Ilkley Literature festival announces its programme for 2024

Following its 50th anniversary celebration last year, Ilkley Literature Festival returns with another impressive line-up this autumn. The programme, announced last week, features a diverse range of novelists, historians, journalists, politicians, biographers, poets and children’s authors, with more than 90 events taking place over 17 days in venues across the town.
Yvette Huddleston
By Yvette Huddleston

Arts and Entertainment Writer

Published 19th Aug 2024, 16:45 BST

Headliners include acclaimed novelist Kate Atkinson who will be launching her latest crime thriller featuring investigator Jackson Brodie, the Yorkshire-set Death at the Sign of the Rook; Booker Prize-winning writer Alan Hollinghurst will be discussing his first novel for over a decade, Our Evenings; household names comedian Julian Clary, lexicographer Susie Dent and Strictly Come Dancing Judge Shirley Ballas are all coming to the festival with their debut murder mystery novels – Curtain Call to Murder, Guilty by Definition and Dance to the Death. Festival favourite Gyles Brandreth delves into the secret to a happy life and the joys of the English language in Happiness in Just a Minute, broadcaster and writer John Suchet discusses his passion for music in his memoir In Search of Beethoven: A Personal Journey and award-winning space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock will be celebrating the groundbreaking James Webb Space telescope and what we can learn from it in her book Webb’s Universe: The Space Telescope Images That Reveal Our Cosmic History.

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One of the key festival themes this year is Democracies in Danger. “We know that our audiences always have a strong interest in politics and when we started our planning and research last year, we found that more than 60 countries around the globe, including ours, would be holding elections in 2024,” says Erica Morris, festival director. “At the moment the political situation here and elsewhere is quite turbulent and volatile, with the rise of the far right, the recent riots here in the UK and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, it is very much at the forefront. We were keen to explore various aspects including the influence of social media and how democracy is faring in this climate and we wanted to get as many different perspectives on that as possible.”

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Ilkley Literature Festival returns in October with more than 90 events taking place over 17 days in venues around the town, including the Kings Hall.Ilkley Literature Festival returns in October with more than 90 events taking place over 17 days in venues around the town, including the Kings Hall.
Ilkley Literature Festival returns in October with more than 90 events taking place over 17 days in venues around the town, including the Kings Hall.

Among the writers included in this strand are former Labour MP and Home Secretary Alan Johnson who will be talking about his biography of Harold Wilson, who led the Labour Party to victory serving two terms of office as Prime Minister in the 1960s and 70s, former Conservative MP Graham Brady discusses his revealing memoir Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies and The Truth About Five Prime Ministers, while journalists Polly Toynbee and David Walker explore what went wrong under the Conservatives and what needs to be done to remedy that in their new book The Only Way is Up.

Poetry has always been a central and significant part of the festival – the inaugural event was opened by W H Auden in 1973 – and the In Verse theme pays tribute to the festival's 50-year legacy of promoting poetry. Former poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy will be appearing with her longtime collaborator musician John Sampson, performing some of her best-loved poems alongside selected poems from her new anthology Earth Prayers, with musical interludes from Sampson. The former Makar of Scotland Jackie Kay will also be at the festival discussing and reading from her new collection May Day. “The UK’s poetry scene is so rich at the moment,” says Morris. “As well as established poets we will be showcasing this year’s cohort of New Northern Poets – six Northern poets at the beginning of their careers, there's a showcase for poetry publishers Bloodaxe and Sheffield-based Poetry Business will be launching their anthology Coal, a collection of poetry about miners and the mining community before, during and after the 1984-5 strike.”

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Other festival themes this year are A Matter of Taste, Legacies, Explore Moor: Nurturing Nature, Ethics & Technology, and Shaking up Shakespeare – a series of events showing the bard in a new light featuring Harriet Walter, one of our most esteemed Shakespearean actors. And there is a huge range of workshops for those interested in exploring their own creativity on everything from how to get a non-fiction book published, to historical fiction, crime writing, poetry, nature writing and the art of adaptation.

“We are really excited about welcoming big names and big ideas for another thought-provoking celebration of books, reading and writing,” says Morris. “I think literature festivals have an important role to play in ensuring that a range of views and opinions are being heard. The ambition is to provide a safe place for discussion, debate and an open-minded exchange of views, where we can listen to people we might not necessarily agree with.”

Acclaimed writer Kate Atkinson is one of the headliners at this year's festival. Picture: Helen ClyneAcclaimed writer Kate Atkinson is one of the headliners at this year's festival. Picture: Helen Clyne
Acclaimed writer Kate Atkinson is one of the headliners at this year's festival. Picture: Helen Clyne

Ilkley Literature Festival runs October 4-20. Tickets for Friends of the Festival are available from August 21; general booking opens August 27. To book and to view the full programme visit ilkleylitfest.org.uk

Related topics:HeadlinersGyles Brandreth