EVENTS

York Literature Festival

March 2026

Tickets for Events

Your Life is Manufactured: Tim Minshall in Conversation

Saturday 28th February

St Peter’s School

Doors open 6:30pm for a 7pm start

£12 Tickets

Book-signing to follow the event.

Join Tim Minshall, Professor at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, on an illuminating journey through the world of manufacturing and its transformational influence on our lives – and the world around us.

Tim will be in conversation with the York Literature Festival team to discuss the things around us and how they impact our world, be it the thousands of litres of water it takes to make a single pair of jeans or our smartphones that travel the world six times to reach us.

Tim Minshall is the inaugural Dr John C. Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge, the head of the Engineering Department’s Institute for Manufacturing and a fellow of Churchill College. His research, teaching and outreach are focused on the links between manufacturing and innovation. He lives in Cambridge with his scientist wife, Nicola.

The Sleepwalkers: Scarlett Thomas in Conversation

Wednesday 4th March

Merchant Adventurer’s Hall

7pm

£12 Tickets

Book signing following the event

A Waterstones Book of the Month in 2025, join us to celebrate Scarlett Thomas’s unconventional novel The Sleepwalkers. With prose constructed of diary entries, letters and unreliable character narration, Thomas’ novel reads like a literary fever dream and confronts the boundaries of what we expect from literary fiction. Thomas will be in conversation with Professor of Creative Writing, Vybarr Cregan-Reid about her writing process, how writing The Sleepwalkers surprised her, and what we could possibly expect next.

Let’s Get Philosophical: Writing Philosophical Fiction with Rachel Handley

Friday 6th March

York Medical Society

2-4pm

£8 Tickets

Participants will produce several pieces of flash fiction during this two hour workshop. Designed for adults, the course introduces key philosophical themes found in different parts of both literature and philosophy and guides participants in writing in response to those themes. We will look at themes such as betrayal, awe, oppression, and more. Writers at any level are welcome to join, and there will be occasions throughout the workshop for participants to read out their work and get brief feedback.

Rachel is a lecturer in philosophy, a science fiction author, and a poet. Their debut short story collection, Possible Worlds and Other Stories, was published in 2022. In 2023 their short story, The Sound, was longlisted for the British Science Fiction Awards. In 2022 their poem, Dear Daughter, was shortlisted for the Dublin South Libraries Poetry Prize. Alongside their teaching in philosophy, they often teach creative writing. Most recently they taught a course for the Irish Writers Centre on philosophical fiction.

Climate Sci-Fi Fiction Panel with Fly on the Wall Press

Friday 6th March

York Medical Society

6pm

£12 Tickets

Join us for an innovative panel discussion with Isabelle Keynon, CEO of Fly on the Wall Press. Isabelle will be joined by two of her authors, Amy Lilwall and John Ironmonger to discuss Cli-Fi as an emerging genre and writing in response to the current climate crisis. 

Smith & Waugh’s Satirical Voyage: From Jonathan Swift to H. G. Wells

Saturday 7th March

The Creative Centre, York St John University

2pm

Free

Join Dr Jo Waugh and Dr Adam James Smith, co-hosts of the Smith & Waugh Talk About Satire podcast and co-directors of the York Research Unit for the Study of Satire, for an exploration of fantastic voyages in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature. From Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels to H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine, they’ll examine how writers use other worlds to reflect, critique, and reimagine their own. The event also uncovers some delightfully odd and overlooked works, including Peter Wilkins’s The Life and Adventures of Robert Paltock (1751) and Humphrey Lunatic’s York-printed A Trip to the Moon (1764), and invites lively discussion about the promise of other worlds and the vexing realities of our own.

The Book of Jonah: Luke Kennard in Conversation with Caleb Klaces

Saturday 7th March

The Creative Centre, York St John University

6pm

Free

What does it mean to be a prophet, or false prophet, in the year 2025? Winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2021, and author of The Book of Jonah (2025), Luke Kennard joins York St John University poet and lecturer Caleb Klaces to discuss contemporary poetry, the prose poem and Kennard’s impressive body of work. Both poets who have recently published prose projects, Kennard and Klaces join forces to reflect on form and how poetics might inform their general writing practice.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Writing Women in York: A Poetry Workshop with Janine Bradbury

Sunday 8th March

The Gilpin Room, Theatre @ 41

1pm

£10 Tickets

A poetry workshop led by Janine Bradbury, BBC New Generation Thinker and Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Writing and Culture at the University of York. In this poet-led session, participants will be invited to consider poetic practice and how this relates to absences in historical archives.

