Visitors to this year’s Richmond Walking and Book Festival are being invited to help create a community poem celebrating the town.
Promoting Yorkshire Authors will run the collaborative poetry project alongside its Book Fair at The Station, Richmond, on Sunday, September 27.
Members of the public will be encouraged to contribute a few words, phrases or lines about Richmond, with poets Katrina Palmer and Kate Swann then bringing the contributions together to create a finished poem.
Organisers say people could write about anything from Richmond’s sights and colours to a favourite memory or simply how the town makes them feel.
Guidance and prompts will be available for anyone who would like to contribute but is unsure what to write.
The activity will run alongside the group’s Book Fair and programme of author talks between 10am and 4pm.
Katrina, from Art and Rhyme, said the idea was something she had wanted to try for some time.
“This has been an idea of mine for quite some time now,” she said.
“I have been inspired by recent writing workshops I have attended and my own poetry workshops too – it’s amazing the beauty and creativity people can come up with given a few prompts and an opportunity.”
There is no obligation for visitors to participate, although organisers hope to gather contributions from as many people as possible to create a poem reflecting different experiences of Richmond.
Once the event has finished, Katrina and Kate will collate the words and ideas submitted during the day and use them to compose the final piece.
The completed community poem will then be published on the Promoting Yorkshire Authors website and the news section of the Art and Rhyme website.
The event forms part of this year’s Richmond Walking and Book Festival and takes place at The Station on Sunday, September 27, from 10am until 4pm.
