University plays biggest role yet in Ilkley Literature Festival
Twenty University academics feature alongside a host of celebrities appearing at the North of England’s longest-running literature festival.
The Ilkley Literature Festival (ILF) has announced its stellar line-up for this year’s event, which runs from 28 September to 14 October and comprises 240 events across 15 venues.
Big names booked to appear include cricket star Moeen Ali, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, comedian and ‘Strictly’ star Susan Calman, bestselling novelist Kate Mosse, BAFTA-winning journalist Stuart Cosgrove and many more.
The University, as the event’s Higher Education partner, is also well represented, featuring more staff from Leeds than ever before.
University speakers
As part of the University’s increased role in the festival, a number of academics will speak on two anniversaries: the bicentenary of Emily Brontë’s birth and the bicentenary of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein.
Dr David Higgins, from the School of English, will tackle the links between Frankenstein and climate change, while Professor Sally Shuttleworth – now Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford but formerly at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield – will present an intriguing discussion around the Wuthering Heights author, which was also this year’s Annual British Academy Lecture at Leeds, hosted by the Cultural Institute and Leeds Humanities Research Institute.
Other varied events featuring University staff are:
- Can Gender Equality Change the World, with Sally Hines, Professor of Sociology & Gender Identities, in the School of Sociology and Social Policy
- The Human Planet, with Professor of Global Science Change, Simon Lewis, from the School of Geography
- Guided Reading Groups on Frankenstein with Carl McKeating, from the School of English
- What isn’t Life? with Dr Terence Kee in the School of Chemistry
- Dream of a Low Carbon Future with James McKay from the School of Chemical and Process Engineering (see also this event)
- Joined at the Hip – Jack Kerouac, Jazz and Rock with Dr Simon Warner, from the School of Music
- Gone in 60 seconds: One Minute Play Performance and Workshop, with Steve Ansell, Artistic Director and Theatre Manager, in stage@leeds
- Voices of Light and Dark with John Whale, Professor of Romantic Literature in the School of English and Director of University of Leeds Poetry Centre
- ‘Empower a Girl’ and ‘Goats for Christmas’: Challenging the Myths of Development Aid with Dr Lata Narayanaswamy, Dr Polly Wilding and Dr Anna Mdee, from the School of Politics and International Studies
- Writers from Singapore, chaired by Professor John Whale
- New Writing Showcase – ILF's Poet in Residence, Imtiaz Dharker, will introduce inspiring new writing from poets in the region, including Dr Rachel Bower and Dr Karl O’Hanlon, from the School of English
- The Fashion Forecasters with Professor Regina Lee Blaszczyk, from the School of History
- I am Dynamite: Sue Prideaux on Friedrich Nietzsche, chaired by Frank Finlay, Professor of German in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies
- 1968 – Radical Protest and its Legacy with Dr Ingo Cornils, from the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies; and
- Women Talking, Women Writing with Dr Lucy Arnold, from the School of English.
Poetry to please
For those who prefer poetry to prose, there’s world-renowned Yorkshire-based poet Simon Armitage, the University’s Professor of Poetry. He will return to Ilkley to give an atmospheric candlelit reading of the newly revised, illustrated edition of his acclaimed modern translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Carol Ann Duffy will appear alongside Imtiaz Dharker in a special event hosted by the University’s Cultural Institute.
Professor Frank Finlay, Director of the University’s Cultural Institute, said: “Following the highly successful Words in the City festival, which marked the start of our new partnership, I am really pleased to see a record number of University events at this year’s Ilkley Literature Festival.
“Our collaboration is a wonderful way to give our students and staff exciting opportunities to interact with large and diverse audiences, to engage with the wider world of ideas and to share new knowledge. I shall be taking part myself and am very much looking forward to it.”
Rachel Feldberg, festival director, said: “The carefully curated line-up for 2018 includes some of the biggest names in literature, as well as some of the most well-respected experts in history, poetry, non-fiction and science.
“This year, we’re lucky to have leading voices and specialists in their subject to contribute to our strands, which includes Windrush and the 200th anniversary of two outstanding women writers.”
Read more about the festival on the University news webpage.
University staff can now get 20% off tickets for many of the events here.
Visit the Ilkley Literature Festival webpage for further information about the festival, the Festival Friends scheme and to download the full festival programme. Tickets will be on sale online and through the box office on 01943 816 714 from 28 August.
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