Blog

  • Festival 5 Ws Part 4: Daljit Nagra and Andrew McMillan

    Ex-Ilkley Young Writer and Writing Squad member Amy Luxton explores the Whos, Whats, Wheres, Whens and Whys of the Festival! Who? Poets Daljit Nagra and Andrew McMillan, plus the winner and runners up from the Walter Swan Poetry Prize. Where? All over. When? Pretty much any time. A lot of…more

  • Festival 5 Ws Part 3: Thin Air – Michelle Paver

    Ex-Ilkley Young Writer and Writing Squad member Amy Luxton explores the Whos, Whats, Wheres, Whens and Whys of the Festival! What? Thin Air, Paver’s latest ghost story. When? The golden era of mountaineering in 1935. Who? Five Englishmen, including the protagonist, Stephen, the medic of the group. Where? Kangchenjunga, the…more

  • Woman in the audience clapping

    Festival Five Ws Part 2: Tracy Chevalier in Conversation

    Ex-Ilkley Young Writer and Writing Squad member Amy Luxton explores the Whos, Whats, Wheres, Whens and Whys of the Festival! What? At the Edge of the Orchard, Chevalier’s new novel. When? Mid-1800s. Where? Pioneering America. Who? The ‘who’ was the big question during this event. Chevalier’s novels always use strong…more

  • Audience at the Kings Hall

    Festival Five Ws Part 1: From Charlemagne to Napoleon – The Holy Roman Empire: Peter Wilson

    Ex-Ilkley Young Writer and Writing Squad member Amy Luxton explores the Whos, Whats, Wheres, Whens and Whys of the Festival! What? The Holy Roman Empire. When? Approximately 700-1800 AD. Who? Charlemagne, Frankish king; Otto I, German king; Charles IV, King of Bohemia, and Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, to…more

  • 2016 Round Up and Season’s Greetings

    2016 has been an amazing and busy year for Ilkley Literature Festival, we held over 275 events for over 28,800 people including the October Festival, Words in the City and our year round work with children and young people. In February we launched Bradford Young Writers and the group is…more

  • Watch Chicken Shop Shakespeare in Bradford

    Chicken Shop Shakespeare hit the streets of Bradford with their flashmob Shakespeare performances for Words in the City. As part of Words in the City 2016 we invited Leeds based theatre company Chicken Shop Shakespeare to surprise passers by with pop up performances across Bradford’s City Park. From Puck in…more

  • Children’s Poetry Competition Winners 2016

    With dozens of fanstastic entries to chose from, the judges of the 2016 Children’s poetry competition were blown away by the quality of writing, making picking the winners a very difficult task indeed! The winners of the 2016 Children’s Poetry Competition are: Reception 1. Isabelle Cummins, Hawksworth CE Primary School…more

  • Young People’s Poetry and Short Story Competition Winners 2016

    The Young People’s Poetry and Short Story Competition once again received lots of brilliant entries, which came from schools and individuals across the region. As always, picking the winners was difficult, as the standard of entries was extremely high. Short Story Year 7/8/9 1. Gracie Nuttal, Skipton Girls’ High School…more

  • New Responses to the Brontës – Nat Johnson on visiting the Brontë Parsonage

    Singer/ Songwriter Nat Johnson tells us more about how visiting Haworth inspired her new songs. I first read Wuthering Heights in my early twenties, and it remains one of my all-time favourites. Emily’s powerful, weather-lashed storytelling led me to her sisters’ novels too and I’ve been revisiting them all, and…more

  • The Laureate’s Choice

    Apprentice Poet in Resience Mark Pajak tells us more about the Laureate’s Choice event at Ilkley Literature Festival 2016. During the apprentice poet interview, the Laureate’s Choice reading was the first idea I pitched. It’s an event I was deeply excited to take part in and now I am equally…more