Focus on poetry at Medway River Lit 2026
Medway River Lit has always been a festival with an incredibly strong line-up of poets - one of our directors is, after all, himself a poet.
In our first week, we've already welcomed award-winning poets to the festival: Maggie Harris, our new co-patron; our amazing Youth Laureates, including Indi who recently was selected as one of the Foyle's Young Poets of The Year; Medway Poetry Night Open Mic takeover with the incomparable Astrid Solace; and just this past Friday, we held our magnificent, colourful celebration of Rosemary McLeish's life and work, including the launch and pre-order for Rosie: A Life In Colours - pre-order your copy here. See some photos from the events below by our photographer Michi Masumi.
Maggie Harris at the Launch
And coming up this week, we are very proud to announce a long weekend of poetry in Chatham!
Poetry At The Pier
On Thursday 12th November (19.30) at Sun Pier House we have a trio of the finest poets to be found in the ME postcodes! Reserve your ticket here.
Charlotte Ansell's years working as a child and adolescent psychotherapist come to the fore in her latest book, in Amittere, the heart is stripped to its connections - parent to child; between friends and siblings; and to place.
Dorothy Lehane is a poet, scholar and former Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Kent. She is the author of seven poetry publications and has shared her creative and critical insights internationally. Supported by the British Academy/Leverhulme, Society of Authors and Arts Council England, she is currently writing about caves.
Theresa Lola is a British Nigerian poet, writer and artist. Her second poetry collection Ceremony for the Nameless won the 2025 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, while a poem from her debut collection 'In Search of Equilibrium' was added to the UK’s GCSE syllabus.
All together this is as good a poetry bill as you will see in Kent. At least until our next Poetry At The Pier!
Local Words, Wild Places: A Nature Open Mic
On Friday 13th at Nucleus Arts, Chatham (19.00) Ayesha Chouglay will host an environmentally themed spoken word open mic.
Ayesha will share poems born from her Creative Fellowship with Plantlife and Accentuate, inspired by Ranscombe Nature Reserve, and centred on access to nature. Alongside an open mic for local voices, the evening explores our relationships with the natural world - from its past and present to the future we want to create.
Come along to listen, share your own words, and connect with others over good food and drink. We will be providing BSL interpretation, and the venue is wheelchair accessible. Please let us know if you have any other needs. Book here.
Baden Prince Junior – What A Woman!
On Saturday 14th at Chatham Library (15.30) Baden will present his storytelling show “What a Woman" a rich celebration of Caribbean heritage and of grandmothers, everywhere.
Baden spent his formative years in the care of his Grandmother, Dorothy Mathurin Prince (neé Sebastian) on the island of Antigua, West Indies before joining his parents in England at the age of fifteen. By turns informative and entertaining, humorous and dark, expect elements of the supernatural, traditional Antiguan folk tales, personal memoirs, patois and poetry, all painting a vivid picture of life in a vibrant 1960’s Caribbean household.
Jess Mookherjee – Book Launch – The Universe Is An Animal
Also on Saturday 14th November at Chatham Library, 7.30pm, Jessica Mookherjee launches her latest collection – The Universe Is An Animal
Jessica Mookherjee is a British poet of Bengali heritage. She is author of four full collections and three poetry pamphlets. She was twice highly commended for best single poem in the Forward Prize 2017 and 2021. Her second collection Tigress (Nine Arches Press) was shortlisted for the Ledbury Munte Prize in 2021. In 2023 she also published a long London prose poem Desire Lines – with Broken Sleep Books. She lives now in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. She’ll be reading from her new book The Universe Is An Animal.
Jessica will be supported at her launch by Mara Bergman and Jonathan Terranova
Mara Bergman is an American children's author, poet and editor. Her awards include the BookTrust Early Years Award and the Stockport Prize. In 2014, Mara won the Mslexia Poetry Pamphlet Prize, and her collection The Tailor's Three Sons and Other New York Poems was published by Seren in 2015. Her first full collection, The Disappearing Room, was published in 2018 by Arc Publications
Jonathan Terranova is a Medway based poet whose books include, The Smell Of Thought, The Death Of Marlon Brando, Longing For More, and I Am Prodigal. He has been a mainstay of Kent Poetry for more than 10 years and he curates a live poetry event for Maidstone Fringe. He will be reading from his most recent collection The Mercurial Transcripts.
Moving into week 3 and 4 of the festival, we have plenty more poetry for all you spoken word addicts.
Poetry at the Pier - part 2
We return to the Community Hire Space at Sun Pier House, on 20 Nov 2026, 19:30 – 21:00, for another trio of poets who have all got new work to share with us!
John McCullough’s first collection won the Polari First Book Prize in 2012. Reckless Paper Birds was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award 2019 and won John the coveted Hawthornden Prize in 2020. His latest collection Crowd Voltage addresses yearnings for community and probes fragmentation within groups and individuals.
Samatar Elmi is an award-winning writer, musician, editor and educator whose work brings poetry into conversation with myth, history, diaspora, sound and speculative futures. Samatar is touring nationally with three collections published concurrently.
Barry Fentiman Hall is a writer who walks, based in the Medway Delta. He is the editor of Confluence magazine and co-director of the festival. His latest collection is Zoognosis – is a meditation on where humans and the rest of the natural world collide.
Pierfest!
We introduce a day-long celebration of words and music with four poets, who use music in their work in different ways. Come for one show, or come for them all. It's a poetry event not to be missed!
2pm - Patience Agbabi will read from her YA novel in verse, Wonderland, about a young girl’s passion for a musical genre, followed by a disco playing Northern Soul classics.
5pm - Jake Nathan will perform poems from his hip-hop inspired collection A Life In The Day of Nathan Jake (Incomplete) accompanied by beats and samples.
6.30pm - Performance artist and poet Naomi Wood will perform ‘Monster’ 'hilarious' and joyful spoken word show. It is about reconnecting with the ferocious, ravenous and wild.
8pm - Poet-musician Gabriel Moreno will perform poems from his book Gibraltar, accompanied by music.
“An Offshoot of Leonard Cohen and Neil Diamond. I love it!” (Cerys Matthews, BBC6)
And if this all seems like a lot of music, you can pop downstairs to the Community Hire Space, for a creative chillout session, and writing workshop, Puffing and Wooling hosted by Tilley and Del, which is suitable for neurodivergent attendees. (12-4pm)
Big Trouble Takeover
We finish our poetry line-up, as we started, with an open mic takeover, from local poetry producers Big Trouble, on 26 Nov.
Big Trouble is the longest running Medway live lit night and something of a Kent legend. As well as the traditional open-mic they have two great special guests. Rachel Long’s 2026 collection Sparrow On The Rooftop has been described as a study of toxic love, crisis and recovery, at once moving and whip-smart, from one of our brightest stars in poetry. Cia Mangat is a writer and zinemaker from London. Her work has been published in fourteen poems, gal-dem, Propel, and bath magg, and has been broadcast by the BBC. Her debut pamphlet Lobe is out with The Poetry Business.
So, there are umpteen chances to listen, and take part in poetry, and we've also got opportunities for you to learn something new too!
Poetry Workshops
For those who might want to learn more about the art and craft of writing poetry, we have two great workshops for you.
Award-winning environmental poet Connor Sansby leads a writing workshop on 15 Nov, to inspire you to write environmentally focussed poems, and Naomi Wood leads a workshop where you'll be focussing in on your own experiences on 22 Nov. Both are held at Nucleus, Chatham on Sunday afternoons.
We hope to see you at some of the events we've told you about!
Remeber, our Festival Friend pass gets you a goodie bag and automatic entry to as many shows as you like without needing to book.
Comments