THE Fifth International Poetry Festival, organised by Peterloo Poets, takes place next week.

Meg Peacocke, Lawrence Sail and Carole Satyamurti from the United Kingdom will be joined by Matthew Sweeney from Ireland at the two day event which takes place at The Old Chapel, Calstock on September 5 and 6.

Meg Peacocke was born in 1930 and grew up in South Devon and now lives in a small hill farm in Cumbria. She read English at Oxford and has had three collections of poems published by Peterloo: Marginal Land (1988), Selves (1995) and Speaking of the Dead (2003). She finds her material everywhere ? from such diverse inspirations as reported speech, notebook jottings, conversations, postcard greetings and even newspaper headlines. The result, are works that speak in plain language and have strong rhythms.

Lawrence Sail was born in London in 1942 and brought up in Exeter.

He read French and German at St John?s College, Oxford, taught for nearly five years in Kenya. He then held various teaching posts in England before becoming a freelance writer. He lives in Exeter.

He has published eight collections of poems, most recently The World Returning (Bloodaxe Books, 2002). He has compiled and edited a number of anthologies and his poems have been broadcast on radio and television.

Carole Satyamurti is a poet and sociologist who lives and works in London.

Her principal academic interest is in the relevance of psychoanalytic ideas to an understanding of the stories people tell about themselves ? whether in formal autobiography or in social encounters.

She has published four volumes of poetry and her work has been awarded several prizes.

She has given many readings and is an experienced poetry tutor. Her poems have appeared in a wide range of magazines and anthologies and have been broadcast on radio and TV in Britain, India and South Africa.

Born in County Donegal in 1952 Matthew Sweeney moved to England in 1973.

He lives in London where he has carved a career in professional writing.

As a poet with 25 years work behind him he has amassed a rich trove of memorable, funny and alarming poems whose very readability at times disguises their complexity.

For more information visit the website: http://www.peterloopoets.co.uk">www.peterloopoets.co.uk