Janine Bradbury works across a number of forms, including poetry, non-fiction, and radio, with a particular focus on popular culture and books. Her writing has been published by The Guardian, Bloomsbury, Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, and others. Her debut poetry collection, Sometimes Real Love Comes Quick & Easy, is a nostalgia-filled exploration of love, sentimentality, and pop culture. It was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. 

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

The International Women’s Day Poetry Showcase

Sunday 8th March

Theatre@41

7:30pm

£12 Tickets

For the third year running, join local poet Chloe Hanks in welcoming four vibrant voices from the local and surrounding poetry scene in celebration of International Women’s Day. This year, we we will be joined by York based poet Kayleigh Campbell, author of Sailor’s Blue from Broken Sleep Books, spoken-word poet Minal Sukumar, Bloomsbury author of An Interesting Detail, Kimberly Campanello and Bloodaxe’s Helen Ivory with Constructing a Witch. 

Beyond the Walls, Student Showcase

Monday 9th March

De Grey Lecture Theatre, York St John University

7pm

Free

Join us for exciting readings of creative pieces written by the talented students and staff of York St John  University. The event is celebrating the annual Beyond the Walls anthology project and is hosted and organised by York St John University creative writing students.

Writing the Environment in Poetry & Prose: Wendy Pratt

Tuesday 10th March

The Creative Centre, York St John University

6pm

Free

Author of The Ghost Lake (The Borough Press, 2024) and Blackbird Singing at Dusk (Nine Arches, 2024), Wendy Pratt joins us in conversation to reflect on the environment as stimuli for personal and creative research. Pratt’s work explores themes of landscape and belonging and both publications sit in intertextual discourse with each other, challenging ideas of identity, womanhood and inheritance in relation to the environments we occupy. 

Writing with Water, Hydro-poetics Workshop with Becca Drake

Wednesday 11th March

Spark SHOW

6pm

£8 Tickets

In this two hour workshop, join poet Becca Drake to explore ways of writing with water. From drifting fragments of poetry in a paddling pool, to letting water intervene on the written page (and a detour through the best ‘blue’ poetry being written now), we will work together with water to co-compose our poems. Suitable for all ages and levels of experience. This is the perfect workshop to jump in if you are new to poetry, or if you want to try writing poetry in unexpected ways!

Becca Drake (she/they) is a poet and researcher based in York. Her book Unstill Landscapes (Guillemot Press, 2025) was BBC Radio 4 Poetry Extra Book of the Month. She has taught English Literature and Creative Writing for the University of York, as well as for Hull Museums Trust, Yorkshire Museums Trust, and grassroots arts and heritage organisations across Yorkshire. Her critical research explores lived landscapes of the medieval sea, the blue humanities, and medieval poetry as a tool for exploring affective relationships with landscapes of contemporary water crisis. Becca edits and prints experimental letterpress poetry pamphlets under the name Little Hirundine.  

YORK LITERATURE FESTIVAL SUPPORTS:

Breaking, Not Broken: Ableism and the Church after Constantine with Timothy Goode & Stephen Cottrell

Wednesday 11th March

The York Minster, Minster Yard

6.30pm

This is an unticketed event, please look out for York Minster’s events programme for more details.

Canon Timothy Goode joins Stephen Cottrell to discuss the important issue of perfectionism and disability in the church. Drawing on Tim’s own lived experience of disability, the pair will weigh in on the Churches’ attitude to these issues, considering how and where there is potential for change.

Please note that parking is limited at this venue.

Elly Griffiths Launches The Killing Time

Thursday 12th March

Merchant Adventurer’s Hall

7pm

£15 Tickets

Join us at Merchant Adventurer’s Hall, an atmospheric and historic space in the centre of York to hear bestselling author Elly Griffiths detail what is next for detective Ali Dawson. When Ali notices that evening that her cat, Terry, has gone missing, she decides to go back in time just long enough to prevent Terry from escaping through his open cat flap. A dangerous plan which backfires, and she finds herself once more in Victorian London, where she meets Jones, as well as Power, and the darkly mysterious Cain Templeton with whom Ali has unfinished business from her previous visit to the past.

Unwritten: The Literary Improv Show

Thursday 12th March

The Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

Doors open 7.30, show begins at 8.30pm

£8 Tickets

Improv based on your literary suggestions.

