TWO of Britain’s most acclaimed and respected poets will be in Monmouthshire tomorrow to share a stage in Chepstow Castle for a unique event as part of the final weekend of the 2014 Chepstow Festival.

Sir Andrew Motion and Simon Armitage are both known, not just as poets, but also as authors, social commentators and for their regular appearances on radio and TV.

This unique Poetry Picnic will be held under the giant castle canopy tomorrow, at 7pm. As always for open air performances at the castle the audience are invited to bring their own refreshments.

Sir Andrew Motion was poet laureate from 1999 to 2009. He has won the Arvon Prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Eric Gregory Award, Whitbread Prize for Biography and the Dylan Thomas Prize and was knighted for services to literature in 2009.

Simon Armitage will draw on his 25 years of writing poetry.

Simon was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield. He has published over a dozen collections of poetry including Seeing Stars, his acclaimed translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and, more recently, The Death of King Arthur.

The castle gates will be opened at 6.15pm and the readings will start just after at 7pm. There will be a short interval and an opportunity for the audience to ask questions of both poets before the finish at around 9.15pm. Tickets are £15 or £12 for concessions in advance from the museum on 01291 625981.

But they can be bought for £18 and £15 on the door. For more information visit chepstow

festival.co.uk