Latest News

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  • Special Event Announcement: Eddie Jones – Thursday 28 November

    We are delighted to announce that England Rugby coach Eddie Jones will be joining us for a special event on Thursday 28 November. Fresh from the Rugby World Cup in Japan, Jones will be sharing stories of his life and career as told in his new autobiography, My Life and…more

  • 2019 Walter Swan Trust Poetry Prize Results

    Walter Swan Poetry Prize 1st. Border Patrol by Deborah Ballantyne 2nd. What Are You, Puffin by Rob Miles 3rd. honey suckle by Jo Peters   Judge Colette Bryce’s Feedback It was a pleasure to read the shortlisted entries for the Walter Swann Poetry Prize. Amongst the range of subjects, several…more

  • 2019 Short Story Competition Results

    In total we received over 200 entries for this year’s short story competition. Many entries drew on important social issues such as dementia care or mental health, while others were packed with twists, turns and suprising final reveals. The competition has been judged by Lucy Caldwell, herself recently shortlisted for…more

  • 2019 Poetry and Short Story Competition Short Lists

    Walter Swan Poetry Prize Shortlist 2019 Now in its fourth year, the Walter Swan Poetry Prize is open to all writers of poetry aged 18 and over. This year, for the first time, we have introduced a new prize category for young writers aged 18-25, which runs along the main…more

  • Other Events in and around Ilkley

    There’s lots happening in and around Ilkley in September and October. Don’t miss these fantastic events being run by our friends and partners. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tuesday 24 September Poetry From Singapore School of English, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT 6.30pm FREE Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to hear from one of…more

  • David Suchet, Prue Leith and Clare Balding to Headline ILF19

    We are delighted to reveal some of the headline names who will be joining Poet Laureate Simon Armitage on the ILF programme this year. Star of stage and screen, David Suchet, will look back on his 50-year career via the many photographs he’s taken along the way. The much-loved actor…more

  • Young People’s Poetry Competition

    Our Young People’s poetry competition is open for entries and this year, inspired by the 50th anniversary of the moon landings we are asking for poems on the theme of Discovery. This can be any kind of discovery, not just scientific – it could be a personal discovery of a…more

  • Introducing the 2019 Apprentice Poets in Residence

    The ILF Apprentice Poet in Residence position is a prestigious one for early career poets and is usually awarded to one poet each year. This year the calibre of this year’s applications was exceptional prompting ILF to take the unprecedented step of offering the Apprentice role as a joint position….more

  • Colette Bryce to be Poet in Residence

    We are delighted to announce that award-winning Northern Irish poet Colette Bryce will be Poet in Residence at the 2019 Festival. Following in the footsteps of previous Poets in Residence including Imtiaz Dharker, Daljit Nagra, Andrew McMillan and Zaffar Kunial, Colette will be putting her own mark on the festival,…more

  • Support our campaign to bring more captioned events to ILF

    Give to our fundraising appeal to help people with hearing loss enjoy more ILF events, and Crowdfunder could DOUBLE your donation! There are 11 million people with hearing loss in the UK, that’s around one in six of us. Of this number there are around 50,000 children with hearing loss…more