Poetry Celebration Night
Manx Litfest has always celebrated and highlighted the work of local poets, starting with an open mic poetry night in 2012, which then became the annual Manx Litfest in the years following.
However, in 2023 the poetry night took on a new format to make the event as inclusive and interactive as possible.
There has always been an element of friendly competition at our poetry event, and that hasn’t changed. Over the course of the evening up to 20 poets perform a 3-minute poem, to be in with a chance of winning prizes in one of three categories:
Entertainment - voted for by the audience
Content - voted for by the evening’s other performers
Compère’s choice - chosen by our visiting poet (and host for the evening).
While the evening stands to highlight performance poets, we know that a lot of poetry is best when read from the page, and so we also present an opportunity for all Manx poets to showcase their work outside of performance. To do this we provide tables and poster boards at the venue displaying written poetry by a variety of Manx poets, as well as information about where to go to read or listen to local poets - whether that is online or in-person, any upcoming or regular events, book releases, as well as any physical copies of any published work for people to look at.
The 20 performance slots always get filled quickly, so if you would like to perform on the evening, or would like to display any information about your poetry, please contact us.