Poetry festival taking place in Leamington this weekend

A poetry festival will be taking place in Leamington this weekend.

The Leamington Poetry Festival, which has been organised by Scriptstuff, will be taking place at The Temperance bar and cafe in Bath Street on both on Saturday and Sunday.

The event will feature local poets and some students from the University of Warwick are also involved.

All the events are free and there is no need for people to pre-book.

Here is a look at the programme of events:

A mixed bag of spoken word shows and works-in-progress (Saturday from 12pm to 1.30pm)

Samples from emerging poets and performers as they each put together their one-man shows. This could be new material, or old favourites.

Tre Ventour - Desiring Whiteness: Interpretations of race and empire in the Jane Austen canon (Saturday 2pm to 3pm)

In this 60-minute lecture presentation, Race and Black History educator Tre Ventour looks at the works of poet and author Jane Austen and discusses her role in relation to race and empire and how people think about National Trust buildings, monuments and grounds.

Sunita Thind - Malaysian and Singaporian fairytales and ancient poetry (Saturday 3.15pm to 4pm)

This will be a writing workshop all about Malaysian fairy tales. People can learn about the history of the form, how they are written, and try to write some themselves.

Speakers of all languages are welcome and people can write in any language they want. The workshop will be hosted by Sunita Thind, a singer, writer, model, spoken word artist, creative writing teacher and ovarian cancer survivor.

Meta (Saturday 4.30pm to 5.30pm)

Four of Coventry's poets share the poetry love. Raef Boylan, Andrew Button, Ann Atkins and Dangermouse are friends and regulars of the Scriptstuff poetry community, and with their show "Meta4" they come together to offer an entertaining and thought-provoking hour of local spoken word.

Warwick LitSoc open mic night (Saturday 6pm to 7pm)

Join Society President Tanisha Bhatara and the students and literary enthusiasts from the University of Warwick's WLS for an evening of open mic poetry love. Guests don't have to be a LitSoc member to get their name on the open mic list, anyone can come along and have a go.

Girls vs Boys : The comedy double-bill of poetry (Saturday 7.30pm to 10pm)

Two teams of comedy poetry performers will be performing for this session.

The Scriptstuff drop-in big poetry quiz and open mic (Sunday 12pm-1.30pm)

Festival director Mike Took hosts an informal poetry quiz and open mic slots available to all-comers. There will be no teams, no writing things down, people just need to shout out some answers. People can also take a turn on the microphone and share some of their own poetry.

Warwickshire Young Poet Laureate and young open mic (Sunday 1.30pm to 2pm)

Join contenders for Warwickshire Young Poet Laureate as they perform samples of their own poetry to the audience. This is also an opportunity for any budding junior poet aged two to 17 to have a go on the open mic reading or performing one of their favourite poems or something they have written themselves

Word Guerrilla's slang jam (Sunday 2.30pm to 3.30pm)

Children and adults of all ages can join Word Guerrilla to experience a high energy performance poetry show featuring beatboxing and looping. Then, get creative yourself and using known and newly created slang, write and perform Slang Jam couplets to beatboxed beats.

Weaving words creative writing workshop (Sunday 4pm to 4.50pm)

Join Kezzabelle Ambler for a creative expression workshop and the opportunity to express thoughts and feelings in different styles. She uses humour and her love of words and people to uplift and inspire, showing how the pen can become a tool for life. Suitable for all abilities and ages.

Kezzabelle Ambler - Permission to speak (Sunday 5pm to 5.30pm)

'The Bard of Northampton' and 'Mistress of Mischief' will perform during this slot

Andy Gilbert - the poetry teacher (Sunday 6pm to 7pm)

The self-proclaimed number one poetry teacher in the UK delivers a masterclass before performing a new genre combining poetry, storytelling and theatre. His work is considered to be both vulgar and deluded but the sincerity of Gilbert cannot be doubted. Suitable for ages 15 plus

Third annual Scriptstuff poetry slam championship and open mic (Sunday 7.30pm to 10pm)

Three knock-out rounds of poetry slamming, all judged by a panel of guest judges and the audience. Open Mic slots available to pre-book, and random audience judges selected on the night.