A few days ago Helen Ivory posted this
question on Facebook. There was a
flurry of responses, none from a festival, nearly all saying they didn’t know
the answer.
I
wondered about replying as I am one of the three members on the Cheltenham
Poetry Festival (CPF) management team, but I decided to write this blog post
instead as I can give a longer and more considered reply.
The
first thing to say is that this post is my personal take on the question and is
limited to one poetry festival.
Considerations in booking poets
We book
poets, who will be attractive to our audience or should I say audiences. We
have a 10-day event this September in Cheltenham. The audience for this is
different from that for the year-round online festival we run. We can be more
adventurous with the online festival. But with both in-Cheltenham and online
festivals we are looking for poets who can read their poetry in a way that reaches
out and engages our audience.
There
are other considerations when we book poets. The first is financial and of
course is related to ticket sales. We don’t have a large budget and we have to
make it balance at the end of the year/festival. It means we can’t book all the
poets we would like. Sadly issues such as the size of the fee, costs of travel
and accommodation, all play a part.
Does
the poet’s work fit with the programme? We want our programme to be diverse, in
all sorts of ways, in subject matter, poetry style and form, ethnicity, poet’s
age etc. We usually have a minimum of two poets reading per event, do they
complement each other, maybe they are dealing with the same theme but in
different ways?
So how do we find poets?
Poets
are constantly approaching us, far more poets than we have slots. A polite
email is the best option, rather than messaging us. Do read any information we
have on the website about when and how to apply.
We are
also proactive in looking for poets. We read poetry books and magazines, go to
poetry events especially online ones. If we find someone who excites us and
fits what we are looking for, we may approach them or keep them in mind until
we can.
The
open mic slots at our online events are really important to us. Open mics is a
way of performing at the Festival that is open to everyone, not just for newbies
but also established published poets. We do sometimes offer a headline slot to
someone, who has come to our attention via the open mc.
So what can you do to get a headline slot?
- Have a
published poetry book (not self-published)
- Attend
CPF events, it may not be possible to attend the in-Cheltenham Festival, but if
you are interested in performing with CPF attend some of our online events
- Learn
how to communicate your poetry to an audience (open mics are great for this)
- Take
part in online events.
- Talk to
your publisher – CPF sometimes has publisher showcases, where a number of poets
from one publisher read together.
- By all
means send us a polite enquiry email
- Remember
we are three volunteers with limited time, running a festival because we love
poetry. Poets who give us hassle and/or extra work aren’t likely to be booked,
or if booked won’t be booked again.
In conclusion
I hope
this post helps. As a fellow poet I know how hard finding readings can be. Good
luck.
UPDATE
Cheltenham Poetry Festival website now has a "Take Part" page and a dedicated contact form for poets to join a special mailing list. The page is here https://cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk/take-part/
