Glastonbury Festival’s annual Poetry Slam takes place in Poetry&Words, offering festival-goers a chance to perform their own poetry while competing with other poets for the honour of becoming the Poetry Slam champ. Winners receive a slot on Poetry&Words at the next festival, making them one of the first to guarantee their ticket.

We caught up with last year’s winner Jackie Juno about what it’s like to be performing at the festival again – Juno also won the slam in 2017 – and about her career more widely.

Q&A with Jackie Juno

Can you tell us a little about yourself? 

I’m 61 and three-quarters, originally a Brummie, and have been living on and around Dartmoor since I was 20. Eschewing the usual models of job, home, family, I was a traveller for much of the eighties and nineties and I have always ducked and dived to earn money.

Writing and Art have been my main driving passions in life, along with an earth-based spirituality which informs most of what I do – from performing stand-up comedy to conducting funerals.

How did you get into live performance?

I began in my twenties as a dancer and singer in New Mexico, USA, spurred on by supportive and enthusiastic American friends. Comedy came a little later, the day after my thirtieth birthday, and poetry later still in my forties.

What’s it like to be performing at this year’s Glastonbury Festival?

It’s always a huge honour and it’s such a buzz! To be among the finest performers in poetry and spoken word. I feel so lucky and extremely happy.

What can you tell us about your plans for the show/s?

I will be performing a 20-minute set of my poetry as the current slam champion, just before the slam starts on Sunday evening to find my successor. I will include one or two of the poems which helped me to win the slam last year – but it will be a varied set of funny, tender, confessional and possibly ranting material to reflect how I am and how the world is right now. 

How do you approach performing at a festival like this?

I ruminate for some considerable time about what material to choose from my six published collections. Then, I will construct the set, but have a few poems added in case it feels right to change the set as I am performing it on the night. I often improvise or swap material around according to how it feels at the time.

Will you be checking out any other acts across the weekend?

Oh yes. I must admit I am a word addict and am so happy to lurk around the Poetry and Words tent for a big chunk of the festival! But I do hope to see some of the big acts: Neil Young, Alanis Morrissette, Fatboy Slim, Leftfield, for example.

I will consult my 23 year old daughter as I like her taste in music (she is a musician) and she can fill me in on some of the newer acts which I am often out of touch with. However, some of the best gigs I have been to have been on tiny stages at 4am, powered by bicycles and featuring names you will never see in mainstream media – that is part of the magic of festivals in general and Glastonbury in particular!

Jackie Juno performs in the Theatre & Circus fields at Glastonbury Festival 2025