As the Wise Words Festival draws near, the organisers would like to invite locally based authors, artists and poets to take part.  They have several opportunities listed below but places on each are limited so do let them know as soon as possible if interested in any of them:

• Poets on Buses: During the two days of the Wise Words Festival poets have the opportunity to perform poems on buses in and around Canterbury. This can be done alone or in groups. For those of you less given to performance they welcome other ideas about how you may engage travellers on the buses. It could be poems given out as gifts or in exchange for a wise word that could later inspire a poem displayed on the bus…Any ideas welcome!
•  Living Libraries: They are currently recruiting books for their shelves. If you are passionate about a subject and would enjoy chatting about it with a stranger (perhaps to influence or broaden their thinking or to ignite the same passion within them) then you may want to become a living book. Books need to volunteer for half an hour on either day of our festival. Books are treated well – they’re watered, fed cake and get a comfy chair whilst enjoying conversation with those interested in their content.

•  Renga: They also invite you to join their RENGA In Greyfriars Gardens On Saturday Sept 8th  11 – 6pm. Renga is a Japanese poetic form that is 1,000 years old. It is a shared writing process led by a poet experienced in haiku and renga, that has its roots in social and playful interaction. A small group of up to 8 writers can be part of this special element of the festival and join poets Subhadassi and Fiona Lesley Bennett in the Renga. Subhadassi has been leading Renga for a number of years and is very experienced in the form. Over the last year, he and Fiona have been working with Renga to raise awareness of the form and to make links with poets and young writers in Japan. They are excited to bring Renga to the festival and to meet and work with you. This will be a special opportunity to come together and write and, if it is new to you, to experience the wisdom of this form.

Wise Words Festival is not a traditional festival constrained within the walls of its venue but is instead an event during which the streets of Canterbury become the canvas for the celebration. Wise Words brings the community, authors, poets, dancers, digital, performance and visual artists together through an innovative programme of events that celebrate and explore wise words. This is the festival’s first year and they have high ambitions but a very small budget. They offer a chance to apply your practise to a new setting and engage with a festival that they hope will grow in scale, ambition and in terms of the opportunities it offers the region.

All the above opportunities are limited so do please let them know as soon as possible if you would like to take part and what it is about any of the above opportunities that interests or intrigues you. If you’d like to take part, the person to contact is Beth at beth@workers-of-art.co.uk Se would also love to know which aspect of the opportunities interests or intrigues you.

You can also visit their website here or connect with them on Facebook | Twitter  – #wisewordsfest