Derby Poetry Festival 2024 packed with live music and fun poetry slams at iconic city landmarks

Derby Poetry Festival is set to take over the city and platform local talent over the course of four days.

The literary event running from October 2 - 6, 2024, will unfold in venues across the city.

In its sixth year, Derby Poetry Festival (DPF) aims to showcase poetry, arts and culture, while nurturing local talent and budding poets.

Highlights for this year’s festival include a poetry and live music event at the Bad Betty evening hosted by The Old Bell Hotel, and a fun poetry slam at Museum of Making.

Festival organisers have been working hard to build a creative community since 2017.

Reflecting on the current creative scene in Derby, Dan Webber from DPF told DerbyWorld: “Derby, like a lot of places in the Midlands, has a thriving poetry and spoken word scene.

“There’s Deda Poets which is now based at QUAD, and Real Talk and Word Wise, both based at Dubrek Studios.

“Our festival was founded to support and have a yearly celebration of these existing events that take place across the year.”

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Over the years, the role of the festival has evolved into an organisation which runs poetry events and projects across Derby and Derbyshire all year round.

Dan, who has been a poetry performer for the past 10 years, is excited by the festival’s evolution and progress over the years.

They said: “It's a joy to see how the scene has grown and developed in this time, and to see how our poetry and spoken word community of performers and producers has developed alongside it.

“How many other cities have a football team who play a spoken word piece before every game? Or have such a vibrant festival scene, including a poetry festival, folk festival and book festival annually in short succession?

“We work with a number of cultural partners and venues and also implement a radical pricing structure, meaning hopefully everyone who wants to engage with the festival feels supported to do so.

“This year we are hosting events at QUAD, Derby Museums, The Old Bell Hotel and Dubrek Studios, as well as digitally.”

Derby Poetry Festival history

The festival was established in 2017 by Jamie Thrasivoulou and Trevor Wright.

In 2022 Aoife O'Connor and Sophie Sparham became co-directors.

Dan says they are “grateful” to be part of the poetry project.

They added: "Derby Poetry Festival has welcomed some incredible headliners to Derby over the years including Terrance Hayes and Joelle Taylor.

“This year is no different, with performances from Roger Robinson, outgoing Birmingham Poet Laureate Jasmine Gardosi and Derbyshire legend John Tams to name but a few.”

For anyone looking to develop their craft the festival is also hosting several digital and in-person workshops, and performance opportunities.

The festival is keen to champion local talent and welcomes newbie poets, or anyone looking to dip their toe into poetry.

Dan said: “I'd highly recommend the poetry slam on Friday, October, 4.

“There will be 14 poets competing, one will be crowned 2024 Slam Champion.

“The standard of performance is always brilliant, and the atmosphere is always electric, we never know what's going to happen until the first performer walks on stage!"

Derby Poetry Festival runs from Wednesday, October 2, till Sunday, October 6, 2024 at venues across the city.

For more information about Derby Poetry Festival click here.