Inspired by the poet Byron? Enter the Byron Now competition

Cambridge students are invited to write verse or prose inspired or provoked by Trinity alumnus Lord Byron as part of the Byron Festival at Trinity which marks 200 years since he died in 1824.

Trinity College’s Byron Now competition offers up to three prizes of £250 each to the best 40 line-poems or 400-word pieces of prose. Any current student at Cambridge, either postgraduate (including PhDs) or undergraduates, can submit to the competition. The closing date is noon on 1 April.

The three winners will be invited to read their work at the closing session, on Saturday 20 April, of the Byron Festival conference (19-20 April.)

The winners will join established poets whose new Byron-inspired works will also be premiered. Poets reading their poetry on Byron at the bicentenary include A E Stallings, Angela Leighton and Parwana Fayyaz.

Byron Now competition entries must not be more than 40 lines for poems and no more than 400 words for prose. Entries will be anonymised. You can submit your entry via https://app.casc.cam.ac.uk/fas_live/trinbyron/

The Byron Festival conference on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 April at Trinity brings together world-leading experts on the poet including Professor Andrew Stauffer, Dr Corin Throsby, Professor Clara Tuite and Trinity Fellow Dr Dan Sperrin.

A roundtable discussing the poet’s legacy will feature Professors Andrew Stauffer, Clara Tuite, Jane Stabler and Jonathan Bate.

In addition to newly commissioned poetry, a new piece by Master of the King’s Music and Honorary Fellow Dame Judith Weir will be premiered. The music recital will also feature settings of Byron’s poems by Schumann and Wolf.

Meanwhile in the Wren Library a new exhibition will include original manuscripts, letters and first editions as well as new art in response to some of Byron’s most famous works.

The Byron Festival conference is free for members of Trinity. For everyone else tickets are £10 for one day or £15 for both days. The dinner on Friday night is an additional cost. Book your place at the Byron Festival at Trinity conference.