Ilkley Literature Festival

2018 has been another busy year for the Ilkley Literature Festival team, here are a few of the highlights:
The main Festival featured over 240 events including Alan Bennett, Jacqueline Wilson, Simon Armitage and Nadiya Hussain. Words in the City, headlined by Linton Kwesi Johnson, moved to its new home in the centre of Leeds We helped 60 secondary school pupils who are new to English to create animated poetry films as part of our Paul Hamlyn Foundation funded proj...ect Ilkley Young Writers wrote and performed their own play, The Abnormal Poets of Christchurch Members of Bradford Young Writers completed their Bronze Arts Awards and received their certificates from Darren Henley, Head of Arts Council England Filming took place for an independent film starring Derek Jacobi inspired by the Festival
As 2018 comes to a close, we are of course sad to be saying goodbye to Rachel Feldberg after 16 years as Festival Director, but we are also looking ahead to our next chapter. Planning is underway for Words in City, taking place in Leeds in April and we will be announcing our first events of 2019 in early January.
And don't forget to donate to the Snow Appeal by Wednesday 19 December to get your Snow card.
http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/donate
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We are very excited about our final events of 2018 this week... Moeen Ali tongiht at the Grammar School at Leeds (tickets available on the door), Sir Robin Knox Johnston on Wednesday at Craiglands Hotel and Dan Snow on Friday at Bradford Grammar School
http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/whats-on/festival

It's #GivingTuesday so why not donate to our #SnowAppeal and help support our work with children and young people? You'll even get a Christmas Card from a headline name as a thank you!
From helping pupils who are new to English use poetry to tell their stories to facilitating teenagers with a passion for words to write their own play we work year around to engage children + young people and your support is vital to helping us deliver these projects. Thank you!
http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/donate

Have you donated to the Snow Appeal yet?
http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/donate

After 16 amazing years as Artistic Director Rachel Feldberg will be moving on from Ilkley Literature Festival this December.
Rachel joined the festival in 2002 and since then has grown the event to a thriving 17 day festival, welcoming leading authors, poets and writers from across the world to the town each October, as well as initiating a year-round programme of innovative education and outreach work, the much loved children’s festival and Words in the City poetry and spok...
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Would you like a Christmas card signed by Alan Bennett, Jacqueline Wilson or Susan Calman?
Donate to our Snow Frundraising Appeal and you might get one!
We have 500 beautiful Christmas cards featuring the Snow Stone and each one is signed by a headline name from #ILF18 if you donate over £25 to the Snow Appeal, you'll receive a randomly selected card as a thank you.
... Inspired by the Snow Stone, which was recently vandalised and is in need of costly repairs we are launching the 2018 Snow Fundraising Appeal to raise £10,000 to support our work throughout the year including repairing Snow Stone.
Ilkley Literature Festival is much more than two weeks of events every October. We work year-round on projects including weekly writing groups for children and young people, author visits to schools, supporting writers to make new work and of course major projects like the Stanza Stones.
By donating to the Snow Appeal you will be making a real difference and supporting our work. For instance:
• £5 provides a ticket for a young person to attend a Festival event
• £15 covers the costs of materials for a Story Explorers participant
• £50 subsidises a Summer School place for a young writer
• £150 covers the costs of an author visit a local school
• £500 supports an emerging writer to create new work for the Festival
http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/donate
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Did anyone leave a notebook at last night's event with Mary Portas? Notebooks are important and we want to reunite this one with its owner.

We are very pleased to announce that we have a new date for our event with Moeen Ali - 8pm on Monday 3 December at The Grammar School at Leeds
If you booked tickets for Moeen's original date in September the Box Office will contact you to reissue tickets or arrange refunds as required. Thanks for your patience on this and we hope you can make the 3rd!
Tickets are on sale now: http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/eve…/44-moeen-ali

Due to unforeseen circumstances Dan Snow has had to postpone his event at Bradford Grammar School until 7 December. We are very sorry for any inconvenience.
If you have tickets for 23 November, our Box Office will contact you to reissue your tickets or refund you if you can't make it.
Tickets for the new date at 7.30pm on Friday 7 December at Bradford Grammar School are now on sale: ... http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/…/241-dan-snow-o…
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Ilkley Literature Festival 2018 kicks off in just a few hours with Countdown and Apprentice star Nick Hewer!
We have dozens of events coming up over the weekend and tickets are still available for many.
From tomorrow morning Box Office phone lines will be open Mon to Fri and 10am – 12pm Sat & Sun and you can book online anytime (up to 12 hours before an event).

We were very sad to hear that John Cunliffe, creator of Postman Pat, Rosie and Jim and many other much loved children’s characters passed away last week.
John, who was a long time Ilkley resident, became Patron of our Children’s Festival when it started in 2003 and delighted children and parents at many Festival events over the years.
Rachel Feldberg, Festival Director, said, ‘We were honoured to have John as Patron of our Children’s Festival and I have wonderful memories of ...events he did with us. His work, particularly Postman Pat, was iconic for everyone who grew up reading, watching and loving those characters and will continue to delight children for generations to come.’
Our thoughts are with John’s wife and family at this time.
http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/…/john-cunliffe-…
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Our WS Graham exhibition at the Manor House is starting to take shape.
It will be open 10am - 4pm Sat and Sun and 1 - 4pm Mon to Fri from Saturday 29 September.

