A few days ago Helen Ivory posted thisquestion on Facebook. There was aflurry of responses, none from a festival, nearly all saying they didn���t knowthe answer.

Iwondered about replying as I am one of the three members on the CheltenhamPoetry Festival (CPF) management team, but I decided to write this blog postinstead as I can give a longer and more considered reply.

Thefirst thing to say is that this post is my personal take on the question and islimited to one poetry festival.

Considerations in booking poets

We bookpoets, who will be attractive to our audience or should I say audiences. Wehave a 10-day event this September in Cheltenham. The audience for this isdifferent from that for the year-round online festival we run. We can be moreadventurous with the online festival. But with both in-Cheltenham and onlinefestivals we are looking for poets who can read their poetry in a way that reachesout and engages our audience.

Thereare other considerations when we book poets. The first is financial and ofcourse is related to ticket sales. We don���t have a large budget and we have tomake it balance at the end of the year/festival. It means we can���t book all thepoets we would like. Sadly issues such as the size of the fee, costs of traveland accommodation, all play a part.

Doesthe poet���s work fit with the programme? We want our programme to be diverse, inall sorts of ways, in subject matter, poetry style and form, ethnicity, poet���sage etc. We usually have a minimum of two poets reading per event, do theycomplement each other, maybe they are dealing with the same theme but indifferent ways?

So how do we find poets?

Poetsare constantly approaching us, far more poets than we have slots. A politeemail is the best option, rather than messaging us. Do read any information wehave on the website about when and how to apply.

We arealso proactive in looking for poets. We read poetry books and magazines, go topoetry events especially online ones. If we find someone who excites us andfits what we are looking for, we may approach them or keep them in mind untilwe can.

Theopen mic slots at our online events are really important to us. Open mics is away of performing at the Festival that is open to everyone, not just for newbiesbut also established published poets. We do sometimes offer a headline slot tosomeone, who has come to our attention via the open mc.

So what can you do to get a headline slot?

Have apublished poetry book (not self-published)AttendCPF events, it may not be possible to attend the in-Cheltenham Festival, but ifyou are interested in performing with CPF attend some of our online eventsLearnhow to communicate your poetry to an audience (open mics are great for this)Takepart in online events.Talk toyour publisher ��� CPF sometimes has publisher showcases, where a number of poetsfrom one publisher read together. By allmeans send us a polite enquiry emailRememberwe are three volunteers with limited time, running a festival because we lovepoetry. Poets who give us hassle and/or extra work aren���t likely to be booked,or if booked won���t be booked again.

In conclusion

I hopethis post helps. As a fellow poet I know how hard finding readings can be. Goodluck.  

UPDATE
Cheltenham Poetry Festival website now has a "Take Part" page and  a dedicated contact form for poets to join a special mailing list. The page is here https://cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk/take-part/