Blog

We are delighted to announce that Zaffar Kunial will be the 2015 Poet in Residence and Beverley Nadin the Apprentice Poet in Residence. Zaffar Kunial was born in Birmingham and is a Faber New Poet. His poem ‘Hill Speak’ won third prize in the 2011 National Poetry Competition and he…more

Words in the City Coordinator, Jenny Harris, shares her experiences of the weekend. Early June saw us heading to Bradford City Centre for a second edition of our new poetry weekend, Words in the City. We were sad to miss the Curry Festival this year, which was postponed, but it’s…more

As well as edible poetry and writing inspired by the sky, one of the activities for children and families in the Poetry Yurt at Words in the City was to simply write a poem. Over the weekend dozens of poems were written about everything from apples and guinea pigs to…more

On Wednesday 24 June we welcomed many of our Festival Friends to Ilkley Rugby Club for our annual spring reception. While the Friends enjoyed a glass of wine and a few canapes, Festival Director Rachel Feldberg announced the first names appearing at the 2015 Festival, including 3 names revealed exclusively…more

Ilkley Young Writers have two great events coming up in July: The Mighty Write Workshop 1-3.30pm, Sunday 5 July The Space, Hebden Bridge Town Hall FREE As part of the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, the Young Writers will be running a writing workshop for anyone aged 12-18. A fun and…more

After another successful Summer School last year, Ilkley Literature Festival will be running our next residential Summer School  for young people who love writing from Friday 4 September to Sunday 6 September 2015. Based at Lineham Farm, a converted farmhouse near Golden Acre Park just outside Leeds, we will be…more

As this stage of our Creative Case project draws to a close I’ve realised that one of the unexpected effects has been to change my relationship with a number of the paintings in the exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery which has been our springboard, ‘One day, Something Happens; Paintings of…more

Although I have been around the visual arts for a long time, including curating the Festival’s 40th anniversary exhibition and once as a wide-eyed student, being asked to ‘clear up’ a floor sculpture people were treading on at a private view- I remember crouching on the floor, shovelling it into…more

To celebrate World Book Day Sainsbury’s commissioned a survey to find the ‘Top 50 Books Every Child Should Read By 16’. The survey aimed to find the ultimate children’s reading list and encourage bedtime reading. And while there are plenty of great books listed we noticed some of our favourites…more

Lots of people assume that working in the arts means you have time to explore ideas- spend your days having great thoughts or wafting about in a creative haze. The reality is, whatever your art form, we’re almost always heads down, working on practical tasks to tight deadlines. So, our…more