We are very happy to announce the names of our three ‘Opening Doors’ bursary recipients. We wanted to provide an opportunity for three writers to access the festival who might not otherwise be able to, and we’re really looking forward to welcoming Laura Potts, Frances Norton and Jamie Hale. Laura, Frances and Jamie will receive accommodation over the weekend of the festival and a Festival Pass to access readings and discussions over the weekend.
Congratulations Laura, Frances and Jamie and another huge thank you to Ann from Brewery Poets who is hosting Laura and Frances for the weekend, and for Christine Webb, who provided a bursary for a writer who identifies as disabled.
Laura Potts is twenty-two years old and lives in West Yorkshire. Twice-recipient of the Foyle Young Poets Award and Lieder Poet at The University of Leeds, her work has appeared in Agenda, Prole and Poetry Salzburg Review. Having worked at The Dylan Thomas Birthplace in Swansea, Laura was last year listed in The Oxford Brookes International Poetry Prize and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She also became one of The Poetry Business’ New Poets and a BBC New Voice for 2017. Laura’s first BBC radio drama aired at Christmas, and she received a commendation from The Poetry Society in 2018.
Jamie Hale has written his whole life and studied English and Spanish BA (1st Hons). He is interested in how poetry can sit alongside critical theory. He explores the disruption of the relationship between self and body. He has recently performed at the Saboteur Awards, Tate Modern and Barbican Centre. His poetry has been most recently published in Poetry Quarterly, and his journalism has been published in the Guardian, Rooted in Rights, Unite magazine and the New Statesman. He is currently developing a solo show exploring Shakespeare’s Richard III, and a nature poetry collection.
Frances Norton lives with her husband and two teenage children. She is a lecturer and researcher at art school and a practicing artist, musician and a poet. Her art work and poetry are about the patterns of life, and how that sequence believed to be unshakable, immovable, impermeable can become an interrupted ornament, and the variations, imperfections, mishaps and diversions that make life interesting. Her poetry and painting reflect and mirror each other.
The 2017 Kendal Poetry Festival