Thank you to everyone who attended the 2026 Cheltenham Poetry Festival this April. With record audiences, a stunning and powerful programme and an electric atmosphere; the Festival celebrated poetry’s power to enchant, transport, entertain, and transform.
Embracing the theme ‘possessed,’ our programme featured compelling poetry of haunting, enchantment, alchemy, self-possession, resilience, and a powerful sense of place. The open mics provided an opportunity for everyone to interpret the theme in their own unique ways.
Festival highlights included Rishi Dastidar and David Punter unravelling verses that inspired and haunted them, Adam Horovitz exploring Neolithic Gloucestershire to uncover deep connections between humanity and place, and Gregory Leadbetter discussing poetry’s role in illuminating everyday life and deeper mysteries. Rosie Garland and Holly Winter Hughes, in “This is How I Fight,” demonstrated poetry’s power to help us battle against the odds. Audiences dived into the darkness during “When Edgar Met Emily: An Evening of Gothic Poetry,” presented by Moth Sanctuary, a play fusing the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson with new music. Jean Atkin, Richard Skinner, and Martin Kennedy Yates explored how landscapes influence and possess our writing, while Fiona Sampson revisited the romantic countryside in Starlight Wood. William Wootten and Derek Healy presented poetry bridging the personal with the universal, and Samatar Elmi, Kitty Donnelly, Jeremy Dixon, and Jamie Woods shared poems inspired by contemporary and pop culture. Plus Professor Arran Stibbe and David Clarke offered a rich conversation on the poetic traditions of East Asia and William Wootten lifted the veil on the work of Walter De La Mere.
As always, the Festival featured readings from outstanding local poets alongside internationally acclaimed names.
We are grateful for the inspiration, enlightenment, and entertainment offered by all who participated and attended.
We also thank our sponsors, patrons, and advertisers for their generous support, including Lodders Solicitors, The Ken Healy STEM Fund and Derek Healy, the Poetry Pharmacy, Dark Poets Club, Cheltenham Borough Council, Somewhere Else Writers’ Group, The Golsoncott Foundation, Janusz Arnold, BM, Gloucestershire Poetry Society, The Daydream Academy, Gloucestershire Writers’ Network, Steel Jackdaw Magazine, Alison Brackenbury, Cheltenham Cycles, Black Eyes Publishing UK, our Life Patrons Lucy Heuschen, Annie Ellis, Howard Timms, Marilyn Timms, Robin Gilbert, Sheila Saunders, and those we remember: Clair Chilvers and Ann Drysdale.
Thank you for helping make the 2026 Cheltenham Poetry Festival a triumph! We are already looking forward to 2027 with great excitement.
