Poet Katrina Naomi and eco-writer Sara Hudston are at Alfoxton Park for three days during Somerset Art Weeks 2022. They will be setting up a poetry room in the Old Library of Alfoxton House, where Samuel Taylor Coleridge first read his new poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to his friends William and Dorothy Wordsworth. You are welcome to drop in between 10am and 4pm on 6, 7 or 8th October.

They are also holding a number of sessions for people interested in the landscape, wildlife and poetry. Join them at 11am on all three days for a poetic walk in Alfoxton Park, and at 2pm on the 6th and 7th for a contemplative drawing workshop. These places are filling up fast, to book please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/a-poetic-sanctuary-somerset-art-weeks-2022-937779

The sessions conclude on Saturday 8th October with a moonlit dusk walk, starting at 6pm. (If wet, this will be replaced with an indoor performance.)

All the walks and sessions are free, but please book in advance.

Alfoxton is the birthplace of English Romantic poetry, where William and Dorothy Wordsworth lived in 1798, the early time of their friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Poetic Sanctuary residency is an invitation to consider this legacy in our time of eco-crisis.

About the writers:

Katrina is based in Cornwall and works internationally. Her poetry has featured on Poems on the Underground and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Poetry Please, and BBC TV’s Spotlight. She recently won the Keats-Shelley Prize with ‘in the kelp forest’. See https://www.katrinanaomi.co.uk/

Sara lives in Somerset/Dorset and writes about the living world and spirit of place. She is a longstanding Guardian Country Diarist, TLS and Dark Mountain contributor, and works with Hazel Press to publish books about the environment, feminism and the arts. Sara was one of the judges for this year’s international Ginkgo Prize for eco-poetry. See https://sarahudston.co.uk/