#event #announcement #review
I attended this festival with my friend and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
Guided along by Ella Otomewo and her lovely team, we had readings from Cultureword's Oldham Poetry Magazine, which was produced in the summer. Then we had a very varied writing workshop followed by a tasty picnic lunch. There were book stalls to browse and books to buy and even free glossy magazines given away.
After lunch was the open mic, which, as always, had so much talent. I met up with old friends and made new ones. I was particularly enthused to meet up with Gemma Lees and her son, Tommy, whom I haven't seen for years.
The winners of the 'Stand Up Poetry' competition were announced:
Ist place - What Oldham Holds by Keeran Sahiba
2nd place - Kaur Rising by Jasleen Kandhari
3rd Place - The British Working Class is a Colony by James Lawton.
We had an enthusiastic performance of her 2nd place poem by Jasleen. Unfortunately, the first and third prize winners were not present, but Ella stepped into the breech and read them really well.
So all in all, we had a lovely time, and my non-writing friend could browse the books and have interesting chats while I did the workshop. We came home laden with books to read!
A big thank you to Cultureword for organising this event and to Pete Kalu and Ella and all the team. Also, a big thank you to Rachel for the 1853 Studios venue, which has such wonderful acoustics that many of the poets preferred not to use the mic!
©✍️ CarolynCrossley, 2026
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