Ted Hughes Poetry Festival comes to Mexborough

A CELEBRATION of one of Yorkshire’s most famous sons will begin tomorrow with an eight-day festival dedicated to his life and work.

The Ted Hughes Poetry Festival — which runs until Sunday, June 26 — will see a host of readings and activites to do with the former poets taking place around his home town of Mexborough.

Locations will include the famed writer’s old grammar school, where he wrote plays and published his first poems and High Street.

The main event will take place on Saturday night, when Frieda Hughes, Ted’s daughter, will perform a reading.

Dozens of well-known performers and writers will also attend the festival, including Yorkshire writer Ian McMillan, poets Helen Mort and Greg Leadbetter, and Professor David Morley, whose work previously won the Ted Hughes award.

2016 marks the festival’s second year and organisers said they hope to run the event annually.

Professor Morley, of Warwick University, said: "This is the liveliest poetry festival in the UK. It arises from the community and takes them to other worlds.”

To book tickets and see the full timetable of events at the festival visit www.tedhughesproject.org