Ripon Poetry Festival: Author Michael Rosen says ‘poetry offers children freedom to explore in a world of language’

Acclaimed author Michael Rosen will appear at Ripon Poetry Festival which this year takes place from Thursday, September 21 to Sunday, October 1, 2023.

A group of Ripon poets had the idea to bring together local, regional and nationally acclaimed authors in what has become Yorkshire’s biggest poetry festival which was supported by Mr Rosen when it began back in 2017.

Mr Rosen’s various titles include poet, broadcaster, children’s author, activist, and political columnist, all of which have gained him global recognition.

He spoke to The Ripon Gazette about the powerful gift of the spoken word and how literature allows children to have ownership of their own voice to explore fears, thoughts and emotions in an often troubled society.

He said: “Spoken word poetry is both ancient and modern.

“It's a powerful face-to-face way of sharing feelings, traditions, ideas and thoughts.

“The pictures it describes, the emotions that it evokes, the irony it creates.

As one of the most distinctive writers in children’s literature Mr Rosen was asked what defines ‘poetic language’ and why it is important during childhood, he said: “Modernism invented so many ways of writing poems, that poetic language stopped being a thing.

“Poetry has become ‘the great scavenger’ - it can feed off any other kind of language-use in the world - ads, newspaper headlines, letters, emails, text-talk, shopping lists, political speeches, army parade ground commands - anything.”

“Let's come back to your question! What 'poetic language' is, in how I've described it.

“What it offers children is an entitlement or freedom to explore any of the above.

“This is very different from the requirements of the curriculum which demand that children produce sentences with particular linguistic features.

“Poetry makes no such demands. You don't even have to write sentences.”

Mr Rosen was asked why the ‘freedom to explore’ is so important , he said: “It's something to play with in order for us to say what we want, how we want.

We can follow the rules, if we want to.

“Or we can make up a poem that sounds like a football commentary but is really about your sibling getting angry in the car.

“To use an overused word, this is empowering. It gives children rights over language.”

When his work in children’s literature connected with his work in activism, he said: "All children's literature is activist.

“Society regards children as lesser beings, or creatures 'on the way' to being something else.

“Children's literature does the opposite. It places the child at the centre of things.”

“It takes what they think, feel or get angry about, seriously.”

Mr Rosen's early influences came from his parents who were both teachers and shared their love for poetry in a rich variety of ways throughout his childhood.

The Gazette asked how he might encourage young people to engage with poetry today, he said: “I would show how poetry can be about many different things - from the funniest to the most tragic, from the huge to the tiny, from the modern to the ancient.

“Show them that sometimes you don't have to know what a poem is 'about', you can just sit and feel it.”

Tickets for the poetry festival can be found at www.riponpoetryfestival.co.uk or if you have any questions, email [email protected]