Tim Barlow is our Chair. He is a published poet and writer. Tim is also a Director of Hastings Book Festival and in 2024 won its annual open mic poetry competition. He regularly performs at various spoken word events in Hastings and further afield, and hosts a popular monthly poetry open mic evening – A Load of Poets – in Hastings.
In 2024 and 2025 he supported the BAFTA-winning poet and writer Henry Normal on a poetry tour of all seventeen public libraries in East Sussex. Tim’s collection of poetry The Manufactured Thrill was published by Manchester’s Flapjack Press in 2026. He won our Writer of the Year trophy in 2025, and prior to becoming Chair served as our Programme Secretary for two years.
He has a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Hull University and works for a living as a law librarian. Born and bred in Derbyshire, he now lives on the West Hill in Hastings.
Committee Role: Chair