Michael Morpurgo, Monty Don on Ledbury Poetry Festival line-up

The event - the biggest poetry festival in the UK - is set to feature award-winning poets, international voices, family favourites, music and dance.

As is now tradition, attendees will be able to enjoy the performances both live in Ledbury and online across the world from June 30 to July 9.

Poet laureate Simon Armitage, who has a new collection of lyrics Never Good with Horses out in the spring, will be playing with his band LYR.

Stephanie Sy-Quia is the festival's first guest curator (Image: NQ)

Joseph Coelho, the Waterstones Children’s Laureate, will open the festival with an event for schools, and entertain family audiences at the weekend. Inspired by magic and the ancient world, Joseph explores fear, courage, diversity, empathy and gratitude.

Romanian-America writer Maya C Popa and TS Eliot Prize-winning poet Joelle Taylor are also on the guest list this year.

Guest curator Stephanie Sy-Quia and Sarala Estruch, both Ledbury Poetry Critics, will explore their debut collections, Amnion and After All We Have Travelled, probing the modes of writing about family with all its anxieties and joys.

Stephanie will also act as poetry sommelier during a poetry and wine tasting event at Hay Wines.

“This year, I really wanted to emphasise that poetry is a thriving thing in every space,” she said. “Be that a churchyard or a campsite (locations for some of our events), and open to all.

“We'll be talking about medieval mysticism, jellyfish consciousness, and tracking the figure of Caliban through pop culture.”

READ MORE: Pictures from Ledbury Poetry Festival 2022

Don Paterson is taking on the role of festival poet in residence, running workshops on the art and practise of writing poetry.

Michael Morpurgo presents his new anthology, My Heart was a Tree, and Monty Don will share his favourite poems about gardens and nature.

In a first for Ledbury Poetry, there will also be a study day for A-level students, featuring Tishani Doshi, Owen Sheers, Esther Menon and the University of Worcester’s Ruth Stacey.

Festival director Chloe Garner said: “Ledbury Poetry is inclusive and nurturing and these values are embodied in the Ledbury Poetry Critics’s programme, where huge strides are being made to ensure diversity in poetry criticism.”

You can find the full line-up and book tickets at ledburypoetry.org.uk