The artist George Storm Fletcher will be making poems into a work of art this month as part of the National Poetry Centre’s free Rubbish Words event.

Rubbish Words runs from 18-20 October at Leeds Corn Exchange, with everyone welcome to unleash their creativity using recyclable materials such as magazines, old posters and theatre programmes.

The words we see around us every day will be transformed into surprising new forms, which will be turned into an artwork

Poet Sarah Dawson is leading on the project; Fletcher is a printmaker, performance artist, and menace based in Leeds.

Their recent work has cumulated into a series of text-based public interventions, all with their trademark, consistent, DIY aesthetic.

Rubbish Words is free and made possible thanks to funding from Leeds City Council’s Cultural Investment Programme Grow: Project strand and the University of Leeds. It runs from 10am-4pm each day, people can drop-in and stay as long as they like.

The National Poetry Centre will be based in Leeds and bring people together from every community in every corner of the UK.

It is working with the University of Leeds to breathe life back into a landmark heritage building – Trinity St David’s, opening up the Grade II listed building as a new public space by 2027.

Rubbish Words is part of Poetry School’s ‘Summit’ Festival, a landmark eco-poetry, nature and climate literature festival, which takes place on 19 October at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and 20 October at the University of Leeds Poetry Centre. The festival, which encompasses two days of readings, workshops, surgeries, and performances, includes the prestigious Laurel Prize ceremony.

For more information please visit the National Poetry Centre and follow us on X/Twitter @NatPoetryCentre and @nationalpoetrycentre on Instagram.