• Britain’s largest Poetry Festival, brimming with events over ten days every summer.
  
  
• A substantial Community Programme of literature development events with schools, community and voluntary organisations.
  
  
• An international Poetry Competition.
  
  
• A year-round programme of activities in and around
  the organisation's home of Ledbury in Herefordshire in the West Midlands.
  
  
• A poet-in-residence, who provides workshops and one-to-one sessions during the Summer Festival.
  

The Festival was established in 1997 and grows from strength to strength.

Support
The Festival would like to thank all the people and institutions who provide support, especially the Arts Council of England, local authorities, foundations and charitable trusts.
The Ledbury Poetry Festival is very much an organisation firmly built on the voluntary support and freely given time of the many local businesses and residents who help make the Festival such a success.

Community Programme
From its inception the Festival has had an extremely active programme of outreach to:

• Schools
• Community organisations
• People with disabilities
• Young people
• Local writers

The Summer Festival
The Ledbury Summer Poetry Festival is the biggest and brightest in Britain. Featuring contemporary poets, actors and media personalities, the Festival is 10 days full of poetry.
The Festival includes readings, performances, exhibitions, music, walks & talks, workshops and a wonderful atmosphere. Ledbury is unique in its historical associations with poets and is a charming mediaeval market town nestling in the Malvern Hills.
A visit to Ledbury Poetry Festival is a memorable and uplifting experience, valued by many of our audience members who come back to see us year after year.

Poetry Competition
Each year we organise a prestigious competition for new poetry which attracts entries from all over the globe.
Our aim in doing so is to recognise and reward emerging talent, as well as to provide an outlet for the considerable poetry talent which is rooted in our region.
Our poet in residence judges the Competition and entries fall in to one of the three categories: Adult, Young Person or Child. Each category is awarded three prizes and the winning poems from each year are given virtual publication through appearing on a dedicated page of our web site: www.poetry-festival.com
Previous judges have included Ruth Padel, Matthew Sweeney, Jo Shapcott, Mark Doty, Gillian Clarke, Don Paterson, Paula Meehan and Theo Dorgan.