Local Poets Saturday

Come and experience a delicious wealth of local poetry talent. The Saturday session features original writing by Andy Melhuish, Ben Truesdale, Chris Cottell, Daniel Revach, Frances Turner, Mary Wilson, Miles Gibson and Vanessa Lampert. The session is hosted by Frances, and we will be joined by James Pendle, poet of Paddington Station.

Frances Turner
Originally a classical violinist, Frances has spent the last few years writing poetry, and in July published the third and final volume in the trilogy ‘The Flight of the Radical Frog’. She integrates music, writing and healing, working with voice, gongs, movement and breath, and runs a healing, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine practice at Cholsey Complementary Health Centre in Cholsey Pavilion.

Vanessa Lampert
Vanessa Lampert is a writer, mentor, editor and teacher of poetry. Her work is widely published, most recently in Magma, The Oxford Times, The Rialto, The London Magazine, Under the Radar, Oxford Poetry, and Poetry London. She runs workshops nationwide for adults and in schools and volunteers in schools and at Oxford Poetry Library. She was a co-founder of The Alchemy Spoon magazine and is a committee member for Poetry in Aldeburgh.

Vanessa has won the Café Writers, Edward Thomas, Ashdown Forest, Poets Workshop and Sentinel, Verve poem of the month prizes and the Ver Poetry prize twice. She has been placed in many others including commendations in the Troubadour, Magma, Bridport, Verve, Winchester and National Poetry Competitions.

Vanessa’s pamphlet On Long Loan’ was published by Live Canon in 2020 and her full collection ‘Say It With Me’ was published by Seren in 2023. Poems from that collection have been published as the Daily Telegraph poem of the week and the Forward Prizes anthology 2024. Her second full collection is forthcoming in 2027.

She has recently edited a collection of poems on a theme of wellbeing for Candlestick Press and judged the Ver and Charm poetry prizes.

Mary Shackle Wilson
Mary Shackle Wilson is inspired by the intersections between lyrics, poetry and the soundscapes that can be evoked in spoken and written forms. She is interested in weaving found poetry into new formations, a practice she also uses when composing folk song lyrics. She recently graduated from the Poetry School with an MA in Writing Poetry (distinction).