Bebington Central Library Wirral, CH63 7PN
Saturday 3 October 2026, 10.30 am – Noon
Tickets: FREE
Following on from his engaging online session in February, we have invited Dr Stephen Prichard to come to the festival in person to share more of his valuable insight into the life and work of William Blake.
All Religions are One, Principle 1st: That the Poetic Genius is the True Man, and that the body or outward form of Man is derived from the Poetic Genius.
William Blake has had an immeasurable influence on poets, musicians, writers and artists across the centuries, from Coleridge and Samuel Palmer, to Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Allan Ginsberg, Philip Pullman and Patti Smith. This talk will aim to serve as an introduction to William Blake’s extraordinary poetry and thought, but also offer a deeper exploration and interpretive reading of a small selection of poems and prose across the breadth of his work; spanning from youthful, early lyrics to a consideration of the visionary scope of the epic poems of his later years. Also discussed will be William and Catherine Blake’s innovative printing methods, and the unique relationship between text and image in the poems, manuscripts and notebook.
Stephen Pritchard read English at Oxford and studied William Blake’s visionary poetry and prose for a DPhil. As a music journalist he interviewed Peter Gabriel, then joined with him and four friends as co-founders of the WOMAD Festival. Six years in the performing arts, (music, dance and theatre), were followed by twenty-five years of drama teaching. He has produced a series of eight educational drama films for global distribution. He is a Drama Consultant, visiting Practitioner and guest Director, and has led workshops in schools, universities, businesses and organisations both in the UK and abroad.
Until recently he was Secretary of the Blake Society: organising and hosting events, and writing articles and poems for the Society’s journal, Vala. He has lectured on Blake, and Artaud, for Jungian groups. He has also written and directed a play, Albion, Awake! based on the letters, poems, art and lives of William and Catherine Blake, which premiered in London in October 2019.
