Bard of Exeter Competition 2026

Friday 29th May from 7pm at Exeter Library

A free, fun & lively event at Exeter Library where we'll appoint the next official "Bard of Exeter" in an evening of poetry and performance

The next Bard of Exeter will be chosen at the annual Bardic Competition; a local poet, performer or storyteller will be picked to officially represent Exeter and its people for the next year. You're invited to come along, hear the Bardic hopefuls, and to vote for your favourite. Plus, performances and entertainment from the outgoing Bard - Kev Payne, and more guest to be announced

Always a fantastic, eclectic and surprising event full of poetry and music - come along to have your say and get involved!
This is a free event, though places are limited and booking is strongly recommended. There will be a pop-up bar serving alcoholic and soft drinks.

Gideon Lawrence, performing as the "old Wyvern" (after all, tales often have a sting in them). As a storyteller and folklorist I perform regularly at the Ship Inn. As well as across the city and beyond! 

Up and down the country running workshops, creating events for creative storytelling from d&d to murder mysteries (even goblin towns). I intend to use my position as bard of Exeter to bring people together to share and create stories between folks learning from each other as we go.

Casey Garfield has been a featured poet at events such as Spork!, Polari Literary Salon, and SOUND: Plymouth Poetry Festival. They have facilitated workshops for Exeter Pride and the NHS Wellbeing Service, and as the winner of City Slam, they are representing Exeter in Slamovison 2026.

While their poems have been published in multiple collections and on Stagecoach and First Bus services around Plymouth, their current proudest publication is the zine series titled ‘Casey Garfield would like to be the Bard of Exeter please’, having given out over 150 free zines of Exeter-inspired poems across the city they love.

Lorian Ross is a singer-songwriter born in Exeter. Aside from four years studying Music Production at the University of York, they have lived in Devon their whole life, and can now be found working at Exeter Library.

After initial success as a composer of fantasy soundtracks, they released their debut album last October, fusing that cinematic style with the alternative rock of their youth. Titled “No, But I Will Be”, the album is stirring, introspective and hopeful.

Edie Walwyn is a playwright and screenwriter based in Exeter. Her work includes award-winning short film SUFUKU (2019), followed by The Frogs: Recroaked, a feminist retellingof Aristophanes staged at the Stockwell Playhouse. After receiving the BloomsburyFestival Theatre Writing Bursary in 2021, Edie wrote the dark comedy Tipsy, staged atthe Cockpit Theatre (2023).

Her short film script Hot Girl Summer was recentlyshortlisted for the Climate Creatives Challenge and selected for the Women Talking toWomen About Anything Other than a Man Screenplay Contest. Last year, Edie finishedwork on Goddlebox, a new comedy inspired by Greek mythology.

Katy Cawkwell: performance storyteller, working with myth, legend and folktale. Headlined storytelling festivals from India to Iceland, featured on Radio 3, 4 and Devon and captivated audiences in London theatres, Dartmoor woodland and countless classrooms. Shows include Lilith: The Other Side of the Story, Wild Visions, Tristan & Iseult, Rhiannon, The Wounded King, Odysseus & Penelope, The Kingdom of the Heart, Iron Teeth, Eaten Heart, Sigurd & Fafnir, The Falcon Bride (Njal’s Saga). She runs Artemis Storytelling, bringing the best of UK storytelling to Exeter, hosting the Story Blaze platform for local tellers and helping others find their storytelling voice.

Kirk Field | Poetry is for everyone. I perform mine in raves, clubs and festivals and also on facebook. Poetry is a portable, intimate medium perfect for social media or spoken word pop-ups, which can be used to reach younger people to help them express verbally in an increasingly visual world and show them poetry is a tool in their armoury of self expression, not a dusty book on a shelf.

I take inspiration from club and rave culture and the challenges which affect us all; Evri, Ryanair and the normalisation of war/violence.  In the tradition of dance music's sample culture I also 'remix' classic poems and verse - because poetry, just like life, is what we make it!

Mark Blackburn was a shoe seller in London before becoming a Westcountry writer of multiple genres; he’s agraduate of the LitWorks WordSpace programme.He was winner of the Heathrow 70 writing prize and South Hams Lit Fest Short Story Prize, as well asrunner-up in the Ruth Rendell Short Story Prize judged by Dame Margaret Drabble. Hismemoir/travelogue Final Approach: My Father and Other Turbulence is published by Claret Press.He’s also had children’s books, short stories and other pieces published and shortlisted for prizes.More recently he’s also ventured into performance poetry, appearing at several southwest venues.