Poems by Simon Armitage

The Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, has a long association with Off the Shelf Festival and in 2020 they were delighted to commission him to write 2 new poems inspired by poet Ted Hughes’ time living in Mexborough, South Yorkshire. The two works are titled The Elsewhere and Paperboy and filmmaker James Lockey with producer Dominic Somers collaborated with Simon Armitage to create the films you can view here. There is also a short film interview with Simon talking about the ideas behind the new poems.

The Elsewhere and Paperboy were premiered by Simon Armitage at The Poet Laureate’s Drive-in on Sunday 11 October 2020, Sheffield.