ACTRESS Linda Bassett, who stars in hit BBC drama Call the Midwife, will bring to life an award-winning monologue at a special evening of poetry and conversation next month.

The literary night has been organised by Winchester Poetry Festival and will be held on Thursday, June 21, at 7.30pm.

‘Joy’ won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2016 and is written by Sasha Dugdale, who is one of Winchester Poetry Festival’s artistic directors.

Linda will perform the poem, described by the Forward judges as “an extraordinarily sustained piece of visionary writing” in which Catherine Blake, widow of the romantic artist and poet William Blake, evokes the couple’s long and creative marriage and tries to make sense of its ending.

Sasha is a playwright as well as a poet and her dramatic monologue is movingly interpreted by one of the UK’s most popular and versatile actresses.

Linda has appeared at the Royal Court, the National Theatre and Donmar Warehouse and was nominated for a BAFTA Best Actress award for her role in the film East is East.

As well as Call the Midwife, she has also appeared in Victoria Wood’s Dinnerladies and Lark Rise to Candleford.

Sasha will talk about how she researched and wrote her prize-winning poem in a question-and-answer session after the performance.

The evening is a taster for the Winchester Poetry Festival, which runs from October 5-7 at Winchester Discovery Centre.

Linda will perform in the QEII Theatre at Winchester College, on Kingsgate Street.

Entry is £10 for adults or £5 for anyone under-25.