The return of Stamford’s Verse Festival - with legendary Roger McGough

Luke Wright is the first of the big names coming to the Arts Centre on Thursday, April 30.

His new show Later Life Letter tells the story of Luke Wright’s adoption – the life he leads, and the one he might have done. What’s it like to stumble across your birth mother on Facebook? How do you honour the parents who have raised you while satisfying a curiosity about where you came from? Is it telling that you married a social worker?

This starts at 7:30pm. Tickets £15

Music show Things Found in Books is next on Friday, May 1.

Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine’s new album Things Found in Books is an album of songs written in response to a notice board in Culzean Castle’s second-hand bookshop littered with things that have dropped out of books. Letters, notes, photographs, old receipts, postcards, fragments of people’s lives which has been lovingly collected and kept on a board on the wall amongst the bookshelves.

From 7:30pm, tickets £20 (£18 cons)

The ever-popular John Hegley is at the Arts Centre on Saturday, May 2.

John Hegley's father was half French (the bottom half), and his comic poet and songster son has continued to dabble in the cross-channel heritage with imaginings in the rotundish shape of Monsieur Maurice Robinet, who is a playful and benevolent influence on both the world and its words (largely English, it should be noted).

John Hegley presents tales about a Frenchman with some unusual [but clean] habits, which include burying his dog’s kennel and his own luggage pieces. The stories appear alongside other new works, which include an address to aliens on the subject of transport, a poem about a non-talking parrot and the demonstration of cardboard animals.

This is an afternoon performance, starting at 2pm, tickets £10 (£8 cons)

Then the legendary Roger McGough brings the festival to a close on Saturday, May 2.

His new show, Alive And Gigging, takes audiences on a journey back to key moments of his life. McGough reflects on his Liverpool childhood during World War II, with memories and poems including The Full English, The Overall Winner and Learning to Read. Memories of his mum and dad are told through poems The Railing and What Does Your Father Do, and some are a throwback to the ’60s, namely The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Top of the Pops.

This starts at 7:30pm and tickets are £20

What sets the Verse Festival apart from many other poetry festivals is that it strives to include as many local poets as it can. Starting with the popular annual Poet Laureate Final on Wednesday, April 29, at which the finalists of this year’s competition will read their entries and say what they would aspire to do during their year in post. This starts at 7:30pm and is free.

Stamford’s Sights and Secret Tours will be leading a Doorways to the Past tour on Saturday, May 2 during which poetry will be read by some of the Pint of Poetry regulars. This starts at 11am from the Arts Centre and tickets cost £12.

Then in the afternoon there will be a Self-Publishing Forum. Self-publishing is one option for seeing your poetry in print, but there is not just one way to go about it. A panel of local poets who have already made the mistakes will be discussing how to go about it so hopefully you can avoid them. This starts at 1pm and is free.

Then for those who might want to improve their writing or to try new styles there is a Poetry Workshop – Experiment and Play, lead by poet Ross Sutherland.

Ross Sutherland is the author of four collections of poetry. His other writing credits include the TV special Missing Episode (BBC2) and the libretto for the opera Giant (Royal Opera House, 2024). He also hosts the experimental writing podcast Imaginary Advice (British Podcast Award). This starts at 4pm and costs £20

Full details of the Verse Festival can be found in both the Stamford Arts Centre’s brochure and on its website at stamfordartscentre.com