The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games and infuse them with storytelling flair.  Every show is completely unique, shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity.

Last time, amongst other things, we visited an Agatha Christie themed restaurant,  saw Dr Jeykll in his new job as a clown, found out the truth about Goldilocks in a podcast retelling and heard a love song between Dracula and Winnie the Pooh.   Who knows where this evening will take us. Expect an evening of laughter, surprises, and plot twists!

The Poets Behind the Press

Friday 13th March

Theatre@41

7.30pm

£12 Tickets

At a time when Independent publishing is innovating the market, join us for a unique panel discussion that puts the poet at the centre of their publishing journey. Join Becca Drake of Little Hirundine Press, Paul Whelan of Acid Bath Publishing and Scarlett Ward of Fawn Press, a three poet panel all of whom have taken the industry by storm by establishing their own presses. Each poet will perform some of their work whilst presenting their publishing efforts, followed by a discursive panel and opportunity for the audience to ask their pressing publishing questions. 

Francis Spufford in Conversation: Celebrating Nonesuch

Friday 13th March

Joseph Rowntree School, Haxby Rd, New Earswick

7pm

£12

It’s the summer of 1939. London is on the brink of catastrophic war. Join us for an evening with Francis Spufford as he introduces us to his newest protagonist, Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman in the stuffy world of City finance set during the terrors of the London Blitz.

What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into an adventure of otherworldly pursuit – into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes overhead. But Iris has more to contend with than the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand.

Francis Spufford is the author of five highly-praised works of non-fiction, most frequently described by reviewers as either ‘bizarre’ or ‘brilliant’, and usually as both. His debut novel Golden Hill won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and the British Book Awards Debut Novel of the Year. His second novel, Light Perpetual, was awarded the 2022 Encore Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize. His third novel, Cahokia Jazz, was published in 2023. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He teaches writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and lives near Cambridge.

A DAY AT YORK EXPLORE

Poetry for all the Family, a Workshop with Olivia Mulligan

Saturday 14th March

York Explore Library and Archives

9:30am

£1 Tickets

Join poet & children’s author Olivia Mulligan for a family friendly poetry workshop. Expect a welcoming, fun and playful session. Suitable for 4-10 year olds, parents can join in too!

A DAY AT YORK EXPLORE

The Wildsmith Workshop with Liz Flanagan

Saturday 14th March

York Explore Library and Archives

11am

£1 Tickets

Join Liz Flanagan, a novelist from Hebden Bridge as we explore the stories of Rowan the Wildsmith! Encounter dragons, witches and all manner of mythical beings throughout this exciting storybook workshop.

Children will be encouraged and inspired to write their own stories using inspiration from their own lives!

A DAY AT YORK EXPLORE

When We Were Divided – Book Launch with Liz Flanagan

Saturday 14th March

York Explore Library and Archives

2pm

£5 Tickets

Set in Yorkshire, 1643, When We Were Divided is the story of how three people’s lives are transformed by conflict. 

Three women’s lives are woven together – and transformed – when the English Civil War comes to the puritanical Yorkshire clothing towns. While tested to their limits, each finds that war brings a chance to break free of the narrow paths laid out for them. Estranged sisters will hold the life of the other in their hands: will they reconcile or destroy each other entirely?

Colette Snowden: Celebrating Celeste

Saturday 14th March

The Creative Centre, York St John University

2pm

Free

Manchester based writer, Colette Snowden discusses her novel Celeste, an urban noir that traces the impact of the disappearance of a 22-year-old woman on those involved in her life and those caught up in finding her. Snowden will be in conversation with local poet, Chloe Hanks, to discuss her success as a novelist, the stories in the everyday, and creative writing as a tool through which we can dissect the female experience in the current climate.

Rónán Hession, in Conversation

Saturday 14th March

St Peter’s School

Doors open 6.30pm for a 7pm start

£12 tickets

Following the success of Leonard and Hungry Paul (2019) and the 2025 BBC Series, join us as we welcome Rónán Hession and Colette Snowden for an inspirational talk about writing, adaptation and Hession’s recent novel Ghost Mountain (2024).

Ghost Mountain is a folk tale featuring a mountain that appeared yesterday, changing the lives of the local people; the town drunk, a retired teacher and her dog, a young soul and his wife, an old soul. It is a story about all that is unmistakable present yet never truly fathomable in our lives.

