To celebrate National Poetry Day, critically-acclaimed performance poet and humorist Matt Harvey gave an hour-long reading of extracts of his work to students at Exeter College yesterday.

Matt, who lives in Totnes, has had a number of books published, his latest being Where Earwigs Dare (Green Books: £9.95), and has written the Desktop Poetry slot for the Guardian for the last two years.

A regular contributor to BBC Radio 4, he is the creator of Empath Man who had his own Radio 4 mini-series which The Times described as “very funny, very satirical”. His recent Edinburgh show also gained excellent reviews, and earlier this year he was appointed as the Official Wimbledon Championship Poet for 2010.

Originally from Cheshire, Matt was brought up in Ireland and Scotland but spent most of his school years in Twickenham.

Now aged 48, of how he first became interested in poetry at a young age, he says: “I’ve loved poetry since I can remember – from rhymes when I was little, through to the nonsense verse of Lear, Carroll, Milligan, the Liverpool poets, especially Roger McGough and Brian Patten – and Pam Ayres!

“Then, I progressed to the wonders found in anthologies, old and modern. I just love reading (and writing, on a good day) lively, thoughtful, surprising words.”

Asked why he decided to pursue a career in poetry, he says: “I wouldn’t say I ever decided to ‘pursue’ a career as a poet. I’m still blinking in surprise that I seem to have one. I did many other things first – worked in a shop selling hand-made shoes, in a psychotherapeutic residential community, in a travelling hot tub and sauna outfit called Spa Tek, teaching computer skills, and much more.

“I began getting some paid poetry gigs in my late twenties, and made self-published books that sold pretty well, but I didn’t go full-time until my late thirties when my first Radio 4 series was commissioned, and I’ve been a full-time poet/writer/performer ever since.”

Matt attended the second of two events which took place at in the CCI Theatre at Exeter College’s Centre for Creative Industries yesterday to mark National Poetry Day in the hope that he might inspire others to pick up the pen and start writing too.

“I’d encourage everyone to try their hand at poetry, because it’s enjoyable and hugely satisfying. Once you’ve experienced writing something that works – that touches people, makes them laugh, cry, or sigh, anything that connects with the audience – it very quickly becomes addictive.”

Other contributions included a reading by performance poet Chris Gower, who works in one of the College’s Learning Resource Centres, and performances and screenings by Dance and Creative Media students at the College. On the day, students also found out who had won a cross-College poetry competition.

First-years working towards their BTEC Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production were among those showing off their creations. Having had only three weeks to prepare, they rose to the challenge and produced a series of short films based on this year’s National Poetry Day theme, Home.

Speaking afterwards, their tutor Alison Pym said: “Filmmaking is a creative process and it was great for media production students to work with poetry and be part of an event which they otherwise might not have become involved with.

“While much of our job is to help them learn the production skills and tricks of the trade, we mustn’t forget to feed the creative brain which is essential to their success in the media. National Poetry Day was a great day to start.”

Dee Bettany, Deputy-Head of the English, Languages and IB faculty which organised the celebrations, added: “We always do something to celebrate National Poetry Day in the English department, and this year we were lucky enough to secure Matt Harvey as our guest poet.

“Rather than simply organise events limited to English Language and Literature courses, we really wanted to draw students and staff from Faculties across the College.

“Poetry can become lost once immersed in the vast world of literature, so it’s important that we have a day like this to remind people of how much pleasure it can bring to their lives.”