Chaired by Don Paterson with Matthew Hollis, Jacob Polly & Choman Hardi

Getting your first collection of poetry published is no mean feat. The standard of these three poets is so high that publishers just couldn’t afford to ignore them.

Discussing their poetry will be:

Matthew Hollis, who was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2004 for his collection Ground Water

Jacob Polly, whose collection The Brink was published after he won the Arts Council England/BBC Radio 4 First Verse Award and the Eric Gregory Award in 2002

Choman Hardi, who has recently had her first collection, Life For Us, published in English, having already been published in her native Kurdish.


Debut Authors Festival
The Debut Authors Festival is the first festival dedicated to new writers. Introducing the most exciting new writers from Britain and beyond, the Festival includes writers from a range of backgrounds, ages and styles. It will focus on how the writers chose what to write about, how they approached it, how they found an agent and got published. This festival has something for everyone who enjoys reading and writing.