Curated by award-winning poet Luke Wright, the First Word programme brings the best in spoken word poetry, theatre, comedy, and storytelling to Suffolk’s sunrise coast.
Saturday 17 June
12:30-13:30 The Funny Life of… James Campbell
13:30-14:15 Francesca Beard
14:15-14:30 Brigitte Aphrodite
14:30-15:00 Jasmine Gardosi
15:00-16:00 Linton Kwesi Johnson, in partnership with National Centre for Writing
16:00-16:30 Caleb Femi
16:30-17:30 Luke Wright’s Silver Jubilee
17:30-17:45 Brigitte Aphrodite
17:45-18:30 Joelle Taylor
18:30-19:15 Harry Baker
19:45-20:30 Marcel Lucont
Sunday 18 June
10:00-11:00 The Feathered Thorns
11:00-11:15 Luke Wright
11:15-12:15 John Osborne’s A Supermarket Love Story
12:15-12:30 Luke Wright
12:30-13:30 The Best of INK Festival 2023
13:30-14:30 Jonny Fluffypunk’s If we just keep going, we will get there in the end
15:00-16:00 Josie Long
First Word is kindly supported by Norwich Arts Centre
Meet Your Comperes
Brigitte Aphrodite (Saturday) is a neurodivergent punk poet, theatre-maker & intersectional show-woman from Kent. She makes joyful, accessible, genre-crossing work. She’s toured with artists such as Kate Nash and Josie Long, and has written three critically-acclaimed theatre shows.
Luke Wright (Sunday) is a poet, theatre-maker and broadcaster. Luke makes a new show or play every year and schlepps it around a variety of glorious venues, occasionally presenting stuff on the radio in-between shows.