The 2023 Ripon Poetry Festival, which came to a close yesterday evening, proved a success with sell-out performances and a record entry for the annual poetry competition.

The final event, held at the Ripon Arts Hub on Allhallowgate, was an evening with theatre legend Barrie Rutter, the actor and director who founded Northern Broadsides to champion acting talent from the north.

This year's 11-day festival also featured Internationally-famous children’s author Michael Rosen, who made a return to the city, having helped to launch the first Ripon Poetry Festival in 2017.

Festival curator Andy Cross told the Stray Ferret:

Mr Croft (pictured above, centre) was among the panel of three judges that included Ripon Theatre Festival director Katie Scott and last year's competition winner Simon Strickland (pictured left) who selected the poem, Newborn, written by Edmund Thomson Jones as the 2023 winning entry.

His entry, which was inspired by the birth of his daughter, now features alongside other entries in the 142-page festival anthology titled Creative Juices.

A separate anthology including entries from children, has also been published.

The festival, which  is the biggest of its kind in Yorkshire saw performances from poets Hadley-James Hoyles, Alison Carr, Robert Powell and Sarah Wimbush.

In addition to workshops for children and adults there was open mic evening organised by Write-on Ripon and Ripon Writers Group.

A review of An Audience with Barrie Rutter is available here.

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