In Autumn 2018, we worked in collaboration with Birmingham Literature Festival to add a little something extra to their programme. We commissioned 12 writers to create bespoke poems (and one short story!) inspired by venues around the city centre, where BLF were hosting events.

Pieces ranged from Susan Stokes Chapman’s deeply researched history-of poem for Syrian restaurant Damascena to Jacqui Rowe’s scavenger hunt, which gave voices to figures in paintings hung in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery’s Round Room to Romalyn Ante’s poem for Tiger Bites Pig, which pondered on the importance of food for overseas workers looking for comfort and community.
With the help of Ben Waddington, director at Still Walking, we helped selected poets curate walking tours as part of the BLF programme. Poets guided groups around the city and shared their view of the world, collecting recordings, performing their work in situ and encouraging participants to write their own responses to the experience.