Festival Themes
Doing Justice
From the individual, to the system, to the planet – how can we ensure justice and equality for all? Hear the personal story of Jo Hamilton’s bravery and hope in the face of one of the UK’s worst miscarriages of justice and allow Lady Hale to demystify the inner workings of the legal system. Lee Lawrence investigates the scale of racial injustice in the UK and Tony Juniper explores how a fairer world could be the answer to the climate crisis.
Talking Politics
Politics, politics, politics. With so much to cover, where to begin? Let’s start close to home, with a series of events on UK politics: past, present and future. Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund share the inside story of Labour under Starmer and Steve Richards looks at the legacy of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Get the inside scoop on life as an MP and Chief Whip with Simon Hart and decode the history of the UK in data with Georgina Sturge.
But we’re not done there. Next stop: the world. Take in geopolitics and explore the rise of India and China (and what it means for the rest of us) with Vince Cable, discuss what happens if globalisation fails with Ben Chu and get the inside story of Xi Jinping from Michael Sheridan.
Soft Power
This year we’re exploring the figures and events that you didn’t learn about in history class. Terry Stiastny and Charlie English reveal the secret origins of modern psychological warfare, and the astonishing, sometimes bizarre, ways in which governments have conducted their battles for hearts and minds. Yvonne Singh introduces the journalists who were putting ink to paper to declare that Black lives mattered long before a hashtag was invented. And Sonia Purnell, Thant Myint-U and Emily Herring re-examine the legacies of influential but overlooked writers, power players, philosophers and peacemakers.
Food for Thought
We hope you’re hungry! We’ve got quite the menu of events exploring food and our relationship with it. Ruby Tandoh traces how being ‘into food’ went from a subculture to a national obsession, while Sabrina Ghayour brings us all of the flavour and none of the fuss with her Middle Eastern recipes made easy. Tim Spector shares the life-changing power of microbes and makes his science-backed case for bringing more fermentation into your kitchen and Jay Rayner takes questions on his 25-year career as a restaurant critic. Eat up!
In Verse: The Rising of the North
We’ve been showcasing the cutting edge of poetry since our inaugural
festival in 1973. This year our poetry strand has a distinctly northern accent, as we explore the north’s poetic heritage and future. Hear from the rising stars of the poetry scene at our New Northern Poets showcase, discover the talent coming out of the University of Leeds Poetry Centre, rediscover the controversy and power of Tony Harrison’s ‘V.’ 40 years on, and catch a reading from the Poet Laureate, Yorkshire’s own Simon Armitage.
Browse and book our In Verse: The Rising of the North events here.
Explore Moor: Connections
How do our connections with the earth, our landscape and nature shape us? Brace yourself as we dive into the world of cold water swimming with Sara Barnes. Take a journey through deep time with Anjana Khatwa to understand the profound influence rocks have had on human life. Discuss
the latest big ideas for how we can save our planet and tackle the climate
crisis with Tony Juniper and Mike Berners-Lee and discover the hidden
stories rural spaces reveal about our history with Jason Allen-Paisant and
Corinne Fowler.
The Dark Side of the Internet
Join us as we investigate the toxic subcultures of the ‘manosphere’ with
journalist James Bloodworth, find out how the internet is being dismantled (and whether we can save it) with Nick Clegg and discover why screen addiction has become so prevalent – and how we can take back control – with the help of Dr Kaitlyn Regehr.
Browse and book our The Dark Side of the Internet events here.
Novel Ideas
We’ve lined up a show-stopping array of authors to discuss their novels
and explore the craft of storytelling, world building and character creation.
Hear from bestselling, renowned authors including Rachel Joyce, Esther
Freud and Irvine Welsh. Discover the hottest new novels in our events with Women’s Prize-shortlisted Nussaibah Younis and Sanam Mahloudji and our John Murray Press Proofs & Prosecco Party. And, if you’ve ever fancied trying fiction writing yourself, a few authors are on hand to show you how. Join us for panel discussions, talks, reading groups and workshops that celebrate the power of fiction.
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