Prize-winning poets from all over Britain will visit St Albans to perform in a literary competition.

The annual Ver Poets Open Competition takes place at the city’s Maltings Arts Theatre on Saturday, July 8.

There will be big cash prizes for the top three poems.

More than 800 entries were judged by Tamar Yoseloff, an American-born writer who specialises in poems linked to the visual arts. The second half of the event will see her reading from her book A Formula for Night.

Ms Yoseloff, who teaches on the MA course at he Poetry School in London, says: “People who come to the prize-giving on Saturday will hear some top-notch writing.”

The event will be free to attend for the general public.

An anthology of the winning and commended poems will be on sale for those who wish to acquire a copy of the event’s poetry for themselves.