Keats Festival 24 May - 2 June 2013
Join us for poetry, performance and family fun at Keats Festival 2013. For ten days, from Friday 24 May until Sunday 2 June, the house will come alive with a whole range of events and activities for all ages, from creative writing courses to poetry readings, from children’s workshops to musical performances.
Listen to new work by acclaimed poets and performers. Create your own poem at one of our interactive workshops. Or bring the kids who can experiment with craft at our free family workshops or meet the cantankerous George the Dragon.
Marking the beginning of our 2013 Poet in Residence programme, the Festival also welcomes Jo Shapcott, who has chosen this year’s Festival theme, ‘Health is My Expected Heaven’: The Body and The Imagination.
For a list of events, see our Keats Festival page. Book now and secure your place at one of the many free or charged events.
Keats House
Keats House is where the poet John Keats lived from 1818 to 1820, and is the setting that inspired some of his most memorable poetry.
Here, Keats wrote 'Ode to a Nightingale', and fell in love with Fanny Brawne, the girl next door. It was from this house that he travelled to Rome, where he died of tuberculosis aged just 25.
Keats House was built in 1815 as a pair of semi-detached houses known as Wentworth Place. Keats lodged in the smaller dwelling with his friend, Charles Brown from 1818 to 1820 and wrote some of his best-loved poems there. Situated near Hampstead Heath, Keats House was one of the first to be built in the area and was granted Grade 1 listed status by English Heritage in 1950. The house opened to the public as a memorial to John Keats on 9 May 1925.
Events
If you'd like to keep up to date with all new events and news from Keats House, you might like to join our mailing list.
For a full list of current events, visit our events page.
The January-April 2013 (1.8mb) and May-August 2013 (3.9mb) Culture and Heritage event brochures can be downloaded here.
Registered Charity number 1053381