Ware, when & why

Why

Thirty-two years ago David Perman and I were at the same poetry reading in London. It must have been an inspiring event, because we decided together, then and there, that it would be great to try to do something like it in Ware, where we both lived.

So we persuaded and bullied our friends and our friends’ friends to join in, booked a venue, and held our first Ware Poets Evening.

We began quite simply, with reading our own poems, followed by a guest reader, and we’ve kept pretty much to that ever since. But we’ve also had New Year celebrations, summer garden parties, and a stall at the town fete when we produced instant poems, on demand. And we now have a successful annual competition which brings new poets to Ware, and keeps us afloat. But basically we’ve kept to the same formula - poems from the floor in the first half of the evening, a guest poet in the second.

And over the years we’ve had some spectacular poets. U.A.Fanthorp with Dr Rosie Bailey, Carol Ann Duffy (who said we were a “first class gig”), Kit Wright - twice, Hugo Williams, Jackie Kay, Ken Smith, Michael Laskey, Vikki Feaver - to name a few.

The evenings are relaxed and friendly. People join, people leave. Some people prefer to read poems not written by them. We chat, in the interval between readers and guests. We buy books. We talk about poetry. We come because we like listening to poems being read aloud. We come  because we like poetry.

Frances Wilson, Co-Founder Ware Poets