Video: Off The Shelf book festival launched in Sheffield

Sheffield poet Genevieve Carver, author Stephen May and Tom Hingley, the former frontman of the band The Inspiral Carpets, were all on hand for the event.

Miss Carver is part of a ‘digital poetry slam’ at the festival. She said: “The spoken word is thriving in Sheffield.

“When events take place across the city we do get a lot of young people taking part too.

“The festival is great. A lot of these things can be stuffy, but here there are so many different areas of literature are involved.”

Isobel Bowler, Sheffield Council member for culture, said Off The Shelf had put Sheffield ‘on the map’.

She said: “You can’t attract these kinds of people that are coming to Off The Shelf if it is not a high-status festival.”

Other big names at the festival include comedian Sandi Toksvig and One Foot in The Grave star Richard Wilson, discussing his life as an actor, director and author.

Click the screen above to watch the Festival’s official launch video.