Morecambe Poetry Festival 2025 at various venues

Our Tourist Telescope is set on the coast – more specifically, Morecambe Poetry Festival, back for a fourth year with an impressive line-up featuring Michael Rosen, Henry Normal, John Hegley, Robin Ince and Luke Wright.

Renowned for his work as a poet, performer, broadcaster and scriptwriter, and one of the best-known figures in the children’s book world, Michael Rosen will take to the stage with award-winning poet Clare Ferguson Walker. Festival friend Henry Normal, regularly published by Salford’s Flapjack Press, is bringing with him Nigel Planer, infamous Young One. Poetry royalty John Hegley, on his third visit to the festival, and Jan Brierton, the Irish poet who has just supported Dr John Cooper Clarke on his stadium tour, are the next pairing.

Alongside some of the nation’s big names, the three nights of wall-to-wall poetry will include grassroots performances, open mics, writing workshops, family activities and poetry takeovers by the likes of Speech Therapy – Nottingham’s longest running spoken word night – and Manchester poets Miles Hadfield, Dave Viney, Thick Richard and Monkey Poet remembering Jackie Hagan, who was a headliner at Morecambe Poetry Festival in 2023.

Recently spotted at Manchester Poets and Verbose respectively, Sarah L Dixon and Lisa Moore are on the bill, and Louise Fazackerley is running free poetry workshops in local primary schools.

After the BBC brought its leading Radio 4 spoken word and performance shows – Loose Ends and The Verb presented by Ian McMillan – to the festival last year, this time round the UK’s leading poetry publisher Bloodaxe Books will be in attendance, with readings from Clare Pollard, Jessica Traynor and Tracey Herd, while Write Out Loud, the national poetry organisation with a passionate belief in the power of poetry to bring enjoyment, fulfilment and positive change to people’s lives, will be celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Other performers are due to be confirmed, so keep an eye on the festival’s social channels.

Morecambe Poetry Festival is supported by Waterstones, TS Eliot Foundation, Eden Project Communities, Wordsworth Grasmere and Morecambe Town Council. Weekend passes are £65 plus booking fee (total £71.75) – this gives you access to every single event and performance including a pre-fest meet-up and Best of Morecambe showcase on Thursday 11 September, featuring work from the monthly poetry night run by festival director Matt Panesh, Big White Shed publisher Anne Holloway, Big Charlie Poet and Bryan Griffin, Carnforth’s first poet laureate.