Tony Harrison’s poem v. was written in 1984 during the Miners’ Strike and describes a visit to his parents’ graves which had been vandalised and covered in obscene graffiti. The poem explores class, alienation, anger and Northern identity. A televised performance made headlines and divided the nation due to Tony’s use of profanities. Conservative activist Mary Whitehouse called it ‘a work of singular nastiness’. Whilst award-winning theatre and film director Richard Eyre believed it should be a set text and read in every school.

Forty years on, Durham Book Festival and chair Andrew McMillan bring together three acclaimed Northern poets to re-imagine this seminal piece of public poetry and read from their newly commissioned poems.

Malika Booker is an award-winning poet and the founder of Malika’s Kitchen writers’ collective. She is the first woman to have the Forward Prize for Best Single poem twice. Malika lectures at Manchester Metropolitan University

Jo Clement is from the North East of England. A Northern Writers’ Award winner, her debut collection, Outlandish, is published by Bloodaxe Books.

Liverpool-born Paul Farley is a poet and broadcaster. He has received numerous awards, including the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and presents features and documentaries for BBC Radio.

Andrew McMillan is an award-winning Yorkshire poet and Professor of Contemporary Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Commissioned by Durham Book Festival with support from Manchester Metropolitan University. Presented in partnership with Manchester Poetry Library at Manchester Metropolitan University.

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