Ilkley Literature Festival continues as this week and highlights include Alan Davies, Mary Portas, and Simon Armitage.
The bestselling author and comedian Alan Davies discussing his latest memoir, White Male Stand Up in a sold-out event on Wednesday 8 October, and Mary Portas with her memoir, I Shop, Therefore I Am on Thursday 9. The week culminates on Friday with an Evening with the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage.
Then at the weekend [11-12 October] highlights include former Lib Dem politician Vince Cable with his book, Eclipsing the West, exploring how two rising Asian superstates – China and India - are set to overshadow the Western-dominated world.
BBC journalist Ben Chu looks at the dangers of isolation in global politics with Exile Economics, and the environmentalist Tony Juniper tells us how to lead good lives without hastening global collapse, with his book, Just Earth, How A Fairer World Will Save the Planet.
The weekend also brings a focus on northern women writers as Valerie Waterhouse explores the forgotten life of Bradford writer Malachi Whitaker in a sold-out event, Yorkshire-born Jess Kitching talks about her new romance novel The Life Experiment with author Hannah Thomas Uose, and Dr Jill Liddington hosts Writing Women Up North exploring influential northern women writers beyond the Brontes.
The prize-winning Bradford author, Rachel Bower also discusses her unforgettable debut, It Comes From the River with the British-Australian writer Emilia Hart as both talk about crafting compelling stories of women’s lives in their folklore-inspired fiction.
Mary Portas is at the Kings Hall on Thursday [Photo: Linda Nylind]
Guardian journalist John Harris brings his book, Maybe I’m Amazed, which traces his experience of raising an autistic child, how music became a source of connection and endless wonder for them both, and the connections between neurodiversity and creativity.
Music also comes from lecturer at the School of Music at the University of Leeds, Stan Erraught, with Rebel Notes – exploring how music intersects with global conflicts.
Somerset Maugham Award-winning writer Lamorna Ash explores why young people in Britain today are turning to faith in an age of uncertainty, in her event A New Generation’s Search for Religion.
Sadiah Qureshi, Chair of Modern British History at the University of Manchester, details the unnatural history of extinction in her event, revealing how extinction is more than a scientific idea; it’s a political choice that has led to devastating consequences.
From extinction to evolution, historian Gregory Radick returns to the festival after his sold-out event in 2023. Radick will share the extraordinary, enigmatic story behind Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals in his event Darwin’s Emotional Evolution.
History continues to be a strong theme across the festival, with historian Fern Riddell providing a provocative exploration of Queen Victoria’s passionate midlife and relationship with servant turned companion John Brown on Sunday 12 October.
The weekend also features a timely event, ‘V.’ Reimagined, in homage to the poet Tony Harrison, who sadly passed away last month aged 88. Harrison was one of Britain’s leading poet-playwrights, as well as one of the most political poets of the last century.
‘V.’ Reimagined celebrates the 40th anniversary of the poem, which Harrison wrote during the Miners’ Strike exploring class, alienation, anger, and Northern identity. A televised performance made headlines and divided the nation, with MPs calling for it to be banned and the Daily Mail labelling it a ‘torrent of filth’.
‘V.’ Reimagined is chaired by the Yorkshire poet Andrew McMillan and brings together three acclaimed Northern poets - Malika Booker, Jo Clement, and Paul Farley, who will re-imagine this seminal piece of public poetry and read from their newly commissioned poems. The commission is a partnership with New Writing North and will be replicated at Durham and Manchester Literature Festivals.
The festival continues until Sunday 19 October. 2025 marks 52 years of the north’s longest-running and much-loved literary festival.
To book visit www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk or call the box office: 01943 816714.
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