Ilkley Literature Festival 09

Ilkley Literature Festival with Skipton Building Society

Ilkley Literature Festival - the North's liveliest and most prestigious Literature Festival / 170 events over seventeen days / Authors' events, Discussions, Readings, Performances, Workshops, Reader's Events, Literary Walks, Poetry, Festival Fringe, Children's and Young People's Weekend.....

The 2009 Festival 2-18 October

Contact us to join the mailing list and receive your free programme in August.

The first of this year's headline events have just been announced and include:

Alan Bennett

Alan Titchmarsh

Melvyn Bragg

Paddy Ashdown

Margaret Drabble

Michael Mansfield QC

James Cracknell, double Olympic gold medallist

John Hegley

Stuart Marconie

Michael Frayn

Frank Gardner

David Peace

Moniza Alvi

Peter Porter

Tracy Chevalier

A L Kennedy

Baroness Lola Young

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Philip Ardagh

Sarah Dunant

....Plus over 160 others events - from household names, to readings, discussions, masterclasses, workshops, performances, literary walks and events for children and young people - which will be announced over the coming weeks.

A raft of special event will pay tribute to Charles Darwin whose ‘On the Origin of Species’ was first published while Darwin was visiting Ilkley in the autumn of 1859.

Tickets go on sale on Tuesday 1st Sept at 9am.

Festival Friends Membership is currently

open.
Go to our Friends page for all the details

Work in the 2009 Festival Box Office

If you'd like the chance to work on the 2009 Festival we are now looking for two full time, short term box office administrators, mid Aug-mid October.

It;s an ideal opportunity for people wanting to start a career in arts admin. You will need good IT skills; an excellent telephone manner and the ability to stay calm under pressure as you take thousands of telephone, online and postal bookings.

In return you get to be part of a great team and during the Festival itself, run our venue box offices right at the heart of events.

For a job description and details of how to apply, contact admin@ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk

Our Headline Sponsors

Ilkley Literature Festival is delighted that Skipton Building Society are once again the Festival's headline sponsors.

'Ilkley Literature Festival is a perfect fit for us. Events which matter to our members matter to us. We are lucky to have such a prestigious national event on our doorstep and Skipton Building Society is in a strong position to help the Festival grow and reach ever wider audiences.'

Cara Taylor

Sponsorship Consultant

Skipton Building Society

2009 Festival Volunteers

Many thanks to the ninety two volunteer stewards who helped at this year's Festival. Aged from 16 to 80 plus, our stewards make a huge difference to the smooth running of events.
If you'd like to volunteer for 0ctober 2009, recruitment will re-open in March.

Interpreted Events

In 2008 the following events were sign language interpreted:

Sheila Hancock

Jenni Murray

Ian McMillan

Lionel Shriver

Kate Atkinson

If you are a BSL user, contact us and let us know which kind of events you would like interpreted in 2009.

Mohammed Hafeez

The Festival was deeply saddened by the sudden death of Mohammad Hafeez recently. Known to many as the poet 'Johar', Hafeez was a valued member of the Ilkley Literature Festival board and a prime mover in helping to set up the Festival's annual Mushaira for which he acted as stage secretary. A gentle and modest man he was never too busy to lend his valuable advice and support to the Festival and his wise words, whether on Asian literature events, who to contact or how to spread the word, will be sorely missed. As Service Development Officer responsible for access for Bradford Libraries for many years, his thoughtful influence was valued across the city.
The 2009 Festival Mushaira will be dedicated to his memory

2009 Poetry and Short Story Competitions

Entries for all this year's competitions, including our adults' poetry and short story competition; our young people's poetry and short story competition (Y7-Y13) and our children's poetry competition (Reception-Y6) are now open.

Go to the Competitions page for full details of how to enter.

We are delighted to announce that Peter Porter will be judging this year's adults' poetry competition.

Young People

If you are aged 12-16 don't miss our 'School's Out' Young People's Club Night for 12-16 year olds on Friday 3rd July at Otley Courthouse Arts Centre. Young poets are welcome to read at the event- email us for a slot.

And if you enjoy writing, go to our young people's page for info about what's on for young writers aged 12-18.

2009 Fringe Events

Submissions for the 2009 Fringe have now closed. If you have a late application, contact us to go on the 'latecomers' list. Anyone from Yorkshire/the Northern region is welcome to submit ideas and full details of the Fringe,the kind of events included and how to apply are on the Fringe Page.

2008 Festival Podcasts
Missed the event you wanted to see?

Facing those empty post-Festival evenings with dread ? Or maybe you'd just like to hear more. We've collaborated with Yorkshire Post online to create a series of Festival podcasts

You can:

Listen now

Download to your ipod

Download to your computer to hear later

Choose from:

Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden
Rick Wakeman
Vernon Scannell a Celebration
M.Y. Alam
Ian McMillan
Will Self
Howard Jacobson
Katharine Whitehorn
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Voice of the People
Patrick Stewart reads JB Priestley's letters from the trenches

Or look back to the 2007 Festival Podcasts:

Johnnie Walker

Fay Weldon

When W H Auden came to town...

Roy Hattersley

Allan Plater

Dom Joly

The Festival on Youtube...

Enterprising young people who took part in our Cool Voices club night and the Subterranean Home Sick Blues fringe group have put records of their event on Youtube. Go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search Ilkley Literature Festival to see the results.