Morecambe Poetry Festival

Already announced are comedy folk music poet Mike Harding, national treasure Pam Ayres, Sunday Times bestselling poet Donna Ashworth, comedy actor, writer and impressionist Alistair McGowan, literary institution Lemn Sissay MBE, festival friend Henry Normal, potty-mouthed Thick Richard and the award winning Jamaican British poet Raymond Antrobus MBE FRSL plus Tony Walsh, Kate Fox, Emma Purshouse, Steve Pottinger and Chris Lynam.

Open mic sessions and free writing workshops will give new poets or those trying out new material the space to write and opportunities to perform. The West End Playhouse runs a monthly poetry slam where the best poet each month will win a weekend pass and a slot on stage at the festival.

The poetry writing workshops are being led by Big White Shed with writers having the chance to perform their work monthly at the West End Playhouse on Yorkshire Street every second Saturday. They can enter a competition to win festival passes and perform their work at the festival.

A second edition of the poetry festival anthology is underway and now inviting submissions on the theme of regeneration up until 31 March.

The BBC is bringing two of its leading Radio 4 spoken word and performance shows to Morecambe Poetry Festival to capture the poets in action and chat to guests in front of a live audience.

The Verb presented by Ian McMillan is a cabaret of the word, featuring the best poetry, new writing and performance. The Verb will be recording its show on Saturday 21 September 5.45pm to 7pm. There will be up to five poets performing on the programme with both national and local names to be considered.

Loose Ends is an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. Loose Ends will record on Friday 20 September 6pm to 7pm with around four guests to open the festival, and will go out on air the next day.

Weekend passes are now on sale and day tickets will be released in March. Weekend passes start at £65 plus booking fee. With 65 poets on the bill running from 10am to 2am, it's great value at just £1 a poet!

Shows and workshops aimed at the younger audience will be running up until 3pm both days. For the family section of the festival, weekend child and adult tickets are capped at £10 plus booking fee.