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The Origins of the Festival
Ilkley Literature Festival began in 1973, the brainchild of Michael Dawson, the first Director of the newly formed Yorkshire Arts Association. The story goes that during the 1971 postal strike, lack of mail gave him the space to browse through a stack of brochures from arts festivals across the country. Discovering that only Cheltenham was predominantly concerned with literature and that that there was nothing of the kind in the North, he set about instituting a new Literature Festival in Ilkley, his home town.
After two years of planning and fund raising the first Festival was launched by W.H. Auden in 1973, in his last public appearance. At first biennial, the Festival became a regular yearly event by1988, going from strength to strength. Over the last thirty years innumerable famous authors have passed through its doors - from international figures and Nobel prize winners to poets like Ted Hughes and Benjamin Zephaniah. There have been residencies, literary walks, discussions, commissions, workshops, exhibitions, performances and moments of high drama.
The Festival Today
Today the Festival is held over a two week period at the start of October in this miniature Victorian spa town at the foot of Ilkley Moor - surrounded by beautiful countryside - but only fifteen minutes from Leeds Bradford airport and a stone's throw from Howarth, Harrogate, Leeds and Bradford. The Festival is supported by Arts Council England Yorkshire, West Yorkshire Grants and Bradford Metropolitan Authority, who also provide the Festival with a tiny office in a listed Victorian cottage on the site of a Roman Fort in the grounds of the Manor House Museum.
Skipton Building Society is the Festival's headline sponsor, with Spellman Walker sponsoring the Festival print, and a range of other busin ess and educational partners supporting specific events.
Events take place in a variety of venues across the town, from a well equipped modern studio theatre for 150 at Ilkley Playhouse; to the large function rooms at the imposing Craiglands Hotel and the ornate Grade 2 listed nineteenth century Kings Hall, with its gilded boxes and balconies, seating 500. The Children's Festival has a home at the newly built All Saints Church of England Primary School and other events take place in the Crescent Hotel, Otley Courthouse Arts and Resource Centre and the Education Room of the Manor House Museum. There are projects and residencies involving local schools and community organisations across the town and a lively Fringe that squashes into any venue it can find.
Just as J.B. Priestly said, when he wrote in support of the very first Festival:
'Ilkley is the right size for a Festival town. ..large enough to provide various amenities and small enough to stroll around and run into everybody.'
Who We Are
Ilkley Literature Festival is a Charitable Company limited by guarantee, with a voluntary Board:
Ilkley Literature Festival Board 2008
Chair - Simon Ashberry
Vice Chair - Ellen Thorpe
Treasurer - Erica Below
Mandy Oates
Nigel Walsh
Anne Clarke
Jenny Batters
Mandy Sutter
Jim Wolton
Louise Bland
Children's Festival Patron: John Cunliffe
The Festival is run by an ever expanding team :
Director Rachel Feldberg
Writer, arts project manager and former theatre director, Rachel Feldberg has been with the Festival since January 2003 and works part time for the Festival year round.
Administrator Gail Price
Festival administrator Gail Price formerly worked for Harrogate International Festival and came to Ilkley in February 2004. Gail works part time for the Festival year round
Marketing Foundation Ltd. Ilkley. - Marketing Communications
Having worked with clients who include LEGO, Virgin Atlantic, V&A and Heinz, the Foundation team - Sandi Hayhurst, Sarah Hanson, Emma Arnold and Claire Tidd are determined to make a difference.
Press
Anita Morris Associates.
Technical Director Richard Speight
Richard Speight of Spot-on Theatre Services handles all the Festival's technical requirements and joins the festival each October.
Web Site Maintenance
CDS Studios
Book Sales
Book sales are handled by our on-site booksellers, The Grove Bookshop, Ilkley, an independent book shop run by Kevin Ramage, who also owns The Owl independent bookshop in Kentish Town.
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