The north’s longest-running literary festival has announced its 2024 line-up.
A plethora of poets, novelists, chefs, historians, politicians, children’s authors, biographers, journalists, and even the odd national treasure, descend on the spa town this autumn. This year’s programme is bursting with variety, with over 90 exciting events celebrating the joy of books, reading and writing. Expect inspiring talks, big names and even bigger ideas. Bring your curiosity and your questions as everything is covered from the turbulent state of politics, both here and across the pond, to asking who owns the moon, from the most exciting new fiction to the secrets of happiness.
Kate Atkinson, one of the world’s foremost novelists, launches her new Jackson Brodie book, Death at the Sign of the Rook, in an exclusive event in partnership with Grove Bookshop on 18 September.
Headline acts include household names such as Julian Clary, lexicographer Susie Dent, and Strictly’s Shirley Ballas, with their debut murder mystery novels, Curtain Call to Murder, Guilty by Definition, and Dance to the Death.
The acclaimed American novelist Jodi Picoult brings her latest novel By Any Other Name, and Booker-prize winning novelist Alan Hollinghurst celebrates his first book in over a decade, Our Evenings.
National treasures Prue Leith and Gyles Brandreth return and John Suchet promises a candid talk on his part memoir, part biography In Search of Beethoven: A Personal Journey, which explores how music became the great passion of his life.
Bringing political clout are Alan Johnson’s biography of Harold Wilson and Sir Graham Brady’s explosive new memoir from the heart of Westminster, Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers.
Journalists Polly Toynbee and David Walker take to the stage to discuss what went wrong under the Tories, and what must now be remedied, with The Only Way is Up.
The Guardian’s Adrian Chiles presents The Curious Columns of Adrian Chiles and comedy and life lessons come in the form of Paul Sinha and Helen Lederer. Clothier and judge on The Great British Sewing Bee Patrick Grant discusses overconsumption in fashion and how we can make ourselves happier by rediscovering the joy of living with fewer, better-quality things.
The festival is also exploring a series of themes for 2024. The theme In Verse plays homage to the festival’s 50-year legacy of promoting poetry. Audiences can discover the power of poetry at a reading with poets including Peter Sansom, Ted Hughes and Raymond Antrobus, Headline poets include, Jackie Kay and former poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who will discuss her beautifully curated book, Earth Prayers.
Murder, They Wrote celebrates the nation’s bestselling genre, as arresting debut authors to masterminds of the genre discuss why crime fiction pays. Ilkley welcomes crime authors including Janice Hallett and Saima Mir, as well as a host of celebrities-turned-crime writers.
To view the full programme and book tickets https://www.ilkleylitfest.org.uk