Ilkley Literature Festival: Marking 50 years of bringing big names like Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, and Carol Ann Duffy to Yorkshire

Headline acts include some of the biggest names in British literature and writing, from hugely popular children's author Jacqueline Wilson to broadcaster Clare Balding.

Then novelist Jeanette Winterson, former politician Gyles Brandreth and writer Monica Ali.

But staying true to the festival's roots, this year it is to continue its legacy as a platform for new and emerging poets.

As well as a full poetry day, there are to be special events with poet laureate Simon Armitage, from Marsden, workshops with John Whale, and events with poets in residence.

Ilkley Literature Festival has been commissioning new works since its earliest days, with Ted Hughes producing and performing a sequence called Cave Birds back in 1975.

Now, as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, Emma Conally-Barklem has been commissioned to explore the echoes of the festival’s rich literary past.

The result is a new poetry commission, inspired by lines from Hughes’ Cave Birds, ‘Bitter Linnet', a spokesman for the festival said.

"The poem traces threads of influence found in Hughes’ work circling round Plath and stretching back to Blake and the Brontës."

Ilkley Literature Festival first opened in 1973, with appearances over the years including luminaries such as Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, and Carol Ann Duffy.

This year, and now as the North’s longest standing literary festival, it returns from October 6 to 22.

A special showcase, with the University of Leeds, is to share new poetic works while four of the festival's past poets in residence are to return to read from their latest collections.

The festival has granted special access to four new Northern poets to attend to help develop their work: Emma Conally-Barklem, Charlotte Oliver, Kristina Diprose and Daniel Hinds.

And for those seeking "poetic inspiration" from Yorkshire's countryside, they added, there's always the chance to visit a poetry trail with Armitage's poems carved into stone.

The Stanza Stones stretch from his home in Marsden to the festival's Ilkley base.

Other big acts include comedian Shaparak Khorsandi and presenters Melanie Sykes, Helen Skelton, Anton Du Beke, and Ray Mears.

Literary stars from America include Bryan Washington, who will make his first ever in-person event in the UK at Ilkley to discuss his latest novel, Family Meal, and C Pam Zhang.

Zhang’s How Much of These Hills Is Gold was named one of Barack Obama’s favourite reads in 2020; and she will be discussing her latest book Land of Milk and Honey.