Trystan Lewis

At a late-night open mic at the 2022 Morecambe Poetry Festival, I took myself by surprise and recited some of my old song lyrics as spoken word poetry. People were kind about my performance and, over the course of the weekend my love of poetry was rekindled, 25 years after I had been a founding contributor to the Rue Bella poetry magazine. 

From that point, I started writing again and then performing, first at local open mics then travelling through to nights across the North West. I have had headline slots at the Verbalise night in Kendal, the Wordarium in Lancaster and Write Out Loud in Bolton, and read to approximately 200 people at the 2023 Morecambe Poetry Festival.

In 2024 I won Plough Poetry Prize, judged by Roger McGough with the poem Don’t tell Dad, as well as the inaugural Morecambe Poetry Festival poetry prize judged by Donna Ashworth. I read this winning poem (Learning to Glide) to a full house at the historic Winter Gardens in Morecambe.

I have also been involved in a number of video and documentary projects, including with the Escape2Make charity that facilitates young people getting involved in the arts – here’s the film from that project. 

I try to write unpretentious, accessible verse that moves people and yet avoids the cloying or the trite, the false sentiment or the easy resolution.