ILKLEY Literature Festival have appointed Sheffield based Genevieve Carver and York based Shash Trevett as their Apprentice Poets in Residence this year.

The ILF Apprentice Poet in Residence is a prestigious position for early career poets and has previously been held by Andrew McMillan (whose debut collection Physical won the Guardian First Book Award) and Zodwa Nyoni (whose plays Nine Lives and Ode to Leeds have been performed at the Leeds Playhouse). The position is usually awarded to one poet each year. This year the calibre of applications was exceptional prompting ILF to take the unprecedented step of offering the Apprentice role as a joint position.

Erica Morris, Acting Director of Ilkley Literature Festival said: “We are delighted to be working with Genevieve and Shash, two brilliantly talented and very different poets, and to be able to provide a platform for them to showcase their work at the 2019 festival at exciting and formative stages in both their careers. Our Apprentice poets will join our Poet-in-Residence, Colette Bryce, in demonstrating the sheer quality, variety and power of the poetry currently being produced by women based in the north of England.”

Shash Trevett is a Tamil from Sri Lanka who came to the UK to escape from the civil war. Shash writes by navigating between Tamil and English, creating poems which marry the linguistic traditions of the two languages.

Shash said: “I am thrilled and honoured to have been chosen to be a joint Apprentice Poet in Residence at Ilkley Literature Festival. I am looking forward to completing my commission, meeting and learning from diverse people, and working with the festival organisers and Colette Bryce and Genevieve. I am so excited: it is going to be a joy to completely immerse myself in poetry for 17 days.”

Genevieve Carver is a poet and performance artist who is rapidly forging a reputation as a ‘leading star of the northern spoken word scene’ (Now Then Magazine).

Genevieve said: “I cannot wait to begin this residency and feel very proud to be part of the vibrant community of writers in the North.

“The opportunity to work with Colette, Shash and the whole festival team is amazing, and I’m also looking forward to hosting a poetry and music workshop with young people.’

Genevieve Carver and Shash Trevett will be taking part in a variety of events, readings and performances at Ilkley Literature Festival, 4-20 October 2019. The full 2019 programme will be revealed on 14 August with tickets going on general sale from 27 August. Festival Friends will have priority booking for tickets from 19 August.