Herstory Festival

Herstory Festival Exeter took place on Wednesday 30th March 2022. Stay tuned for more exciting content from this project.

Statement following transphobic abuse on social media relating to Herstory Newcastle

Herstory festival brought together poets, activists, librarians, curators and communities to explore the unfinished fight for women’s rights in the UK through electrifying live performance, intimate installations and enlivening discussions. 

The festival took place on 30th March at Exeter Library with audiences online able to join and contribute to key events, igniting a national conversation. The event scheduled at Newcastle on 23rd March will now be reimagined as an online experience (more details to be announced).

As part of Herstory Exeter, new poems by Liv Torc, Shagufta K Iqbal and Fiona Benson specially commissioned for the project were performed live in a series of events that combine spoken word with music, promenade and manifesto-making.

The Herstory Festival programme is available to view below:

Click here to view the Newcastle Programme 

Click here to view the Exeter Programme

The Herstory festival’s theme was care with courage and asked – how do we care for our sisters? Our brothers? Our parents and carers? How do we care for ourselves, particularly when working towards equality? How do we care for the stories of women who are marginalised in our city? What does a city that cares for women look like?

Herstory is a partnership between Poet in the City, the British Library, Newcastle Libraries, and Libraries Unlimited Exeter. It is inspired by the British Library exhibition Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights and is the latest project in Poet in the City and the British Library’s ongoing Collections in Verse collaboration.