Rónán Hession is an Irish writer and musician based in Dublin. His debut novel Leonard and Hungry Paul, was published by Bluemoose Books in 2019. It was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, the An Post Irish Book Awards, the British Book Awards, the Books Are My Bag Awards, the Dalkey Literary Prize, the McKitterick Prize, and was longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. Leonard and Hungry Paul was selected by Dublin City Council as the 2021 One Dublin One Book. It was also chosen by the Sunday Times and the Irish Times as one of the 50 Great Irish Novels of the 21st Century. It is currently being adapted for a six-part BBC series. Ronán’s second novel Panenka, was published in May 2021. It was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards and the Books Are My Bag Fiction prize. His third novel, Ghost Mountain, was published in May 2024 to critical acclaim. It was a Book of the Year in Review 31 and The Irish Independent.

Rónán has been a judge for the An Post Irish Books Awards, the British Book Awards and the Society of Authors McKitterick Prize. He also reviews fiction in translation for the Irish Times. As Mumblin’ Deaf Ro, he has released three albums of storytelling songs. His third album, Dictionary Crimes, was nominated for the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year.

Ghost Chilli: Nikkitha Bakshani in Conversation

Sunday 15th March

York Explore Library and Archives

1pm

£5 Tickets

Recipient of a Cosmopolitan Book Award and finalist
for the 2025 New Adult Book Prize, Nikkitha Bakshani
joins us to celebrate the success of Ghost Chilli, her
electrifying debut novel, and reflect on her writing
practice. The author talk will be followed by the
opportunity for audience questions and to have your
book signed by Nikkitha!

Writing Crime: a Creative Writing Workshop with Katie Collom

Sunday 15th March

Spark SHOW

3pm

£8 Tickets

Local crime writer Katie Collom hosts this workshop where you will take on writerly approaches to crafting a mystery, building suspense and constructing character. Collom will reflect on her celebrated novel. Peter Miles Has to Die, for all your crime curiosities.

Can You Solve the Murder?

Monday 16th March

The Crescent Community Venue

7pm

£12 Tickets

Antony Johnston, author of Can You Solve the Murder?, hosts an interactive murder mystery event tasking you with bringing out your inner detective. You will be split into teams to uncover hidden clues, interrogate suspects, and piece together the puzzle to identify the culprit. Don’t miss this immersive event!

An Evening with Jasper Fforde

Tuesday 17th March

Tang Hall Explore Library

6pm

£8 Tickets

Bestselling author Jasper Fforde joins us for a talk on writing, being published and his advice towards aspiring writers. Fforde is known for his unique blend of comedy, science fiction, and satire, which often plays with literary conventions. Before becoming a full-time author, he worked for two decades in the film industry as a focus puller. His first novel, The Eyre Affair, launched his career in 2001 and introduced the literary detective Thursday Next, the protagonist of his most famous series.

I’m With Pulp, Are You? An Evening with Mark Webber

Tuesday 17th March

The Crescent Community Venue

Doors open at 6:30pm for a 7pm start

£15 Tickets

Mark Webber, guitarist from Pulp, joins us to discuss I’m With Pulp, are You? The book is a visually rich chronicle of the band’s history from the perspective of a fan turned manager turned guitarist. 40 years of archived material comes to life on the pages of a unique and highly anticipated music memoir.

Mark Webber was born in Chesterfield in 1970 He grew up listening to chart music before discovering David Bowie and The Velvet Underground, and becoming fascinated with Andy Warhol and the counterculture. Having told his school careers officer that he was going to be a pop star (not entirely seriously), Mark began to write fanzines and organise concerts from the age of 15. He has been a member of Pulp since 1995 and appears on the Pulp albums Different Class, This is Hardcore, We Love Life and more. Away from music, Mark has devoted much of his time to curating avant-garde film and has published several books on the subject.

Writing Children’s Fiction, a Workshop with Camilla Cassidy

Wednesday 18th March

Spark SHOW

6pm

£8 Tickets

Camilla’s first manuscript won the Hachette Children’s Novel Award from New Writing North in 2025, and she’s here to impart her knowledge in a bespoke workshop on Children’s Fiction with writing activities and an opportunity to learn about Cassidy’s writing practice.

Her work has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, The London Magazine, The Spectator, Apollo Magazine and The Telegraph, among others. Her creative nonfiction book, The Ground Beneath Our Feet, won a Society of Authors K Blundell Award and is forthcoming from Reaktion Books.

