Georgie Woodhead – Young Poet in Residence at Sheaf Poetry Festival

We are delighted to announce Georgie Woodhead as Young Poet in Residence during the forthcoming Sheaf Poetry Festival!

Georgie, of Sheffield Young Writers, is just 16-years-old and has already accomplished so much as a young poet since joining our network at the tender age of 13, including winning Foyle Young Poet of the Year 2018. Georgie will work alongside the Sheaf Poetry Festival’s poet-in-residence, Mark Pajak. Mark, has some wonderful poetry projects in the pipeline including ghost-walk poetry, video game haikus and poetry taking over public spaces during the festival week (17 – 25 May). Georgie will be getting involved and will be opening the festival reading with Mark.

Do check out the Festival! All details here: sheafpoetryfestival.com
Thanks to Suzannah Evans at Sheaf Poetry Festival for helping us to make this happen.

Georgie Woodhead is a 16-year-old writer from Sheffield who attends Hive’s Sheffield Young Writers group. In 2018 she was a winner of the Foyle Young Poet of the Year, one of two highly commended young poets in the Cuckoo Northern Writers Award, and 2nd place winner in the Ledbury Poetry Competition (young people’s category). Georgie has been published in the Hive anthologies, Halfway Smile and Wild Poetry, and by various places such as the Poetry Society and the Poetry Village. She’s performed widely at open mics and live events including the Ted Hughes Poetry Festival 2018, and has been a guest on McMillan’s The Verb on Radio 3.

Sheaf Poetry Festival is a new poetry festival for Sheffield and nearby with a vibrant programme combining poetry, spoken word and cross-disciplinary events for all poetry lovers to enjoy. The festival is spread over nine days, commencing on Friday 17 May with a festival launch event. The weekend will consist of a packed programme of readings, performances and workshops, and the following week includes an assortment of evening events, closing on Saturday 25 May with one of Longbarrow Press’s famous Sheffield poetry walks and a poetry film night with Elephant’s Footprint.

Mark Pajak’s work has appeared in The London Review of Books, Poetry London, The North, The Rialto and Magma. He has been commended in the National Poetry Competition, awarded first place in The Bridport Prize and has also received a Northern Writers’ Award, an Eric Gregory Award and an UNESCO international writing residency. His first pamphlet, Spitting Distance, was selected by Carol Ann Duffy as a Laureate’s Choice and is published with smith|doorstop.