AN award-winning Kidderminster-born poet will be reading her work at Kidderminster Library.

Voices of Poetry with Esther Morgan will be take place on Friday, February 10 at 7.30pm.

The freelance writer will be reading from her recently published second collection of poems titled The Silence Living in Houses.

Esther, who now lives in Oxfordshire, said: "There are a lot of poems about my family and my grandmother who was born in the town.

"They are family memories and some of stories my grandmother told me when I was growing up. There are also poems about houses and what happens behind closed doors. I have always been interested in stories that happen within families."

She added that her favourite poem in her new book was one written about her grandmother called Growing a Girl and said: "It is about my memories of her and her memories of her childhood. It means a lot to me - I will definitely be reading it.

"It will be really nice to read in my hometown. It is nice to get the chance to hear what you have written live and get people's reactions. I'm looking forward to it."

As well as her own poetry, Esther will be playing recordings from past and present poets including Simon Armitage, John Betjeman, Andrew Motion, Alfred Lord Tennyson and W B Yeats.

The 35-year-old, who grew up in Wilden, has been working on the Poetry Archive project, which is a website where visitors can hear recordings of poets reading their own works, and will be talking about it during the evening.

Esther's first book of poems Beyond Calling Distance was published in 2001 and was awarded the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival First Collection Prize and also short-listed for the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize.

For further information visit www.esthermorgan.net or www.poetryarchive.org

Tickets are available from Kidderminster Library on 01562 824500.