Unfortunately, due to changes to the England Cricket Sri Lankan Tour schedule, our event with Moeen Ali on Sunday 30 September at the Grammar School at Leeds has had to be postponed.
We apologise for any disappointment and inconvenience caused and we are working with Moeen's team to reschedule the event for later in the year.

We now have spaces available for the new term of Story Explorers, our Saturday morning reading and writing sessions in Ilkley for children aged 8-11! Find out more and book your child's place here: http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/…/story-explorers

Please note: We are aware that some customers have experienced difficulty booking tickets on our website when using Google Chrome. This issue is due to a recent update to Chrome and beyond our control.
We strongly recommend using another browser to make your booking or calling the Box Office on 01943 816 714
Thank you.

We are very excited to announce that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has joined the #ILF18 line up and will be coming to Ilkley on 5 December.
Tickets on sale 10am on Tuesday 11 September.
http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/…/sir-robin-knox…

Two dynamic cooks discuss new ways of approaching food.
Campaigner, food writer and activist Jack Monroe is known for making budget food fun and delicious. With her trademark humour and wit, she talks about how affordable, authentic and creative recipes aren’t just for cooks with fancy gadgets or premium ingredients.
Great British Bake Off finalist Ruby Tandoh is now a food writer (The Guardian, The Observer, Elle, Vice) and author of three books, including The Sunday Times t...op 10 bestseller Eat Up!, her critically acclaimed celebration of the pleasure of eating and a manifesto for taking the guilt out of food culture.
Saturday 6 October, 4.30pm Kings Hall, £14/10* concessions
Book Now: http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.u k/…/108-jack-monro…
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Get in the mood for #ILF18 this weekend with Flowetry.
THIS IS FLOWETRY with Anthony Joseph, Malika Booker, Jo Bell and Genevieve Carver, hosted by Testament, with music from the Purple Lychee Collective.
A poetry first! As part of the Bradford Bubble Up, Bradford and Ilkley Literature Festivals present Flowetry - a free evening of poetry and music featuring some of the UK’s leading poets, including Anthony Joseph, Malika Booker, Jo Bell and Testament!
... https://www.facebook.com/events/714357688 904106/
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Booking is now open for Ilkley Literature Festival 2018! Over 240 events including Nadiya Hussain, Susan Calman, Dan Snow, Jacqueline Wilson, Moeen Ali, Mary Portas, John Simpson, Carol Ann Duffy and many more.

Went to The Ten Past to The Tempest - WOW! Amazing mix of beatbox, poetry and singing that had me grinning the whole way through. Brilliant!

Too good to make poetry here in every presence.

Thanks everyone who loves literature like me

So last night wrapped up against the cold, wrapped in my loves warm attentive care and with enough drugs in me to start a pharmacy we went to see Susan Calman talk about her new book Cheer Up Love. Susan was funny, warm hearted and open about her depression. Thank you for a wonderful evening it made me forget my cold/flue thing �

My first time performing at Ilkley Literature Festival tonight. Bowled over with the outstanding hospitality and friendliness of every single member of staff; everyone was so polite and welcoming. Thank you for a lovely evening.

Loving the festival as always, so many fascinating and varied talks in a range of great venues around Ilkley, highly preferable (in my opinion) to the "temporary village of metal sheds in a field" approach that is necessary in Edinburgh. My only minor criticism would be the insane difficultly level of the quiz this year, our team of 3 people coming 3rd out of 8 despite being totally clueless about at least half of the questions on each round :) Won't stop us trying again in 2016 though!!

I was honoured to meet Margaret Atwood at this event three years ago, especially having first read The Handmaid's Tale nearly 18 years ago as part of my A Level English Literature. My 21 month old daughter is starting to show an interest in reading books & if she was old enough, I would have brought her to the kids version of the festival this year. Hopefully, the kids festival will become a yearly event & long may the main festival continue x

Had a very entertaining afternoon in the presence of Richard Osman.

Went to The Ten Past to The Tempest - WOW! Amazing mix of beatbox, poetry and singing that had me grinning the whole way through. Brilliant!

Too good to make poetry here in every presence.

Thanks everyone who loves literature like me

So last night wrapped up against the cold, wrapped in my loves warm attentive care and with enough drugs in me to start a pharmacy we went to see Susan Calman talk about her new book Cheer Up Love. Susan was funny, warm hearted and open about her depression. Thank you for a wonderful evening it made me forget my cold/flue thing �

My first time performing at Ilkley Literature Festival tonight. Bowled over with the outstanding hospitality and friendliness of every single member of staff; everyone was so polite and welcoming. Thank you for a lovely evening.

Loving the festival as always, so many fascinating and varied talks in a range of great venues around Ilkley, highly preferable (in my opinion) to the "temporary village of metal sheds in a field" approach that is necessary in Edinburgh. My only minor criticism would be the insane difficultly level of the quiz this year, our team of 3 people coming 3rd out of 8 despite being totally clueless about at least half of the questions on each round :) Won't stop us trying again in 2016 though!!

I was honoured to meet Margaret Atwood at this event three years ago, especially having first read The Handmaid's Tale nearly 18 years ago as part of my A Level English Literature. My 21 month old daughter is starting to show an interest in reading books & if she was old enough, I would have brought her to the kids version of the festival this year. Hopefully, the kids festival will become a yearly event & long may the main festival continue x

Had a very entertaining afternoon in the presence of Richard Osman.