On Friday evening, the unmistakable voice of John Cooper Clarke will roll through Morecambe Winter Gardens.
The Bard of Salford - the punk poet whose wiry observations have travelled from working men’s clubs to concert halls, classrooms and Arctic Monkeys records - will open the fifth Morecambe Poetry Festival in one of the North’s great surviving performance spaces.
It's a formidable way to begin.
Across three days, Clarke will be joined by an unusually broad assembly of poets, performers, comedians and publishers. Patience Agbabi, Salena Godden, Henry Normal, Luke Wright, Kate Fox, Brian Bilston, Attila the Stockbroker and festival favourite Jackie Kay are all heading for the Lancashire coast.
But the story of Morecambe Poetry Festival is no longer simply about the people it can persuade to visit. Five editions in, it's increasingly about who gets to stand beside them.
Four winners of the festival’s local poetry slam are preparing to appear on the Winter Gardens stage after receiving workshops and performance coaching from founder Matt Panesh.
The ambition isn't to place local writers around the margins of a national programme. It's to give them the confidence and preparation to occupy its principal platform.
“This is something we’ve been building on from year one,” Panesh says. “It’s also the reasoning behind our anthologies. It’s all about giving people the opportunity and the confidence.
“I want our local poets to go onto that stage and own it, proving they’ve every right to be in front of a packed audience at the town’s historic performance venue.”
Among them is local poet Trystan Lewis, who will support John Cooper Clarke on the opening night.
Lewis has won the Plough Poetry Prize, judged by Roger McGough, secured consecutive local prizes at Morecambe Poetry Festival and been longlisted for the 2026 Forward Prize. But his relationship with the festival began with something quieter: the recovery of his own desire to write.
“The first Morecambe Poetry Festival was the thing that got me writing again for the first time in a very long time,” he says, “and every year it refills the tank with inspiration and enthusiasm.
“It’s great how Matt manages ways of giving local poets the chance to be heard on the same stage as some of the country’s biggest names. It’s a precious thing.”
That progression - from tentative participation to the Winter Gardens stage - is central to what the festival has become.
The Winter Gardens provides the grand architectural centrepiece, but the weekend will spread through the town.
Friday’s programme moves to the King’s Arms with Thick Richard and Miles Hadfield before the floor opens for the late-night They Shoot Poets Don’t They open mic.
On Saturday, comedian, author and broadcaster Robin Ince appears at the King’s Arms ahead of a Burning Eye Books takeover, individual performances, regional showcases and another late-night open mic.
Sunday brings an opportunity to meet publishers before Jackie Kay begins the day’s performances. Lisa Moore, Peter Shukie and Elvis McGonagall follow, alongside further regional takeovers and appearances from The Newton Neurotics and Monkey Poet.
For those prepared to start early, there'll be poetry breakfasts on all three mornings. Elsewhere, a free Word Walk and the emphatically titled workshop So You Think You Can’t Write a Poem, Let Us Prove You Wrong! will attempt to draw in people who might never ordinarily consider attending a poetry event.
A new pedal-powered Poetry for the People stage at the Arndale will create more room for performances and open-mic appearances. The name is playful, but the intention's serious: to take poetry into an everyday public space and make participation more visible.
At Morecambe Town Library, a free children’s programme led by climate and literacy organisation Hot Poets and Carnforth Poet Laureate Bryan Griffin will showcase work created by children during workshops held before the festival.
This is where the event’s scale becomes really interesting. The headline programme might sell tickets, but the breakfasts, walks, workshops, children’s events and open microphones are what allow a festival to become rooted in its town.
They create points of entry.
This year’s anthology is the festival’s largest yet. Its theme of entertainers and anniversaries marks the centenary of Eric Morecambe’s birth, linking the spoken-word programme to the town’s wider cultural memory.
Copies will be sold during the weekend, with profits returning to the festival.
That circularity is important. Morecambe Poetry Festival is using nationally recognised performers to attract an audience, while attempting to ensure that attention and income create opportunities for local writers.
The relationship need not be one-directional. The visiting poets bring reputation, experience and audiences; Morecambe provides a place with its own theatrical history, humour and appetite for live performance.
Over the weekend, the Winter Gardens will host Patience Agbabi and Nick Helm on Saturday afternoon, followed by Salena Godden and Henry Normal. Sunday’s main-stage programme pairs Luke Wright with Kate Fox before Brian Bilston and Attila the Stockbroker bring the headline performances to a close.
Around them will be local slam winners, regional showcases, publishers, children, open-mic regulars and people attempting to write or perform a poem for the first time.
John Cooper Clarke might possess the most instantly recognisable voice on the bill. The festival’s longer-term achievement, however, will be measured by the voices Morecambe discovers for itself.
Morecambe Poetry Festival takes place from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September 2026, with events at Morecambe Winter Gardens, the King’s Arms, Morecambe Town Library and other locations around the town.
Individual Winter Gardens shows cost £25 plus booking fee.
A weekend pass covering all shows costs £65 plus booking fee, with premium passes also available.
The programme includes free activities, workshops and children’s events.
Tickets HERE
Header image: John Cooper Clarke, Morecambe Poetry Festival. Credit Richard Davis
