The Ilkley Literature Festival is a literature festival held annually in

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. Inaugurated in 1973 by the poet

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

and until 1988 held every two years, the festival is the oldest and largest of its type in the north of England.

Introduction

The Ilkley Literature Festival is an annual event in

. Attracting many important international literary figures, its two-week programme, starting at the end of September, now features more than 250 events, which take place in a variety of venues in Ilkley and surrounding towns and villages. The festival includes events for children and young people and a festival fringe.

History

In 1971 Ilkley residents Michael Dawson (then-Director of the Yorkshire Arts Association) and Peter Harland (editor of the ''

Telegraph & Argus The ''Telegraph & Argus'' is the daily newspaper for Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is published six times each week, from Monday to Saturday inclusive. The newspaper has offices in Newhall Way, Bradford, from where its journalists work ...

'' and Chair of the Yorkshire Arts Literature Panel) began discussing the possibility of a festival for the town. Dawson had visited

Cheltenham Literature Festival ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' Cheltenham Literature Festival, a large-scale international festival of literature held every year in October in the English spa town of Cheltenham, and part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for t ...

and Harland suggested trying something similar in Ilkley. A seven-week postal strike with no letters to answer gave Dawson the opportunity to draw up some concrete proposals. The Yorkshire Arts Association literature panel approved the plans and promised a grant provided the urban district council made a similar commitment. On 10 February 1972, a small group met at Dawson's house in Ilkley. They included

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

lecturer Robin Alston and Manor House Museum curator Arthur Kitching.

Donald Baverstock Donald Leighton Baverstock (18 January 1924 – 17 March 1995) was a British television producer and executive, born in Cardiff, Wales. He initially worked for BBC Television in their Talks Department, where he was the Editor of the topical mag ...

, Director of Programmes at YTV who lived locally, also offered to help. At a meeting at the Ilkley Town Hall in March 1972, the group organised a

steering committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

and local councillor, Molly Renton (the only woman) became the Chair. The first festival, which took place in April 1973 and was opened by

during the last year of his life. In 1988, the festival began to be held annually. Since 2003, the festival has been directed by Rachel Feldberg.

Notable visiting authors

Kate Adie Kathryn Adie (born 19 September 1945) is an English journalist. She was Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she reported from war zones around the world. She retired from the BBC in early 2003 and ...

(2006) *

George Alagiah George Maxwell Alagiah ( born 22 November 1955) is a British newsreader, journalist and television news presenter. Since 3 December 2007, he has been the presenter of the ''BBC News at Six'' and was previously the main presenter of '' GMT'' o ...

(2006) * Maya Angelou (2005) *

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

(2006 and 2012) *

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internati ...

(2012) *

(1973) *

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

(2017) * Melvyn Bragg (2001, 2003 and 2006) * Richard Dawkins (2017) *

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...

(2005) *

Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...

(2005) * Nick Hornby (2006) *

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

(1975) * Clive James (2005) *

P. D. James Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, (3 August 1920 – 27 November 2014), known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuring th ...

(2005) * Andrew Motion (2006) *

Jenni Murray Dame Jennifer Susan Murray, (''née'' Bailey; born 12 May 1950) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known for presenting BBC Radio 4's ''Woman's Hour'' from 1987 to 2020. Early life Murray was born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorks ...

(2006) *

V. S. Naipaul Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (; 17 August 1932 – 11 August 2018) was a Trinidadian-born British writer of works of fiction and nonfiction in English. He is known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad, his bleaker novels of alienati ...

(2001) *

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate new ...

(2006) *

Will Self William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...

(2001) * John Sergeant (2005) *

Ned Sherrin Edward George Sherrin (18 February 1931 – 1 October 2007) was an English broadcaster, author and stage director. He qualified as a barrister and then worked in independent television before joining the BBC. He appeared in a variety of r ...

(2005) * John Simpson (2006 and 2010) *

Louis Theroux Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British-American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received two British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award. After graduating fro ...

(2005) *

Tim Vine Timothy Mark Vine (born 4 March 1967) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter best known for his one-liners and his role on the sitcom ''Not Going Out'' (2006–2014). He has released a number of stand-up comedy specials and has wr ...

(2017) *

Fay Weldon Fay Weldon CBE, FRSL (born Franklin Birkinshaw; 22 September 1931 – 4 January 2023) was an English author, essayist and playwright. Over the course of her 55-year writing career, she published 31 novels, including ''Puffball'' (1980), '' Th ...

(2005) *

Benjamin Zephaniah Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (born 15 April 1958)Gregory, Andy (2002), ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa, p. 562. . is a British writer and dub poet. He was included in ''The Times'' list of Britain's top 50 post-wa ...

(2004 and 2012)

Trivia

*Writer and broadcaster

J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

wrote to support the first festival and said: "Ilkley is the right size for a Festival town...large enough to provide various amenities and small enough to stroll around and run into everybody."

References

External links

Ilkley Literature Festival official site
* Ilkley Literature Festiva
Board and Staff Team
{{coord missing, West Yorkshire Tourist attractions in the City of Bradford Festivals in West Yorkshire Literary festivals in England Ilkley