Head On Over to the Ted Hughes Festival, Look for Gnomes

The Guardian lays out the events surrounding the annual Ted Hughes Festival, which takes place October 21-23. Gnoming is by far the coolest thing we can imagine taking place at a poetry festival.

From the post:

The annual Ted Hughes Festival , organised by the Elmet trust whose patron is Simon Armitage, takes place this weekend, 21-23 October, when the upper Calder Valley village of Mytholmroyd honours its most famous son.

The late Poet Laureate spent his boyhood here, and many local features play a central role in his poetry – the moors, the woods, the canal, and the dark cliff of Scout Rock – "A wall of rock and steep woods half way up to the sky" - which continues to give this part of the valley a sombre aspect.

Inevitably, several other landmarks, such as the Zion Chapel, which was just across the road from Hughes' home, and many of the mills he passed on his way to school have long since been demolished. But there are still people living in Mytholmroyd who can recall attending Burnley Road Primary School with Ted in the 1930s.

Mytholmroyd railway station has been decorated with illustrated panels in his memory, too, depicting extracts from his classic children's story, "the Iron Man". But plans to convert the old station building into a Ted Hughes Centre appear to have foundered for the time being.

And, later, the gnoming:

This weekend's celebrations encompass a wide variety of activities, including story -telling, talks, guided walks, readings, discussions, children's events, a poetry and music concert, a documentary film, and a poetry slam to be held in Ted's childhood home at Aspinall Street, which is now available to rent for short breaks and writers' retreats. Well-known names appearing include Liz Lochead and Anne Fine.

Many of the events will take place in the theatre at Calder High School, named in honour of Ted Hughes; although appropriately for a poet who loved to be out of doors, several are being held in the open air, including an afternoon of Gnoming in Nutclough Woods. Poetry lovers can also spend the whole day at Hebden Bridge Library on Sunday, attending workshops and readings by contemporary poets.

More info can be found here.