Launceston Poetry Festival Returns 1st to 3rd May 2026

Launceston is set to take centre stage from 1st to 3rd May 2026 as the Launceston Poetry Festival returns with an exceptional line-up of award-winning writers, broadcasters and performers.

After last year’s success, the festival brings together T. S. Eliot Prize-winners, Forward Prize recipients and emerging voices for a weekend of readings, workshops and open-air events. Organised by the Causley Trust, programmed by Guillemot Press and hosted by Cornish poet Ella Frears and writer and broadcaster Petroc Trelawny, the festival celebrates contemporary poetry while honouring the legacy of Launceston poet Charles Causley.

Prize-Winning Poets Head to Cornwall

Among those appearing are:

• Victoria Adukwei Bulley, author of the Folio Prize-winning debut QUIET, widely published in the London Review of Books, LitHub and The Atlantic.

• Mona Arshi, Forward Prize winner for Small Hands, whose latest collection Mouth (2025) was a Poetry Book Society Choice.

• Liz Berry, award-winning poet of Black Country and The Home Child, recipient of the Somerset Maugham Award and two Forward Prizes.

• Becca Drake, whose debut Unstill Landscapes (2025) was BBC Radio 4 Poetry Extra Book of the Month.

• Ella Frears, whose debut collection Shine, Darling was shortlisted for both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Prize.

• Cathy Galvin, Cornwall-based poet and journalist, author of Ethnology (2026) and founder of Word Factory and the Sunday Times Short Story Award.

• Philip Gross, T. S. Eliot Prize winner and author of nearly 30 collections, most recently The Shores of Vaikus (2024).

• Sarah Howe, winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize and Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award for Loop of Jade, with her second collection Foretokens (2025) shortlisted for the Eliot Prize.

• Luke Kennard, Forward Prize winner for Notes on the Sonnets and Professor at the University of Birmingham.

• Rachel Long, whose debut My Darling from the Lions was shortlisted for the Forward Prize and Costa Book Award.

• Penelope Shuttle, a long-time Cornwall resident, whose latest collection History of the Child (2026) follows Lyonesse.

• Petroc Trelawny, best known for broadcasting on Classic FM and Radio 3, and BBC presenter of the annual New Year’s Day concert from Vienna. His first book Trelawny’s Cornwall was published in 2024.

• Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, whose poetry collections include After Silent Centuries and The Poems of Rowan Williams.

A Festival Across the Town

As well as headline poetry readings, events will take place across venues in Launceston.

The opening ceremony will feature Ben Maguire MP and long-time Launceston Town Crier Rob Tremain. There will be school workshops with poet Sarah Cave, a Meet the Publisher session with Guillemot Press, textile workshops with artist Olga Owczarek, print workshops with Becca Drake, poetry 1 to 1s with Jane Holland, street poems with Alex George and Tom Nutting, under 6 workshops with Jane Newberry and hosted walks with David Devanny.

Performances on the Castle Green will include Launceston Town Band, Popchoir, The Park Sing and Sign Choir and Launceston Youth Theatre Music Group.

The Trust poetry bookshop at Merchant House will sell Poetry Pharmacy items alongside collectible Causley and poetry publications. Charles Causley’s restored house, Cyprus Well on Ridgegrove Hill, will open for silent reading and writing, a Causley Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny and house tours with tea and cake.

On Sunday 3rd May, Rowan Williams and Petroc Trelawny will take part in a special service at St Thomas’s Church Launceston to mark Charles Causley’s life.

‘A Brilliant Programme’

Nicola Nuttall of the Charles Causley Trust said: “This festival brings together some of the most exciting contemporary poets. We’re proud to create a space in this historic town where readers, writers and the wider community can share in the incredible power of poetry.”

Roger McGough, Causley Trust Patron, said: “This is such a brilliant programme featuring so many of our best poets, artists and personalities, as well as events that reach beyond the usual festival fare.”

How To Get Tickets

The festival is supported by grants, business sponsorships and private donations, with thanks given to the Friends of the Causley Trust, the King Charles III Charitable Fund, The Alan Hickinbotham Fund, WBW Solicitors, Black Cat Books, Eagle House Hotel and the Falmouth and North Cornwall Stanza Poetry Groups.

Full programme details and ticket information are available via the Causley Trust website, with tickets on sale now at www.causleytrust.org.