Earlier in the year we opened applications for the Associate Poet roles for Derby Poetry Festival 2024. We had a massive, humbling response, with more than 70 applications for the three posts. Thank you so much to everyone who applied - picking just three poets from the entries was a really difficult task, and that's testament to the quality of writers in Derby and Derbyshire.
After much deliberation, we can now reveal the three people who will be the Associate Poets for the 2024 festival - Flo Cornall, Simon Marshall and Conor Perrott.
You'll be hearing a lot more about all of them in the coming weeks and months as we ramp up to the festival, but here's a brief introduction to the trio.
Flo Cornall
Flo Cornall is a Derbyshire writer, journalist and spoken word poet who has performed across the UK. Their work as a BBC New Creative saw the release of their short film ‘CAKE’ based on a poem they wrote at 18. Now 23, Flo’s work focuses on the small joys and frustrations that document mundane modern lives.
Simon Marshall
Simon is a poet, playwright and participation producer from Derbyshire, living in Sheffield. His writing explores sense of place, belonging and sexuality, and is inspired by geography, mythology and pop culture. He is an Associate Artist of Derby Theatre and has written for Paines Plough, Sheffield Theatres and recently performed for the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance.
Conor Perrott
Photo by Paul Stringer: @thepaulstringer
Conor is a gay short story writer and poet based in Derby. His work explores the intricacies of queer life, struggles in mental health and the dirty realism of being a working class man from a low economic background.
Shortlisted for the Bridport Prize Writer in Residence 2024 for his queer literature, Conor is currently studying a MA at UoD in Creative Writing. Conor works as a volunteer editorial assistant at The Publishing Post, an indie industry magazine for publishing hopefuls. He’s written for the Derbyshire Writing School’s blog and Hospitality Action’s Charity book, Chefs and Summer Balls.
Watch this space
We're super excited to see what our associate poets come up with, and we hope that you are too. In the meantime, make sure to keep an eye on our Instagram, Facebook, X / Twitter and the blog as we've got even more announcements coming your way in the next couple of weeks.
Sounds like excellent choices. Thanks for the helpful introductions to each Associate 😊