10/04/2026 - 19/04/2026

SOUND

A poetry festival with love for Plymouth at its heart

THANK YOU!

Thanks so much to every single person who attended an event as part of SOUND 2026. We hope you had as amazing a time as we did.

If you want to help us out in any way, the best thing you can do is FILL OUT OUR FEEDBACK FORM! This massively helps to show people what a fun time we all had, and increases the odds we get to do it all again next year.

Sound good?

Tell us about your experience

Ten days of community events, workshops and live performances from some of the most exciting poets in Plymouth and beyond

Our Story

Plymouth Poetry Festival was founded by Mimi Jones, Poppy-Jayne Jones and Jonah Corren. All three individuals are poets themselves, and were running regular spaces in the city for local poets to share their work. The idea of the festival was conceived with the aim of bringing together and shining a light on the thriving poetry scene that exists in Plymouth.

With a grant from POP's collectives fund, Mimi, Poppy and Jonah distributed funding to local poetry organisers to run their own events over a designated week in April 2024. Events and organisations that featured in the festival included The Providence Poets, Wonderzoo, Word of Plymouth, Jawbone Press, Spork, Pyre, Queer Out Loud and Poetry at the PPL. Alongside these were an exciting programme of writing workshops, advice surgeries run by Literature Works, poetry for children at the Box and a 'Walking Through Poetry' exhibition at RAAY Gallery alongside the festival poetry bookshop.

For 2026, Mimi, Poppy and Jonah sought out extra funding and support to grow the festival. Literature Works stepped in as a partner to offer experience and expertise on running larger-scale literature programmes, and Plymouth City Council offered to give us the resources we need to take the festival to the next level. That, alongside another successful grant application from POP, set the stage of 2026 to be more expansive and more ambitious, all without losing the grassroots connection that makes Plymouth's poetry scene so special.

A few highlights from last year...

Our Partners for 2026

Literature
Works

Literature Works is the regional writing development organisation serving the South West. Their team has generously offered organisational time and guidance with creating and delivering the festival.

Plymouth City Council

We are incredibly grateful to Plymouth City Council for offering grant funding for the festival this year. Special thanks goes to Councillor Jemima Laing for her support and insight.

Plymouth Octopus (POP)

Plymouth Poetry Festival this year was also made possible thanks to a grant from POP's collectives fund. Thanks to POP for supporting so many wonderful grassroots initiatives throughout Plymouth, and to all those who voted for the festival to receive funding.

Arts Council England

We are absolutely thrilled to have received funding from Arts Council England's National Lottery Project Grants for SOUND Festival this year. This funding will enable us to reach more people, expand our offering and create a lasting legacy.

Our Advisory Group

SOUND Poetry festival wants to extend enormous thanks to the following individuals from Plymouth's creative industries, who have volunteered their time and energy to provide invaluable guidance and expertise over the last year (and some change) of planning for the festival.

Matt Thomas

Matt Thomas self-published his first poetry and collage zine, ‘Fractured Free Verse’ in 1985. Since then, he has unleashed numerous pamphlets, zines, booklets, comics and what can only be described as ephemera on an unsuspecting and largely unaffected world. In Seattle, many years ago, he performed in a weekly poetry slam in a cocktail bar, and on one occasion won enough money to buy a round of drinks. More recently he has read in Plymouth with WonderZoo, Deadbeat Writers and Cross Country writers.

As a visual artist, Matt’s work has been exhibited throughout the South West, Seattle, Singapore, and in various mail-art projects worldwide. He is currently one of the directors of Royal Adelaide Art & Yoga CIC, in Plymouth. Originally from the Seattle area, He has lived in the UK for 22 years.

Gary Futcher

Gary Futcher is the Learning & Engagement Lead at Real Ideas, where his work focuses on activities, screenings and workshops for children, schools and families that provide opportunities to explore the power and potential of immersive technology.

Education is his passion and the creative arts his love. After 4 years in arts marketing, he trained to teach and has over 20 years’ experience in secondary education. As a former headteacher and English & Drama teacher by training, Gary believes education is rooted in transformational change: the widening of horizons and the opening of doors to give young people a choice of possible futures.

Jemima Laing

Jemima Laing is a former solicitor and BBC journalist and has always written poetry. She has had a number of poems published, and was previously commended in the Caterpillar Poetry Prize for her poem ‘He'll Never Be’ (inspired by Jeremy Deller's artwork 'We're Here Because We're Here') and last year for her poem ‘A Big Deal’. She also had her poem ‘Just One Example’ published in an anthology of women's poetry #MeToo edited by Deborah Alma with a foreword by Jess Phillips MP.

Jemima is now deputy leader of Plymouth City Council with responsibility for Children and Families and Culture in the city.

Heather Holcroft-Pinn

Heather Holcroft-Pinn studied BA English Literature with Creative Writing at University of East Anglia and MA Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Sussex. She has previously worked for the Devon Guild of Craftsmen and Tobacco Factory Theatres, and she is now Heather is the Programme Manager at Literature Works, coordinating Quay Words at Exeter Custom House and other Literature Works projects. She's had poems published in journals including Ink, Sweat & Tears, Magma, and others.

Our Core Team

Mimi Jones

Mimi Jones is a Plymouth-based poet, exploring the reality of life as a multiply disabled trans person navigating a world not designed for them.

They were Plymouths Young City Laureate from 2023-24 and Bio Page short story winner. They also run Queer Out Loud CIC where they support other queer people in simply being. Their debut poetry pamphlet, 'Sitting On The Ocean Watching You Fight Off Seagulls To Save Our Chips' was published by Jawbone Press in 2024.

Poppy-Jayne Jones

Poppy-Jayne Jones is a songstress and performance poet based in South Devon. She has been crafting poetry from the early age of nine.

Poppy has facilitated poetry workshops for the Poetry Society, Pyre Events and a local Red Tent. She's performed at Primadonna Festival, Theatre Royal, South Hams Literary Festival and many grassroots venues with a focus on encouraging others to write.

Poppy also runs the online network Plymouth Poetry Events, using social media to connect poets and poetry organisers in Plymouth and the surrounding areas. Her debut poetry pamphlet 'Between Reeds' was published by Jawbone Press in 2023.

Jonah Corren

Hailing from West Dorset, Jonah Corren is a songwriter-poet. They write poems and songs about conceptions of time and place, the lines between cities and countryside, and what people mean to each other.

Jonah's poems have been published in anthologies by Arachne Press, Nine Arches Press, and Bad Betty Press, magazines & journals including The Alchemy Spoon, V.I.B.E and Metachrosis, and in various other places. They are an alumnus of Apples & Snakes Future Voices (2024), an Exeter City Slam champion (2023), and have facilitated poetry workshops for children as part of The Poetry Society’s ‘Bog Talk’ project.

In 2024, Jonah was the recipient of a 'Record and Release' grant for independent artists from Help Musicians. The resulting project, alt-folk EP The Trees Apart, was released in June 2025.

Keep up with us on Instagram @plympoetryfest so you don't miss a thing.

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