These Isles: A People’s History of England, Ireland,
Scotland & Wales: Brian Groom in Conversation

Wednesday 18th March

York Explore Library and Archives

6pm

£5 Tickets

In conversation with Professor Gweno Williams from the Norwegian Study Centre at the University of York, Brian Groom, author of bestselling Northerners, will take us on a trip exploring often-contested story of Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans and all peoples in between who lived on our isles. With focus on culture, language and passions Groom will take us from 800,000-year-old footprints on a Norfolk beach to the changing fortunes of the 21st century.

Laura Bates – The New Age of Sexism:

How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny

Wednesday 18th March

St Peter’s School

Doors open 6:30pm for a 7pm start

£12 Tickets

Activist, writer, speaker and journalist Laura Bates joins us at St Peter’s Memorial Hall to deliver an eye-opening keynote showcasing the subject of her latest bestseller, The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny.

Covering topics such as workplace sexual harassment to school sexism, women in tech to online abuse, Bates’ is an urgent and captivating voice against gender inequality. Do not miss this talk where Bates’ will present her stance on AI and what she deems sexism in “a new age”.

Please note that this talk will contain references to emotionally challenging material.

Laura Bates is an activist, writer, speaker and journalist. She is the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-increasing collection of over 200,000 testimonies of gender inequality. The project raises awareness of sexism, provides a cathartic and empowering space for survivors’ stories to be heard and believed, and uses those stories to create real-world change in partnership with politicians, businesses and organisations from the United Nations to the Council of Europe.

Laura is a bestselling author of 9 books, which have been translated into 7 languages. Her first book, Everyday Sexism, published by Simon & Schuster in 2014, was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year and Polemic of the Year at the Political Book Awards. Her second book, Girl Up, a survival guide for teenage girls, was a Sunday Times bestseller. Men Who Hate Women, a groundbreaking undercover investigation into the world of incels and the terrorism nobody is talking about, was named one of the best books of the year by The Guardian and GQ in 2021. Fix the System, Not the Women, was published in May 2022 and provided the inspiration for a national anti-misogyny advertising campaign.

Inter-Uni Poetry Slam: Uni of York and York St. John

Thursday 19th March

Theatre@41

7:30pm

£5 Tickets

Hosted by York’s very own Say Owt, students from York St. John’s Dead Poets Society and Inkwell Societies will compete against Uni of York’s Slam Soc in a battle of poetry and the spoken word! With each poet allowed just 3 minutes to impress special guest judge Bradley Taylor, author of You Missed The Best Part and winner of Roundhouse Poetry Slam 2024, the biggest poetry slam in history!

Plus special guest: Bradley Taylor. Bradley is an award-winning poet born and based in Birmingham. In 2024 he won the Roundhouse Poetry Slam, the biggest poetry slam in history. In 2025 he released his debut collection You Missed The Best Part before embarking on a nationwide tour. On BBC Radio 6 Music, Craig Charles described him as ‘a brand new voice and a fresh perspective on the art of poetry and performance’.

Fantasy Fiction: Susanna Clarke in Conversation

Friday 20th March

St Peter’s School

Doors open 6.30pm for a 7pm start

£12 tickets

TICKETS SELLING WELL

Eighteen months after receiving her honorary Doctor of Letters from York St John University, bestselling Fantasy Fiction author Susanna Clarke will join festival chair Rob O’Connor in conversation on genre, writing and her celebrated works which are much loved across York and beyond.

In 1992, Susanna Clarke began working on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which was finally published in 2004 by Bloomsbury to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was filmed as a major BBC drama that aired in 2015. She followed with a collection of short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu (2006). Her short story Mr Simonelli, or The Fairy Widower, was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award in 2001. Her most recent novel, Piranesi, was published in 2020 and was awarded the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2021. Her short story, The Wood at Midwinter, broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on Boxing Day in 2022, was published by Bloomsbury as an illustrated book in October 2024. Susanna lives in the Peak District with her husband, the writer Colin Greenland.

Folk Horror and the Urban Wyrd

York Festival of Hauntology

Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd March

York St John University

Saturday 21st – De Grey Lecture Theatre

Sunday 22nd – Creative Centre Auditorium

Due to huge demand, and the rapid sale of our season passes, we have decided to move York Festival of Hauntology to a larger venue. To make sure as many of you as possible can join us to celebrate Folk Horror and the Urban Wyrd, the events will now take place at York St John University Campus on the 21st and 22nd March.

