Ripon City of Sanctuary worked with the organisers of the inaugural Ripon Poetry Festival (part of Ripon International Festival), which took place over 3 days in October 2017, to include an event entitled ‘Poetry and Sanctuary’ as part of the festival programme. This was a very well-attended and, unsurprisingly, moving event.
Readings from 2 Syrian poets
We invited 2 Syrian poets to come and read at the event. These were Amir Darwish (based in London) and Alaa Saloum (based in Edinburgh).
Alaa Saloum
Amir Darwish
School participation
In support of this event, we worked with children from Outwood Primary Academy Greystone, in Ripon, to produce an anthology of poetry in response to the refugee crisis.
