Latest News

  • Image of ILF banner.

    The Ilkley Literature Festival Confirms Hybrid Festival for Autumn 2021

    The organisers of the Ilkley Literature Festival are planning a return to live events this October. Alongside a programme of pre-recorded and live-streamed digital author talks, this will be the first hybrid festival the organisation has produced. Following audience consultations, discussions with publishers and planning sessions with local venues, the…more

  • Ilkley Literature Festival to Receive £27,000 from the Second Round of the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund

    Ilkley Literature Festival (ILF) are among more than 2,700 recipients to benefit from the latest round of awards from the £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund.  This award will help ILF to develop their digital offer and schools programme and remain resilient while planning for the return to live events  ILF in West Yorkshire has received a grant of £27,000 from the Government’s…more

  • 2020 Walter Swan Poetry Prize Results

    Walter Swan Poetry Prize Judge Professor John Whale’s Feedback It was as ever a great privilege to be able to read poems submitted to a competition, as a judge you are always humble by the entries, and on this occasion the general standard of entries was really high. What I was looking at was a…more

  • Autumn 2020 Programme

    Autumn 2020 Digital Weekend Programme Announced

    Ilkley Literature Festival has announced the programme of its first ever digital events weekend. Fifteen events, produced exclusively by the festival, will be broadcast free online from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit live events like the annual literature festival very hard….more

  • Banner - Autumn 2020 Digital Events Weekend

    Download the 2020 Programme

    We are delighted to bring you Ilkley Literature Festival’s Autumn 2020 digital programme. Download the 2020 programme

  • Tickets on sale for Young People’s Workshops

    Tickets for the first of Ilkley Literature Festival’s creative workshops are available now! Moving Pictures Workshop Mon 10 Aug – 6-7:45pm – £10* – Age 12-18 Join writer Becky Cherriman for a Zoom workshop, where you will delve into the world of writing and art. Make artworks come to life and…more

  • Ilkley Literature Festival Announces Autumn 2020 Plans

    In any other year, August is an extremely busy time in the Ilkley Literature Festival office. The team would be eagerly awaiting delivery of the festival programme, frantically uploading 150+ events into the box office system ready for tickets to go on sale, and putting the finishing touches on plans to deliver audiences a jam-packed fortnight of talks, performances and workshops in October.    But like so many other festivals (and well, everything the world over), this…more

  • Family Resources

    We know it may be hard to entertain and homeschool your children, so we have put together a list of fun and engaging resources that you can use!  We will continue to update this list as we learn of more resources. If you know any others that you think we should…more

  • The 2020 Writing Competitions are Open

    Ilkley Literature Festival are pleased to announce that our annual writing competitions are now open for entries.  Young People’s and Children’s Poetry Competitions  These are free-to-enter competitions for schools and individual children.  Young People’s Poetry Competition Age Categories  Years 7, 8 and 9  Years 10 and 11  Years 12 and 13  To enter and for full terms and…more

  • Statement on ILF & COVID-19

    In light of the government’s new measures to curb the spread of the Coronavirus, we would like to remind our Friends that we are still able to offer our assistance to those being affected by the escalating pandemic. The government has stated that everybody should remain at home except when it is absolutely essential. We strongly…more