THE OVERALL winner of the 2016 Ledbury Poetry Festival competition reveals the international reach of the festival, because he is an American with a book in the pipeline from a prestigious publisher.

The winning prize of £1000, and a week’s residential course at Ty Newydd, the National Writers’ Centre of Wales goes Miller Oberman, whose collection of poems and translations is due out from Princeton University Press in the autumn of 2017.

Mr Oberman is a teaching fellow at the University of Connecticut, and lives in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, with his wife, rock singer Louisa Solomon of The Shondes.

He said he was honoured to win the award.

Festival manager, Phillippa Slinger said: "As Europe’s premier poetry festival we attracted nearly 1200 entries, with an increasing number coming from international poets. The winners in the Adults and Young Person’s categories are both from the US, with other winners from Australia, Ireland, Singapore and the UK. It’s an indication of just how wide and far Ledbury’s reputation has spread.”

She added: "Judge Imtiaz Dharker, a poet, artist, and documentary film maker read each and every poem and decided on the winning selection. The poems are wonderful for their variety and pace – many winners go on to be well known and highly regarded and winning such a prestige competition is a sure benefit to their careers."

Mr Oberman, and the other winners, will be invited to read at a special free event in the 2017 Festival, which will be attended by both members of the public and poetry publishers.

To read the winning poems, and learn more about the poets go to http://www.poetry-festival.co.uk/ledbury-poetry-competition/