis Buxton for a workshop on the body in poetry. How do you capture the beauty of the body? Or the ugliness of an injury? Whether it’s in sport, sickness or sex, in this workshop you will read poems by Sharon Olds, Hannah Lowe, Terrance Hayes and other well known poets then write your own poems about the body.

Tickets and more events

Festival of Suffolk Poetry
Saturday 17th May Live

SPS Featured Poets

James Domestic

Ellen Clayton

First poem published in a collection called “Poems for Freedom” a decade ago. Self-published “Cruor” in 2021, followed by “Domesticated Volume 1” in 2023, “Domesticated Volume 2” in 2023, and “Domesticated Volume 3” in 2024. Working on two themed poetry collections for 2025. Compared to John Cooper Clarke, Spike Milligan, Ivor Cutler, and Benjamin Zephaniah. Performed at events across the country, supported Luke Wright and Attila The Stockbroker, and appeared on BBC Essex Radio, BBC Three Counties Radio, podcasts, and BBC Breakfast TV. Commissioned by Mark Grist to write and perform a poem for his ‘We, The Poets’ podcast.

Ellen, a poet from Ipswich, began pursuing publication and performance opportunities a few years ago, finding inspiration in the Mum Poet Club during the 2021 lockdown. Ellen’s poetry has been featured in zines, journals, and on platforms like BBC Upload and Radio Suffolk, with performances at venues like The Soho Theatre and The Southbank Centre.

Tickets and more events

George Crabbe Poetry Competition 2025

The 2025 George Crabbe Poetry Competition closes on Friday, 13 June 2025.

The adjudicator is Elizabeth Cook.

Photo: Peter Everard Smith

Elizabeth Cook has written poetry, fiction, and libretti and was the editor of the Oxford Authors John Keats. Her fiction includes Achilles, which won a Fringe First when performed in Edinburgh, and Lux. She was librettist for Francis Grier’s The Passion of Jesus of Nazareth, commissioned by BBC Radio 3, and has published two full collections of poetry, Bowl, and When I Kiss the Sky as well as a pamphlet, The Sound of the Rain. She has written critical essays and reviews and has taught in universities, prisons, and a Franciscan friary. She was St Edmundsbury Cathedral’s first Writer in Residence, has been a Hawthornden Fellow and a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Queen Mary University. Poetry is at the heart of her work, and she recommends reading aloud and learning poems by heart to create an inner store for rainy days.

Enter here

or download an entry form here to enter by post.

President: George Szirtes

SPS President George Szirtes receives

The King’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2024

The King has approved the award of His Majesty’s Gold Medal for Poetry for the year 2024 to George Szirtes.

Click here for the official announcement.

Samuel Prince – Esther Morgan – Luke Wright – Susan Garratt
Samuel Prince – Esther Morgan – Luke Wright – Susan Garratt
Walpole Old Chapel
Alistair Bamford at Walpole Old Chapel
Alistair Bamford at Walpole Old Chapel
10th Festival: Annie Freud workshop
10th Festival: MW Bewick workshop
AGM 2024

History of the Festival of Suffolk Poetry

A pictorial history of poets performing through the years.

Festival of Suffolk Poetry
Friday 16th May Online

This workshop is sold out

Heidi Williamson will lead a workshop from 10:30-13:00 on Zoom: ‘Quite Contrary – contradictions in poems‘ – “How can you inject more ‘oomph’ into your poems, deepening them with pleasing contradictions? Poems often thrive on internal tensions that pull the sounds, images, and themes in the poem taut. In this 2.5 hour workshop, we’ll look at some poems containing opposing effects or contents, then create new work that dances on both sides of the fence at once.”

Tickets and more events

Festival of Suffolk Poetry
Saturday 17th May Live

Catherine Smith workshop

“Trust the Image”

Catherine will be leading some poetry writing exercises which explore ways of finding and using/extending different types of imagery, figurative language and symbolism, to energise poems and deepen their connection to readers.

Lewis Buxton workshop

“Writing the Body”

Join poet Lewis Buxton for a workshop on the body in poetry. How do you capture the beauty of the body? Or the ugliness of an injury? Whether it’s in sport, sickness or sex, in this workshop you will read poems by Sharon Olds, Hannah Lowe, Terrance Hayes and other well known poets then write your own poems about the body.

Tickets and more events

Festival of Suffolk Poetry
Saturday 17th May Live

SPS Featured Poets

James Domestic

Ellen Clayton

First poem published in a collection called “Poems for Freedom” a decade ago. Self-published “Cruor” in 2021, followed by “Domesticated Volume 1” in 2023, “Domesticated Volume 2” in 2023, and “Domesticated Volume 3” in 2024. Working on two themed poetry collections for 2025. Compared to John Cooper Clarke, Spike Milligan, Ivor Cutler, and Benjamin Zephaniah. Performed at events across the country, supported Luke Wright and Attila The Stockbroker, and appeared on BBC Essex Radio, BBC Three Counties Radio, podcasts, and BBC Breakfast TV. Commissioned by Mark Grist to write and perform a poem for his ‘We, The Poets’ podcast.

