Dan Simpson | Music Matters | Because it does. Doesn't it ?

The written and spoken word is celebrated next week, as Canterbury comes alive to the Wise Words festival.

Back for a second year, running from Thursday 12 – Sunday 15 September, the festival sees poets such as Sir Andrew Motion reading from his new collection, The Customs House; the Bard of Barnsley and presenter of Radio 3’s The Verb, Ian McMillan, will be here next Friday, in collaboration with composer Luke Carver Goss.

Three of the University of Kent’s poets from the School of Creative Writing will also be participating; award-winning poet Nancy Gaffield will be leading a workshop on poetry and the journey, in the wake of her prize-winning collection Tokaido Road, and Dorothy Lehane and Patricia Debney will also be featuring in the festival.

Canterbury Laureate Dan Simpson will be presenting a crowd-sourced poem celebrating the city, and there’s also an array of events for families and children, many of which are free to attend. Poets and story-tellers will be popping up in surprising locations around Canterbury, including in a yurt in the Franciscan Gardens; or take a punt on the river to explore myths, legends and fairy-tales in the company of Emily Parrish. Join poet John Siddique free each morning at Browns Coffeehouse for his daily journal-writing session; the Three Cities Garden will be full of mystery, wonder and story-telling; or re-discover the lost art of exploration with explorer, navigator and broadcaster Tristan Gooley.

Find out more about next week online here; promising to be a festival that “re-awakens wonder and encourages curiosity,” you won’t be disappointed.

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This year, the Canterbury Festival celebrates its thirtieth birthday from 19th October to the 2nd November with its usual dizzying array of music, theatre, comedy, literature, lectures and family events, and tops its usual pot pourri by bringing the travelling dance-hall, the Spiegeltent, to the county cricket ground as well.

Highlights to watch out for this year include:

the new opera from composer Sally Beamish, Hagar in the Wilderness, from Nova Music Opera (recently premiered across the Severn at the Presteigne Festival) in a double-bill with Britten’s Curlew River;
pianist Yevgeny Sudbin in a programme including Debussy’s vibrant L’Isle Joyeuse and Scriabin’s Sonata no.5;
Canterbury choral society continues the Britten centenary celebrations running throughout the Festival with a performance of the War Requiem in Canterbury Cathedral; whilst Mid Wales Opera bring Albert Herring to the Theatre Royal, Margate;
oboist Nicholas Daniel (recently appointed Artistic Director of the Dartington International Summer School in 2014) and pianist Julius Drake in a programme including Bach, Britten, Thea Musgrave and Helen Grime;
the Tallis Scholars bring the Festival to a glorious finale with music by Byrd, Tavener, White and Tallis;
ventriloquist Nina Conti and comedian Adam Hills;
poet Dan Simpson and a crowd-sourced poem celebrating the city of Canterbury;
historian and BBC regular Lucy Worsley explores the history of home life;
Science Centre Stage – ‘where science meets the arts!’ – returns for a third year, supported by the University;
Perfect Lines: Old Master in Print at the Beaney presents rare Canaletto etchings;