An Aberystwyth bookshop owner who launched a poetry festival in April has told the Cambrian News that the event will return next year.

Freya Blyth of The Bookshop by the Sea organised her first Aberystwyth Poetry Festival recently, with the event taking place from Saturday, 29 April to Monday, 1 May.

The businesswoman said then she was “thrilled" to be launching the festival, and "loving having so many truly amazing female poets" in attendance.

Freya said the idea for the festival grew out her experience of studying an MA in poetry, specialising in feminist poetry, and wanting to engage with those female voices of modern poetry.

“During my course, I brought this up with the head of department and they agreed I could invite some women poets to visit the university, and I really wanted to include my bookshop and open events up to the community too, to get everyone involved and build bridges between the university and wider community," Freya explained. “I started getting in touch with poets and just got such a fantastic response, and as more people started getting involved, I started wanting to engage those voices with each other and have them come on the same weekend, to be in conversation with each other."

That one conversation developed into Aberystwyth’s first poetry festival full of talented poets with voices who have something to say, local poets, prize-winning poets, poets of all ages and backgrounds, and Freya was so pleased with this year's festival that she has decided that it will return next year.

She added: “Poetry can sometimes be seen as too highbrow, too inaccessible, but it is such an important part of how we express ourselves and connect to each other as humans.

“With this festival we really want to get poetry out to people by creating links between the university, the poetry community and readers like yourself; making the amazing world of poetry inclusive and accessible for all.”

Award-winning Poets - including Matthew Francis, Kim Moore, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Zoë Brigley and Mari Ellis Dunning - travelled from Cornwall, Cumbria and Cymru travelled to attend the poetry festival for a bank holiday weekend of poetry readings, creative workshops, and community by the sea.

Freya curated an intimate and cosy vibe for attendees and poets with personal touches including dinner at Medina and brownies from Pwdin.

She said: "The festival has been an incredible success and it was an honour to hear everyone’s voices throughout the weekend. From people who are new to poetry to well-established poets, everyone left feeling full of inspiration. The community we created from conversations and connections between events was amazing and full of love for poetry."

During the festival, Kim Moore, author of All the Men I Never Married, raised questions about feminism and everyday sexism. Poet and fiction writer Denise Saul, author of The Room Between Us, spoke about nature and diversity. Welsh poet Zoë Brigley, author of Into Eros, discussed how motherhood can be ferocious and powerful, as well as how to overcome barriers to the poetry world, and bilingual poet Nerys Williams, author of Republic, turned the bookshop into a 1980’s club night as part of her session on Welsh Language Post-Punk. Highlights from each event were live streamed on Facebook and Instagram.

Professor Richard Marggraf-Turley from Aberystwyth University, who gave a talk reimagining Keats as a revolutionary said: "The festival was brimming with inspiration and energy, and is a fantastic new addition to the cultural life of the town."

Creativity was emphasised and new voices encouraged with competition winners invited to perform at an open mic poetry showcase. Over 15 other poets joined them, many performing for the first time, at trendy local venue Bank Vault.

Simone Mansell Broome won the poetry competition with her poem, Revelation, judged by award-winning poet Matthew Francis. Ruhi Amir Alam, a photographer and artist based in Coventry, came second with her poem Catch, and Oli Bowen came third with a poem titled, Observing the Wake. The winner received a year subscription to Poetry Wales, as well as a poetry bundle from local poetry publisher Seren. The two runners up received vouchers from The Bookshop by the Sea.

Advice for aspiring poets came from a publishing panel chaired by writer, critic and poet, Matt Jarvis, who said, be a good poetry citizen, workshop your pieces, and submit, submit submit. Think about publishing a chapbook first before a full collection, and just have fun with poetry. Enjoy being part of a poetry tribe and living a literary life!

The festival rounded off with a day of creative workshops including storytelling with writer and storyteller Halo Quinn, lyric writing with ethereal Musician Mairead Fagan, and poetry of the minutiae with Poet Riona Millar. The Bookshop by the Sea was also turned into a forest with birdsong, plants, and the smell of spruce for a creative Mindfulness in Nature workshop with local forest bathing guide Lucy McQuillan.

The community found in Aberystwyth’s indie shops and venues was essential to the event. Aberystwyth Library held day and evening poetry events in their familiar red building as well as an intimate and emotional panel discussion with Zoë Brigley, Rhian Edwards, and Freya herself about women in the writing sphere.

For all those who missed out, the festival already has big plans for next year, including Welsh language events, more poets, and extra venues over 4-6 May, 2024, so practise reading out your poetry and keep the date free!

For those who cannot wait until next year to show their work, Bank Vault hosts fortnightly open mic nights where poets are welcome to perform.

The Bookshop by the Sea is also launching a monthly workshopping group for writers and poets (check their Instagram and Facebook for details @thebookshopbythesea_).

Listen to Freya talk about the festival in the video above.