Medway River Lit

Medway-based literary organisation Wordsmithery was commissioned by Medway Council to create an ambitious new 10-day literary festival for Medway in June 2023.

 

Celebrating the history and future of literature, poetry, spoken word in its many forms in Medway and beyond; the inaugural Medway River Lit showcased over 100 writers and performers in genres from spoken word and poetry, to crime, drama, playwriting, biography, fiction, storytelling, psychogeography, fantasy literature, and more! With an additional 35 hours of pre-engagement workshops and three text and art exhibitions. We also ran several additional 'Bookends Events' in the run-up to the festival and after the festival in Medway Libraries and other venues.

 

Find out more about 2023's festival here.  

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2024 'You are here'

2024's Festival returned with 45 literary events, 68 writers, spread out over the month of November, and saw the launch of our Medway Youth Laureate scheme, and a follow up project funded by UKSPF, Rippling Out. Our festival and Rippling Out had a focus on the climate crisis.  Read a blog about the 2024 festival here.

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2025 'Earth, Air, Water, Fire'

2025's festival theme is the Four Elements and we're excited to announce the full programme soon! 

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Festival Patrons Caroline Bird and Theresa Lola

The Festival's Patrons are poets Caroline Bird and Theresa Lola. 

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Caroline is an acclaimed poet and playwright, who has won prizes including The Forward Prize for best poetry collection in 2020 for The Air Year, and was also shortlisted for the Costa Prize and the Polari Prize. She was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize 2017, the Ted Hughes Award 2017, and the Dylan Thomas Prize twice in 2008 and 2010.

 

Caroline has had seven books of poetry published by Carcanet. Her Selected Poems, Rookie, was published in May 2022. 

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Caroline's most recent play 'The Last Stand of Mrs Mary Whitehouse' was described as a 'Deft and witty drama by the Guardian. 

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Theresa is a British Nigerian poet and artist. She is the author of two poetry collections. Her second poetry collection Ceremony for the Nameless was praised in the Guardian as a book that “assures her place as a trailblazer for a new wave of poets. 

 

She was joint winner of the 2018 Brunel International African Poetry Prize. In April 2019, she was announced as the 2019 Young People's Laureate for London.

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"Medway River Lit Festival uses thoughtful, topical, and timeless programming to show us the relevance of literature, poetry, and storytelling in our society today. They are dedicated to using the arts to engage and positively impact Medway and wider communities. They also do a great job of weaving the relationship between poetry and other visual, textile, and wider art forms. Here there is something for everyone."

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