Past
Nottingham Poetry Festival
In June we put on our Five Senses Around Nottingham walking tour for the Nottingham Poetry Festival. What we thought was going to be a rather dismal day with torrential rain in the morning, we asked ourselves, who is going to be interested in walking around Nottingham in the rain? Yet, our spirits were lifted as we were greeted by twenty keen and enthusiastic poets, kitted out in waterproofs and ready to write!
Thankfully the rain eased off after the first two stops of the tour, and we were able to explore all around Nottingham, with each Youth Board member leading one of the writing prompts inspired by the five senses. My writing prompt was for ‘sound’ and was able to combine my love of Taylor Swift lyrics with the work of the fantastic musician George Nash who performed beautiful pieces inspiring the tones of the poems written.
After visiting Happy Sunday Vintage for touch, Bromley House Library for smell and Nottingham Contemporary for sight, we were ready for taste at Pizza Pilgrims, tasting the delectable pizza they have to offer.
This was my favourite Youth Board event of the year as it felt so different to anything else we’d done before and each member of the board got their moment to shine, creating unique and one of a kind writing prompts. I’m excited to use those creative juices for our 2025 events.
Present
Visiting Newstead Abbey
In July we were given the opportunity to visit Newstead Abbey to explore the ancestral home of Lord Byron. When discussing Nottingham’s literary hall of fame the romantic poet’s name often crops up, but aside from knowing one or two of his poems and that he owned a bear, there wasn’t much else I knew of him.
Visiting the Abbey during the 200 years anniversary of his death meant the team had Newstead had additional exhibitions sharing more about Byron’s life. I enjoyed learning about the evening Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and John Polidori set a competition for the best supernatural tale which led to the creation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
I also enjoyed seeing the various Cities of Literature’s commissioned artists interpretations of the famous Black Friar ghost which inspired me to write a poem of the life of the Black Friar and how he became the ghost of the Abbey.
We were all drawn and inspired from various parts of Byron’s life. Oli wrote about Byron’s relationship with John Edlestone, Mia wrote about the grounds of the Abbey and Abi was inspired by a quote of Byron’s ‘friendship is like love without wings’.
Our poems are now featured in the Abbey until December, and it feels exciting to have the next generation of Nottingham’s writers featured in the ancestral home of Byron.
Future
10 year anniversary
2025 will be City of Literature’s 10 year anniversary and preparations to mark this literary occasion are already underway! In November City of Literature hosted a youth consultation for the young people of Nottingham to have their say in what they want to see happen in a City of Literature.
The Youth Board has recently welcomed new members and together we are planning our 2025 projects. I’m looking forward to seeing more young people engaging in the literary scene and having opportunities in the city to express themselves creatively.