BAROQUE superstar Rachel Podger officially launches Brecon Women's Festival on Friday, March 1 at 6.30pm at The Andrew Lamont Gallery, Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon alongside a preview of the Brecon Women's Festival Art Show. Also performing on the evening are harpist Martha Powell and the Mid Wales Dance Academy.

The 13 day festival, which coincides with International Women's Day, is an eclectic collection featuring a Q&A session with one of Wales' most prominent poets Menna Elfyn, a photographic exhibition by Nicola Bickerton showing portraits of some of the town's inspirational women and a visit by Cardiff's Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association.

This year's Brecon Women's Festival Art Show has 'Hiraeth' as its theme and Elizabeth Blinkhorn from the Oxford University Press holds a children's reading surgery at The Hours Cafe and Bookshop.

Read the full story in this week's Brecon & Radnor Express - out now!