THE town centre of Launceston was bursting with energy at the 2022 Causley Festival, with workshops, interviews, poetry tours, musical performances, screenings and more, bringing people together in venues throughout Charles Causley’s hometown.

The festival began on Friday, July 29 with an array of events at Launceston town hall, all of which focused on celebrating literature and the influence of Charles Causley on the writers leading the day’s events. Acclaimed authors Vahni Anthony Capildeo and Pascale Petit hosted a keynote reading and were interviewed by Causley Trust Director Nicola Nuttall about their writing journeys. In a ‘mixtape’ session they responded to one another’s work, reading aloud passages crafted for the session that drew inspiration from particular lines and images.

Festival attendees also heard from prize-winning poet Katrina Naomi who discussed her journey as a writer after being expelled from school at 15.

Writer, academic and multi-media artist David Devanny lead a poetry tour beginning at Launceston Town Hall that featured the Eagle House Hotel, St Mary Magdalene’s Church and Cyprus Well (Causley’s final home).

In the evening, Vahni Anthony Capildeo, Trust Company Secretary Malcolm Wright and his wife Sylvia and David Devanny lead a talk on the significance of place in Causley’s poetry.

Elsewhere in the town centre, visitors explored the visual art being produced as part of Launceston’s fourth shop window exhibition, in addition to the town’s eclectic architecture, showcased in Lawrence House Museum’s Pop-up Shop Exhibition.

The second day of the festival was jam packed with both a Community Day, held on the Launceston Castle Green, and a digital day of workshops, screenings and an open-mic session held on Zoom.

In conjunction with English Heritage and the Launceston Chamber of Commerce, the Castle Green hosted poetry picnics, storytelling sessions from Story Republic, musical performances from Launceston Town Band, Pop Choir and from Bailey Tomkinson, in addition to castle tours and a town walk from Launceston’s Town Crier, Rob Tremain.

Elsewhere in the town were creative writing workshops lead by Vahni Anthony Capildeo, Katrina Naomi and David Devanny, tours of Cyprus Well, readings lead by writers Annie Fisher and Frances Corkey Thompson and an evening talk with writers Alyson Hallett and Angela France on the impact and influence of Causley’s work on their writings.

The final day of the festival began with an ‘Inner Landscapes’ workshop lead by writer, poet and journalist Cathy Galvin. This was followed by a presentation from the English Heritage team on Launceston Castle’s history and its recent re-interpretation project.

Paranormal investigator Karin Beasant and the Jamaica Inn paranormal team hosted a walk of Launceston that explored some of its gruesome and ghostly history, alongside readings from Charles Causley’s poems.

Back in the Town Hall, Mary J Oliver lead her complimentary Inner Landscapes creative writing workshop which focused on reflecting nature’s energy in poetic form. The day concluded in the historic ruins of the old Launceston Priory, which were open to visitors for a poetry picnic.

For all information about the Causley Trusts upcoming events this autumn, visit causleytrust.org