Winchester Poetry Festival 2025
Things Being Various: Ruth Padel with Clare Pollard
In Conversation with Clare Pollard, award-winning poet and prose writer Ruth Padel will discuss five ‘things’ that have inspired her or are symbolic of important stages in her development. She will accompany the discussion with readings of her poetry.
This brilliant format - ‘Things Being Various’ - was devised by Jon Sayers for the inaugural Winchester Poetry Festival in 2014. Previous poets have included Annie Freud, Paul Muldoon, Sasha Dugdale, Jo Shapcott and Christopher Reid.
Award-winning poet Ruth Padel has published thirteen poetry collections, novels, and non-fiction including the ever-popular 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem. Her collection Girl explores through the Annunciation, Cretan snake goddesses, and the poet’s own life how the world girls face is shaped by male power and male fantasy.
Clare Pollard’s most recent books are the children’s novel The Untameables and the adult novel The Modern Fairies. She has published five collections of poetry with Bloodaxe, with her sixth, Lives of the Female Poets, forthcoming in 2025. Her poem Pollen was nominated for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. She is Winchester Poetry Festival’s current Artistic Director.
Suitable for: all
Duration: 1 hour
Format: in person, poetry readings and conversation.
Access: venue is wheelchair accessible throughout
