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My name is PAT EDWARDS. I started writing during a period of serious illness back in 2014 when I found poetry particularly useful as a means of expressing my feelings and trying to come to terms with my situation.

Once I started to get better, I honestly thought the writing would go away. Instead I wanted to get deeper into it so found myself attending workshops and events, keen to improve and learn.

This eventually led me to want to organise my own open mic which I called Verbatim, and to curate a poetry festival, Welshpool Poetry Festival, which I ran for ten years finishing in 2025. I’m so proud of having been able to bring some of the best contemporary poets on the scene to perform for us. I’m now turning my attention to organising poetry days which do not require additional funding, but which work on the model that fees paid by the participants are sufficient to absorb our costs. Trying to secure funding every year was taking all the fun out of the planning, so this model should make things much less stressful!

Verbatim is still going, a bi-monthly evening with a guest poet and opportunities for other poets to sign up on the night to read their own work. I’m very lucky to host this at the Poetry Pharmacy Lab in Bishop’s Castle Shropshire.

I also run a monthly poetry writing workshop, Touch Paper, also at the Lab. This is usually on the last Sunday of the month from 12.30 – 2.30 and currently costs £10 to include refreshments and a useful resource booklet so that you can continue to explore exemplar poems and prompts long after each session. I’ve built up a lovely core following and poets tell me they enjoy the safe space in which to discuss and share poetry.