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Poet in Residence Daljit Nagra tells us more about translating the work of Somali poet Xasan Daahir Isaacciil ‘Weedhsame’. Imagine a protagonist speaking angrily to the Sea that it has swallowed up all of his loved ones, that the Sea has been complicit in the murder of Somalians fleeing their…more

Information about changes to the Festival programme, including new events and updates. Due to unforeseen circumstances we ocasionally have to make small changes to the programme or sadly cancel events. Details of any such changes to the 2017 programme will be listed here. Venue Change: Event 78 Scandinavian Crime will…more

We are delighted to bring you the 2017 Ilkley Literature Festival programme, featuring over 250 events including Alan Bennett, Sarah Millican, Richard Osman, Shami Chakrabarti, Judy Murray, Richard Dawkins, June Sarpong, Daljit Nagra, Alan Hollinghurst and many more. Our Children’s Festival is headlined by BBC Radio 1’s Greg James and…more

Alan Bennett will open the 2017 Ilkley Literature Festival with a special afternoon event on Friday 29 September. The playwright, screenwriter, actor and author returns to the Festival for the first time since 2009 and when he will be talking about his most recent collection of diaries and essays, Keeping…more

Rachel Hall, who is a member of Ilkley Young Writers and a regular at our Young Writers Summer School recently spent a few days doing Work Experience at the ILF office. As well as learning about life behind the scenes of a Literature Festival she wrote this blog about making…more

We are excited to announce the first headline names for this year’s Festival! BAFTA award-winning English journalist and broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire will make her Ilkley debut on September 30 with her book Dear Cancer, Love Victoria: A Mum’s Diary of Hope, published earlier that month. A first-hand account of the…more

Our special afternoon event for School groups is open for booking NOW – schools’ afternoons always sell out, so make sure your school gets tickets! Schools’ event with M.G. Leonard for students in Years 3&4 M.G. Leonard is a writer of books, poems and screenplays, including Beetle Boy and Beetle…more

The 2017 Children’s and Young People’s Writing competitions are now open! Children’s Poetry Competition: Schools and individual children from Yorkshire and Lancashire are welcome to enter this competition. AGE CATEGORIES Reception, Year 1, Year 2 Year 3 and 4 Year 5 and 6 PRIZES FOR EACH AGE GROUP A special…more

We are delighted to announce that Jade Cuttle has been appointed as the 2017 Apprentice Poet in Residence. Jade is a poetic folk songwriter at University of Cambridge. She has performed on BBC Radio 3 in association with BBC Proms (The Art of Splinters) and is broadcast regularly across BBC…more

An Evening with Sally Wainwright and Ann Dinsdale was the highlight of the ILF17 Spring Series and if you missed this sell out event, or simply want to relive it, you can listen to a recording here.