THE Ledbury Poetry Festival is back with an international "hybrid" theme.

Organisers are excited ahead of the festival, which begins on Friday, with director Chloe Garner saying it was an exciting time for all involved.

She said: "The festival was all online last year, so it is really exciting to be back in person.

"This is our first go at this hybrid approach, with some in-person and some online events."

This year's festival features a mix of pre-recorded, live streamed and in-person performances, with world famous author Margaret Attwood opening the event with a pre-recorded video talk.

Mrs Garner added: "It feels really different. Last year's was all online so we had audiences from all over the world, which we might not have had if it was solely in person.

"This way, we get the best of both worlds and can welcome audiences and poets from as far afield as Africa and the United States.

"That being said, it will still be really lovely to see people in person again."

This year's festival is the 25th to be held in the town, the first being held back in 1996.

Since it was established, Ledbury Poetry Festival has welcomed more than 3,000 poets from 150 countries, and household name poets such as Carol Ann Duffy, Roger McGough, Benjamin Zephaniah and Andrew Motion and celebrities including Michael Palin, Joan Bakewell and Alexei Sayle to become the largest and most established and international poetry festival in the county.

Last year the pandemic saw Ledbury go online and run a virtual poetry festival with attendees from around the world.

This year's programme will be launched by Margaret Atwood in a pre-recorded conversation with Ledbury poetry critic Stephanie Sy-Quai, on Friday, July 2.

Other events include a masterclass from Carolyn Forché, Juliet Stevenson presenting her film on Stevie Smith, the first ever online Ledbury Poetry Slam and one of the Caribbean's leading writers Kwame Dawes in a discussion on collaboration with John Kinsella and Malika Booker. Hosts will include Jackie Kay, Neil Astley and Jonathan Edwards

Further highlights include Jorie Graham, one of the most celebrated poets of the American poet-war generation with Sarah Howe, Chen Chen, Julia Copus with Robert Selby, Billy Collins and Martina Evans, Fred D’Aguiar and André Naffis-Sahely, Eileen Myles and Nick Flynn to name a few.

With many events falling victim to the Covid pandemic, organisers around the country have been understandably nervous about their future.

Mrs Garner added: "We never stopped working and we very quickly realised we could go online with it.

"We have been going into schools via Zoom to do workshops and the thing we most wanted to do was make it as fun as possible.

"It is a really exciting time for the events industry as we have shown we can run them both in-person and online, so it is great to be able to still welcome people from Ledbury, as well as around the world.

"We love Ledbury and want to promote the town as much as possible.

"They have always been good to us and we always try to repay them."

For more information about this year's Ledbury Poetry Festival, go to www.poetry-festival.co.uk/