Ellen, a poet from Ipswich, began pursuing publication and performance opportunities a few years ago, finding inspiration in the Mum Poet Club during the 2021 lockdown. Ellen’s poetry has been featured in zines, journals, and on platforms like BBC Upload and Radio Suffolk, with performances at venues like The Soho Theatre and The Southbank Centre.

Tickets and more events

George Crabbe Poetry Competition 2025

The 2025 George Crabbe Poetry Competition closes on Friday, 13 June 2025.

The adjudicator is Elizabeth Cook.

Photo: Peter Everard Smith

Elizabeth Cook has written poetry, fiction, and libretti and was the editor of the Oxford Authors John Keats. Her fiction includes Achilles, which won a Fringe First when performed in Edinburgh, and Lux. She was librettist for Francis Grier’s The Passion of Jesus of Nazareth, commissioned by BBC Radio 3, and has published two full collections of poetry, Bowl, and When I Kiss the Sky as well as a pamphlet, The Sound of the Rain. She has written critical essays and reviews and has taught in universities, prisons, and a Franciscan friary. She was St Edmundsbury Cathedral’s first Writer in Residence, has been a Hawthornden Fellow and a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Queen Mary University. Poetry is at the heart of her work, and she recommends reading aloud and learning poems by heart to create an inner store for rainy days.

Enter here

or download an entry form here to enter by post.

President: George Szirtes

SPS President George Szirtes receives

The King’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2024

The King has approved the award of His Majesty’s Gold Medal for Poetry for the year 2024 to George Szirtes.

Click here for the official announcement.

Samuel Prince – Esther Morgan – Luke Wright – Susan Garratt
Samuel Prince – Esther Morgan – Luke Wright – Susan Garratt
Alistair Bamford
Alistair Bamford at Walpole Old Chapel
Walpole Old Chapel
10th Festival: Annie Freud workshop
10th Festival: MW Bewick workshop
AGM 2024

History of the Festival of Suffolk Poetry

A gallery of poets performing through the years.

Turning Japanese

Download or read online Dr Tim Gardiner’s guide to short-form Japanese poetry.

Read More

Ripples Poems: Selections by Elizabeth Cook

Ripples is a regular online magazine for SPS members.

Ripples was born when we were locked-down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The best of poems from members were published in the magazine.

In celebration of this and also the 70th anniversary of SPS, 70 of the best poems from the more than 200 that were published in Ripples have been selected here.

Elizabeth Cook

Buy a copy
Watch the Zoom launch of the Ripples Anthology
“I have only just read the last copy of ‘Twelve Rivers’.
It’s such an enriching magazine. The articles, the poetry, the graphic design makes it a delight to hold, read and enjoy. I thought the review of your pamphlet by Antony Johae captured my experience of your work.”
Patricia P SPS member
“As usual I am reading Twelve Rivers from cover to cover, and marvelling at the quality and diversity of its contents, as well as the quality of printing and design. If there are any magazines to compare with it, I am yet to see them. The supporting articles about poets and their verse give an extra dimension that is most welcome.”
John GSPS member
“… I should like to congratulate the editorial team for producing such excellent reading matter with Twelve Rivers and Twelve Rivers Ripples during the pandemic – keeping us in touch and feeding our imaginations in the most stimulating way and much appreciated by those of us who live alone and are currently in lockdown.”
Jill RSPS member
“I have extended my membership to cover my 90th birthday. Receiving “Twelve Rivers” and the collection of poems from other members has been a constant delight.”
Maureen SSPS member
The Ripples is a real lifeline for me, I look forward to it every week [Ed. actually fortnightly]. Thanks for it.
Nina RSPS Member
“I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed and was enjoyably surprised at the two events of the festival that I came to, I thought they were really interesting. And if the rest of it was like that, it was a very good festival. … I truly enjoyed them. And, well, that’s… high praise from me…”
Jill E DSPS member on the 7th Festival of Suffolk Poetry

2025 Dates for Your Diary

Wed 01 Jan

George Crabbe Poetry Competition opens

Adjudicator:
Elizabeth Cook

Sun 16 Mar

(note change to date)

SPS AGM

Theme:
‘Beyond Conflict’

Venue: Chocolate Tiger, Market Place, Stowmarket, IP14 1DY

Fri 16 May

11th Festival of Suffolk Poetry

Workshop:
Heidi Williamson

Virtual online Zoom

Tickets

Sat 17 May

11th Festival of Suffolk Poetry

Headliners:
Catherine Smith,
Lewis Buxton

John Peel Centre,
Stowmarket,
IP14 1ET

Tickets

Fri 13 Jun

George Crabbe Poetry Competition closes

Adjudicator:
Elizabeth Cook

Sun 22 Jun

Members’ Readings

Theme: ‘Walls’

Castle Community Centre, Framlingham,
IP13 9BQ

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Gift Aid and SPS

Gift Aid on subscriptions and donations is very helpful to SPS’s finances and cost members and donors nothing.

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