AN award-winning traditional folk artist will feature at this year’s Harwich Festival of the Arts.

Lucy Ward and her newly formed band the Lucy Ward Band will be performing a range spirited and vibrant songs.

Ward will kick of the folk strand of the festival on Monday when she collaborates with poet Gillian Greenslade for ‘Loss, Loss and Rebirth’.

Their performance at The Samuel Pepys at 4pm will feature a variety of songs both new and old from Ward and poems based on East Anglian folk tales by local poet Greenslade. Tickets cost £5.

On Monday evening Ward, who won the Horizon award for best newcomer at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012, will unite with six other musicians to form the Lucy Ward Band.

They will take to the stage at the Electric Palace at 8pm with the performance featuring piano, harmonium, percussion, fiddle and bass.

Tickets cost £8 and require a £1 membership fee for the Electric Palace.