National Poetry Day with Mark Rutter and Julian Stannard

Workshop, readings + open mic

Thursday 2nd October

4:30 - 7:45pm

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Celebrate National Poetry Day 2025's theme of 'play' with readings and a workshop hosted by University of Winchester. Guest facilitators are poet-artist Mark Rutter and International Troubadour Prize, and Shelley Prize winner Julian Stannard. Both have been published extensively.

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Word as Sound and Vision: workshop with Mark Rutter

4:30 - 6pm

Language is increasingly thought of in terms of its information-carrying potential, but words have other, secret lives as sounds and shapes. In this workshop we will take a playfully experimental approach to exploring the visual and sonic aspects of words and letters. There will be a series of creative exercises using found texts, manual typewriters, and coloured pens and pencils. Paper and other materials will be provided, so come along and set the language free to sing and roam across the page.

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Readings from Julian Stannard and Mark Rutter, plus open-mic

6:30 - 7:45pm

Join poets Julian Stannard and Mark Rutter for a poetry reading/performance and open mic in the Stripe Lecture Room at the University of Winchester.

Mark Rutter takes an experimental approach to performance, combining poetry with elements of art and music. Julian Stannard will be reading from his New and Selected Poems ( Salt , 2025)

All are welcome, so bring along a poem to perform.

Suitable for: all ages and abilities, student and general public all welcome

Duration: 90 min workshop, 75 min readings + open mic

Format: relaxed session

Access: contact for details

Game Poems

Drop-in with Jordan Magnuson

Sunday 5th October

10am - 4pm

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Can videogames be poems? Come to the Winchester School of Art and find out! Experimental game designer and new media poet Jordan Magnuson curates an innovative collection of small, poetic videogames that anyone can play and enjoy. Presented in collaboration with University of Southampton.

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You may drop in at any time throughout the session.

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At 11:30 Jordan Magnuson will deliver a short explanatory introduction: "What Are Lyric Games and Game Poems?"

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Jordan Magnuson is an experimental game designer and new media poet, and a senior lecturer in WSA's Games Design and Art programme. He is author of the book, Game Poems: Videogame Design as Lyric Practice, and founding editor of the Game Poems magazine.

Suitable for: all ages and abilities

Duration: 6 hours.

Format: drop-in session, poetry video games

Access: Requires the ability to push buttons on a keyboard or controller, but no gaming skills are necessary.

Mining The Classics

Online workshop with Julia Copus

Monday 6th October 

6.30 - 8:30pm

Classic poems can provide an exciting stimulus for new work, and open up new ways of thinking. Join award-winning poet Julia Copus for a playful and informative workshop exploring the various approaches that can be used to rethink, refresh and respond to the classics.

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There’ll be examples from some of our most gifted poets and exercises to kindle new work – with a special focus on the cento, a patchwork of poem fragments whose use stretches back to Classical times themselves. Bring an open mind!

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Julia Copus has published four collections of poetry. Girlhood (Faber 2019) was winner of America’s inaugural Derek Walcott Prize. She has tutored poetry courses for Oxford University and the Arvon Foundation, and currently teaches for the Faber Academy. Julia is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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This workshop will take place online only.

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Suitable for: all

Duration: 2 hours (including short break)

Format: online

Access: subtitles available

Ice Cream For a Broken Tooth

Readings with Robin Ince

Monday 6th October 

6.30 - 8:30pm

Multi award winning comedian, author and broadcaster Robin Ince reads from his debut poetry collection as part of Winchester Poetry Festival 2025!

In 2024, Robin Ince started writing poetry obsessively. Best known for presenting The Infinite Monkey Cage and non fiction like Bibliomaniac and Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, his first collection of poetry - Ice Cream for a Broken Tooth has been published this year (Flapjack Press).

At this event at P&G Wells Bookshop, he will be reading from this collection, plus poems he has written since the book went to press, and a few written particularly for the night!

Robin's poems are bold and tender and explore life, death and the odd bits in between.

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Suitable for: all ages

Duration: 1 hour approx

Format: poetry readings

Access: Relaxed performance, venue is up a flight of stairs.

Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Poetry Platform x WPF25

Open Mic and guest poet Hilary Davies

Tuesday 7th October

7 - 10:30pm

Winchester Poetry Festival presents Winchester Poetry Prize 2024 longlisted poet Hilary Davies as special guest at The Railway Inn’s monthly celebration of spoken word, Poetry Platform. In this special collaborative event, Hilary will be reading from her latest collection, Compass Light, which explores our relationships with both the human and natural world. As always, there will be an Open Mic for local poets to share their work too.

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Hilary Davies will be reading from her fifth collection, Compass Light (Renard Press). She is a former Chairman of the Poetry Society, and has been an RLF Fellow at King’s College, London and the British Library. In 2023 she was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Environmental Poet of the Year award.

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Tickets are not required for this event - booking will give you an email reminder only. Arrive early to sign up for Open Mic.

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Suitable for: 18+ only

Duration: 3.5 hours approx

Format: poetry open mic, guest reading

Access: Relaxed performance, venue is up a flight of stairs, but there is access via the hill - ramp on request.