Texts in the City

A star-studded Liverpool poetry festival takes place this month with a host of Edge Hill poets the first in line to take centre-stage.

Nine staff and students will set the ball rolling at 'Poetry in the City? ? a two-week long series of reading, workshops and surgeries in celebration of poetic giants such as Roger McGough and Brian Patten who headline the event.

The Edge Hill Poetry and Poetics Research Group ? consisting of Robert Sheppard, Cliff Yates, Matt Fallaize, Andrew Taylor, Scott Thurston, Patricia Farrell, Dee McMahon, Angela Keaton and Alice Lenkiewicz who organised the reading in co-ordination with her magazine Neon Highway ? will perform their work in support of respected poet, visual artist and art historian Allen Fisher on April 10th at The Walker Museum, starting at 2:30pm.

Robert Sheppard, who runs the MA in Writing Studies at Edge Hill and will be introducing Fisher?s appearance on stage, said: "At Edge Hill we are lucky to harbour a number of talented and enthusiastic poets and it is a privilege to be able to rub shoulders with some of Liverpool?s greatest lyricists at such a high profile event."

The Liverpool Culture Company is planning to use the fortnight as a forerunner for the city staging its first ever fully-fledged poetry festival in 2006.

Councillor Warren Bradley, executive member for culture, said: "A poetry festival fits well with Liverpool and I?m delighted such influential poets are giving it their full backing."

Picture: (l-r) Cliff Yates, Andrew Taylor and Robert Sheppard ? just three of the Edge Hill poets set to perform at Poetry in the City.