It’s the morning (very possibly the afternoon) after the night before, and we’re basking in the satisfaction of another splendid Wolves Lit Fest poetry slam. A fantastic night of poetry and entertainment watched and enjoyed by an audience which filled the Arena Theatre. We have it on good authority* that there were more people in that one room than have watched ‘Melania’ globally. And that they had a better time.
Our thanks to all fifteen poets who came from across the UK to take part – including the poet who stepped in off the subs bench at the last minute and made it through to the semi-finals. Someone in the audience said at the end of the night that the standard of poetry gets higher each year, and we’d be hard pressed to disagree. The first round included poets performing for the first time in a slam, as well as veterans and winners of dozens of slams, and every last one of them acquitted themselves admirably. The semi-finals were astounding close-run heats where any one of the six poets could have gone through, and then we had the final. And what a final!
Huge congratulations to our winner Glyn Phillips, runner-up Brenda Read-Brown, and Shrewsbury poet Michael Carding, who came third. Each of them bagged some incredible literary prizes (which they’ll very likely be savouring right now), and Glyn also won himself a paid gig at Wolves Lit Fest 2027 where we’ll get to enjoy a full set of his work.
Huge thanks, as always, to our judges – all volunteers, bless ’em, selected on the night. Our gratitude to the staff at the Arena Theatre for making sure everything runs like clockwork, and – above all – thanks to the poets who took part, and the audience who chose to spend a Saturday night laughing, applauding, and enjoying live poetry. We couldn’t do it without you.
* we may have just made that up, but the odds are it’s true
