Performance poet Ash Dickinson is set to make a welcome return to the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature this year.

Ash, pictured, will be visiting Swindon schools taking part in the festival and reading some of his poetry.

Ash encourages everyone’s inner poet by supporting them to create their own rhymes and verse, so he will be the guest judge of a poetry competition with the theme of Change.

Ash has scooped numerous slam championships including Edinburgh, the Cheltenham Festival and the Museum of Scotland. He was the 2011 UK Stars Slam runner-up.

The BBC Radio Four Midlands Slam Champion in 2009 and winner of the BBC Radio Four Scotland Slam in 2007.

Edinburgh Fringe 2017 saw Ash performing his latest show and in the 2004 Fringe his one man show was four-star rated. He has appeared at such venues as Ronnie Scott’s in London and The Colston Hall in Bristol as well as festivals such as The Larmer Tree, The Wickerman and The Camden Crawl.

The poet performer’s first collection was the Slinky Espadrilles in 2012, it was the first title published by Burning Eye Books. His latest offering is Strange Keys, which was completed in 2016.

The poet has performed all over the world in Australia, America, Canada, Germany, Spain, Jordan and New Zealand.

Down Under he hosted his own weekly poetry night in Wellington, New Zealand and was invited to appear at the New Zealand Festival.

Ash also takes a number of poetry workshops and delivers talks in schools and colleges as well as leading adult writing groups.

During festival week he will be headlining at the Swindon (Ooh Beehive) poetry event on Tuesday, November 13 at the Beehive pub, Prospect Hill, in Old Town.

This is the 11th Swindon Youth Festival of Literature which celebrates reading, writing and creativity.

The festival is organised by the librarians from eleven secondary schools in Swindon.

Each school will host workshops and interactive talks from their chosen authors.

The Wyvern Theatre plays host to award winning comedy author Jonathan Meres on Thursday, November 15.

Jonathan is best known for his best-selling series World of Norm that has 12 books in the series.

The Inter-school Book Quiz finishes the week on Friday, November 16 at The Swindon Academy when last year’s winners, St Joseph’s Catholic College will be hoping to retain their title. Joffre White is the quizmaster who will be putting the schools pupils through their paces.

COMPETITIONS THROUGHOUT THE FESTIVAL INCLUDE:

Creative Writing Competition – 500 words story inspired by an image.

Illustration Competition – Creation of illustrations from a section of text from the Carnegie 2018 winning title, Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean.

Poetry Competition - A poem based on this year’s National Poetry theme of Change.

Library Ambassadors award - Each school will nominate a student who has contributed to the running of the LRC and the coordination of the SYFL.

For more details visit www.swindonyfl.co.uk - Flicky Harrison