CityLife

The stanza's last stand

POETRY," said Samuel Johnson "is the art of uniting pleasure with truth". Notice he said pleasure. Yes, poetry can inspire and challenge but it's also meant to be enjoyed and, over 11 years, Manchester Poetry Festival has demonstrated this rather well.

"We've had Pam Leeson performing her poetic play on the wing of a plane in the Museum of Science and Industry," recalls festival director Chris Gribble.

"We've attached poems to balloons and set them free across the city. We had Seamus Heaney read two days after he won the Nobel Prize.

"We've had poems in shop windows, on billboards and trams, put poetry into bars, public toilets, astronomical observatories, held events in Chinese restaurants, Sikh temples and outside in the rain..."

Established by Henry Normal and Rik Michael in 1994, the festival is about to celebrate its last year, making way for Manchester Literature Festival.

Happily, the 2005 programme promises a fitting swansong, comprising intimate readings and slam-extravaganzas, local writers and international voices.

John Stammers

On the cosy side of things, Matthew Welton, John Stammers, Daljit Nagra and Clare Pollard will read in the intimate Urban Salon series, where 20 members of the public will be picked to see the poets perform in unusual venues; Stammers in a suite at The Lowry Hotel (Oct 3, 5.30pm), Welton in a fellow writer's home (Oct 6, 5.30pm), Nagra in a Sikh Temple (Oct 7, 5.30pm) and Pollard in the M.E.N. boardroom (Oct 4, 5pm).

"I was very jealous of John Stammers' hotel room because my last book was called Bedtime which I think should have given me the edge," laughs Pollard, though she concedes her venue may be more fitting now she has realised "a lot of my new poems are picked up from stories I've read in the news".

Pollard published her first collection, The Heavy Petting Zoo, while at sixth form in Bolton and went on to Cambridge before settling in London. As a twentysomething published poet she is something of a rarity but it gives her a fresh edge, as displayed in new collection Look, Clare Look! (Bloodaxe), a memoir of backpacking and family loss which she cites as "confessional" and which should certainly suit the event's intimate setting.

Elsewhere, the festival becomes a melting pot of music, multi-media and elaborate performance.

Vampire poet Rosie Lugosi hosts the grand final of the Stage To Page poetry slam (Oct 5, 7.30, Frog & Bucket), poetry boy band Aisle 16 mix slick choreography with witty wordplay (Oct 6, Frog & Bucket, 7pm-9pm) and poetry goes global as four international writers read their works (Oct 7, Central Library, 1pm-2pm).

Offering something with a bit of a kick, artist, novelist and longtime New Model Army collaborator Joolz Denby will be launching new collection Pray For Us Sinners (Comma) (Mon, 7pm, Matt & Phreds).

Rated the premier female spoken word artist in the country, Denby's myth-inspired, folk-tinged verse attracts a mixed crowd: "There will be all sorts of people there, from gagsters to grannies" she confirms.

One thing's for sure, it should be a hell of a show. "I do not mumble into my chest," declares the forthright poet. "A lot of people go to their first poetry reading, it's rubbish, and they never go again. The thing is, I've been in rock and roll for 25 years. I know what performance is."
Carol Ann Duffy

Culminating in a performance by Britain's leading female poet, Carol Ann Duffy (Sun 9, 2pm-3.30pm, Royal Exchange) and with events continuing after the festival's close, MPF is going out on a high.

But with the Literature Festival on its way, there's no need for poetry lovers to despair. "The new festival will be bigger, more exciting and more experimental that anything we've seen in the city before," assures Gribble.

So, there's only one thing left to take care of. In the words of Walt Whitman: "To have great poets there must be great audiences, too."

You know what you have to do.

Manchester Poetry Festival runs from Monday, October 3 to Monday, October 10. For more information log on to www.manchesterpoetryfestival.co.uk or telephone 0161 236 5725.