The festival past and present
For the past four years now, since its inception in 2006, the aim of the Huddersfield Literature Festival has been to provide innovative and distinct events to support and showcase new, emerging and established writers/artists, offering a platform to promote new work as well as the opportunity to attend intensive writing workshops and masterclasses.
EMAIL: litfest@hud.ac.uk
Last Year....
Innovative events last year included:
- a songwriting masterclass,
- a burlesque show with a literary theme,
- an art exhibition celebrating literature and the word,
- and a poetry karaoke.
New and emerging writers such as Chris Humphries, Gaia Holmes and Khadijah Ibrahim, were given a platform alongside established names such as Joanne Harris, Lemn Sissay, John Cooper Clarke and Ian McMillan. We were very pleased to have Mark E Smith in conversation as our finale event. This is only the second time Mark has appeared at a literature festival (the other being the Guardian Hay Festival).
Although in its infancy as a festival it is already making a name for itself and our ambition is for it to grow in reputation to be a major national literary event putting Huddersfield (along with the Yorkshire region) in a prominent position.
Previous festivals have featured Andrew Motion, Simon Armitage and The League of Gentlemen. Last year’s festival featured 54 writers/artists, many of them emerging or new writers and the 23 events were attended by nearly 2000 people, a significant number of whom had never visited a literature festival before. The vast majority of events sold out making The Huddersfield Literature Festival one of the most successful at attracting new audiences in the region. This year our aims and objectives have been developed. Have a look at our brochure to see our vision.
Who we are
Our Festival Director, Michael Stewart, is a multi-award winning writer. He has written several full length stage plays, one of which was joint winner of the King’s Cross Award for New Writing, as well as securing work in radio and television. He was the winner of the BBC Alfred Bradley Award in 2003 and his plays have been performed in Bradford, Leeds, Manchester, London, and extensively throughout the country. His radio play Excluded was shortlisted for the Imison Award 2008. His fiction has been published widely in anthologies and magazines, including Route, Leaf Books, Brand Magazine and Aesthetica.
He is supported in his role by David Gill, who is an award winning songwriter, dramatist, poet and novelist, and widely experienced in festival and events management, hosting and co-ordination. Further support is provided by the acclaimed poet, lyricist and film maker Gaia Holmes and by a steering group made up of key cultural players from Kirklees. These include Victoria Firth (the director of the Lawrence Batley Theatre), Clare Danek (Programme and Marketing Manager of The Media Centre), Mai Li Lin (Development Librarian of Kirklees Central Library), Professor Barry Doyle (head of History, English, Languages and Media, University of Huddersfield), Chol Theatre and a number of other significant figures.
For more information please email litfest@hud.ac.uk or call 01484 430528.
We want new voices to be heard, that's what the festival is all about, so come along this year and have a listen; we look forward to welcoming you.
Take a look at what we were doing in 2006, 2007 and 2008
Sponsorship and Support
The festival has now secured two patrons: Lemn Sissay and Patrick Stewart. Lemn Sissay is the author of many poetry books as well as a successful playwright. He has made a number of programmes for the BBC and is currently writer in residence at The South Bank. Patrick Stewart OBE, the University of Huddersfield’s Chancellor, also endorses the festival.
In addition, we have been able to obtain professional advice and support from Simon Armitage and Ian McMillan. We are supported and funded by The University of Huddersfield, The Arts Council England, Kirklees Council, Lawrence Batley Theatre, The Media Centre and The Peacock Lounge.
We are very pleased this year to welcome the expertise of Vaudeville Events, who are managing many aspects of the festival and include Vicky Smith, Colin Ye, Amy Corbett, Emily Kennedy and Sarah Gladman. Without their dedication and help this year’s festival would not be possible.
Book store of the Festival: Waterstones
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