TWO lyrical events organised by Worcestershire Literary Festival and Fringe will mark this year’s National Poetry Day on Thursday, October 8.

Monthly spoken word night SpeakEasy will celebrate its second birthday at The Old Rectifying House, North Parade, Worcester, starting at 7.30pm.

Headlining the night is Emma Purshouse, a freelance writer and performance poet, who is also a descendant of a nail-maker.

Several of her poems reveal her irrepressible sense of Black Country humour, some of which make use of dialect, while others explore the region’s industrial past in a variety of poetic formats.

She will be supported by a wealth of Worcestershire talent during the evening which is hosted by co-curator Fergus McGonigal, last year’s county poet laureate.

Open mic slots are available for people who get there for 7.10pm.

Worcestershire's current laureate will be hosting the final of her National Poetry Day competition at the Museum of Carpet in Kidderminster from 7.30pm.

Heather Wastie will be hosting the final with Worcestershire poet laureate emeritus Maggie Doyle and they will be judging the finalists and announcing the winners.

Runners-up in the Worcestershire Poet Laureate competition Suz Winspear and Nina Lewis will be performing their National Poetry Day poems as they battle to have their poem judged the winner.

The evening also features Worcestershire young poet laureate Chloe Clarke.

Admission is free and Dr Todd Swift, from Eyewear Publishing, has kindly provided additional prizes of books from his company.