December. We’re racing toward the fag end of 2024, so we kicked off the final month of the year with a burst of poetic activity. Well, why wouldn’t you?
The day started with two workshops at Wolves Art Gallery, in conjunction with their incredible ‘Painted Dreams’ exhibition. This recreates the original and groundbreaking 1907 exhibition of paintings and pastel drawings by artist Evelyn de Morgan – which was the first ever UK solo exhibition by a female artist – and it’s absolutely magnificent. If you haven’t already been to see it, you’ve got until early March, but don’t hang about, because you’ll want to visit more than once.
Our workshops invited participants to each create a piece of ekphrastic poetry in response to Evelyn de Morgan’s work, and we’re delighted to say that the poems they drafted clearly showed how much of an impact her paintings had on them. Our hope is that the finished poems will be available for visitors to the exhibition to read – hopefully by the time Wolves Lit Fest rolls around at the end of January. More news on that when we have it.
A quick dash home in the last of the daylight, a bite to eat, and it was time for our last Yes We Cant of the year. Reader, what a belter it was! Our open mic poets excelled themselves; ‘Alf Ender Sarah L Dixon entertained with poems in praise of 90s indie music; and our headliner Kim Moore presented us with the gift of new and astounding poems from her forthcoming book. Yes We Cant is always a highlight of our month, but this one was exceptional. We couldn’t have asked to finish the year on a better note.
Now, we’ll be putting our feet up for a well-earned (and much-needed) rest. Our huge thanks and appreciation to everyone who’s supported and enjoyed our work over the course of 2024. We’ll be back again in 2025. If you need a poetry fix in the meantime, the Wolves Lit Fest poetry competition is open to entries until the end of the year (details on our website), and if you’re looking for a unique present for friends and family, then tickets for the 2025 Wolves Lit Fest poetry slam (trumpet-blowing alert: this is undoubtedly one of the best poetry slams around, so ignore it at your peril) are now on sale. You can get yours here.
From here on, we’ll be living the festive dream with lebkuchen, mistletoe, and mulled wine. What could possibly go wrong?
See you in the New Year.
PPP