Season pass tickets sold with the previous venue are valid at the new venue. The remaining tickets for individual events can be accessed below.

Pen to Paper

Saturday 21st March

Spark SHOW

6-9pm

£8 Tickets

14 local York writers bring you a performance never before seen! This two and a half hour event will take you on a journey across form, genre and even music in a celebration of the spoken and written word that is not to be missed.

Isabella Dorta – I Don’t Think I’m Straight: Queer Poems to Celebrate You

Sunday 22nd March

Spark SHOW

6pm

£15 Tickets

TikTok sensation and much loved touring spoken word poet, Isabella Dorta, is back in York to celebrate her newest book, I Don’t Think I’m Straight. Join us as we enjoy a vibrant and emotive performance and take advantage of the opportunity to leave with a signed copy. This collection will guide you on an empowering journey to explore sexuality with courage and understanding.

Super Nintendo: Why Do We Game?

Monday 23rd March

The Crescent Community Venue

7pm

£12 Tickets

Join us at the Crescent Community Venue to welcome Keza MacDonald, video games editor at The Guardian, with her first full-length book, Super Nintendo, an innovative exploration of Nintendo’s history, stitched together with consideration of why people love gaming so much.

The Little Apple Bookshop Quiz

Tuesday 24th March

The Black Swan

7pm

£2 Tickets

Back by popular demand, it’s a book quiz like no other! Last year we flummoxed everyone asking questions in Lily Collins’ Moomin podcast, Salman Rushdie’s appearance in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sally Rooney’s connection to Gaelic Football, a whole host of anagrams, a true or false round, spelling questions, a slightly controversial Maths round and a lot more.

Lucy Andrew Launches A Very Vexing Murder

Tuesday 24th March

York Explore Library and Archives

6pm

£5 Tickets

Lucy Andrew is a crime writer and crime fiction scholar with an unhealthy fixation with Jane Austen. Join us to celebrate the launch of her debut novel, A Very Vexing Murder, where we meet the tyrannical Mrs Churchill who is convinced someone is trying to kill her…

Wilson, Blair and Starmer: Leading Labour into Government

Tuesday 24th March

St Peter’s School

7pm

£10 Tickets

Alan Johnson, author of Harold Wilson, a biography of one of the most successful politicians of the twentieth century, sits down with Steve Richards, author of Tony Blair, a provocative short biography from a leading politician journalist. The pair will be discussing political legacies, politics throughout the twentieth century and how it has influenced politics today.

Keshed – Book Launch with Stu Hennigan

Wednesday 25th March

Spark SHOW

6pm

£8 Tickets

We celebrate the publication of Keshed, Stu Hennigan’s debut novel, that challenges contemporary discourse around masculinity, fatherhood and men’s mental health. We read through the reflections of a dying man in the shell of his family home, haunted by the chain of events that led him there.

Manish Chauhan – Belgrave Road

Thursday 26th March

Spark SHOW

6pm

£8 Tickets

Manish joins us at SPARK to discuss his debut novel. Described as a ‘classic tale of star-crossed love,’ Belgrave Road has potential to tug at the heart strings. This is a love story of two people working side by side but living worlds apart. Can Mira and Tahliil find a way to be together, and will finding each other set them free?

The Lights that Blur Between Us – Book Launch with Stu Freestone

Monday 30th March

The Crescent Community Venue

7pm

£8 or £13 Tickets

Join us to celebrate Stu’s debut poetry collection for an evening featuring two sets of poetry set to a live music backing. His collection explores the nostalgia of adolescence, relationships, loss and processing. An honest portrayal of life experiences, as Stu sees it. Stu is a York-based poet and Associate Artist of the gobby Say Owt collective.

Sponsored by York St John University

Our thanks go to those people and organisations that continue to support us every single year: York St John University, St Peter’s School, The Mount School, York Theatre Royal and Explore York Libraries and Archives. 

Rob O’Connor, Festival Chair

VOLUNTEERS

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY NOT LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR YLF 2026.

If you wish to volunteer as a steward for the York Literature Festival then please get in touch with us at info@yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk. Please be aware that volunteers may be required to carry out light manual tasks (e.g. moving chairs) and must have an enthusiasm for literary events. Volunteers will be asked to steward for 30-60 minutes before the start of each event and will be welcome to join the audience once the event has started.