A FESTIVAL celebrating the spoken and sung word entertained audiences over two days on the Isle of Wight.

The second Yarnival Wordfest was held at Choyd, in Yarmouth, last Friday and Saturday, September 27-28.

The event, hosted by Jean G-Owen of the Naked Figleaf Collective, featured performances from some of the Island’s most revered performers, as well as new writers and fans of prose and poetry.

The festival opened on Friday night with a welcome from Kevin Shaw, who shared two of his favourite John Betjeman poems.

The Triple Crones — Cheryl May, Jean G-Owen and Sandy Kealty — singing their poems.The Triple Crones — Cheryl May, Jean G-Owen and Sandy Kealty — singing their poems. (Image: Rosalind Whistance) This was followed by a performance from Ovid with Reverb, who interpreted and added contemporary context to the works of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Poet, Maggie Sawkins, a winner of the Ted Hughes New Work in Poetry Award in 2013, also performed, showcasing the "maturity and essence-grabbing" nature of her work.

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The Triple Crones — Cheryl May, Jean G-Owen and Sandy Kealty — celebrated the unsung side of the older woman, by reciting and singing their own acerbic and hilarious poems.

Former teacher-turned-novelist, Hillard Morley, read an enticing extract from her novel, The Shadowing of Combfoot Chase.

Other performances included Paul Armfield singing from his Shanklin woodland-inspired song collection, plus there was a tribute to Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett, by Peter Darby and the Battered Instruments.

Throughout the two days, other events took place, including a writing workshop on Tennyson Down and storytelling sessions for children.

An advance invitation to come with a learned-by-heart poem, led to a delightful collection of favourites from the audience.

The festival concluded with original poems and prose, performed by their writers, and a song about the potential perils of writing, by Ross Glanfield.

Jean G-Owen, who also organised the event, said: "The great thing about Yarnival, as shown in its inaugural year and this, its second, is the variety of performers.

"The takeaway from Yarnival 2024 has been that there is a huge amount of literary talent on the Island.

"It’s a festival that deserves to grow."