Cleckheaton Literature Festival 2016 - Sunday 1 May

For our final day of events, attendees can look forward to some great author talks and a creative writing workshop:

11-12               Horatio Clare author talk:  Aubrey & the Terrible Yoot

 

Award-winning author and speaker Horatio Clare will talk about and read from Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot and talk about the acclaimed book's influences, from Roald Dahl to the Gruffalo. An event for parents and children 7 - 70 years-old.

 

Horatio Clare is the author of two memoirs, Running for the Hills and Truant; three books of nature and travel, A Single Swallow, Down to the Sea In Ships, and Orison for a Curlew; a novella, The Prince's Pen; an anthology, Sicily Through Writers' Eyes, and most recently a novel for children, Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot, a Sunday Times children's book of the year. His work has been listed for numerous  prizes, winning the Somerset Maugham award, the Foreign Press Association award and the Stanford-Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2015. Horatio contributes to numerous international publications and radio programmes, with regular essays for the Financial Times and From Our Own Correspondent.

 

Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot is the story of a rambunctious little boy whose father is attacked by a monster which cannot be killed. Aubrey decides to confront it anyway, even if it means doing battle with the dreadful spirit of despair itself - the Terrible Yoot! The book was chosen by The Sunday Times and the New Statesman as a children's book of the year, and is currently long-listed for the Branford-Boase Award, for the best debut children's book. The stunning illustrations by Jane Matthews have attracted widespread praise and comment.

1-3                   Martyn Bedford

Get lost in a good story:

This workshop with award-winning author Martyn Bedford will focus on short-story writing. We'll start by looking at how an effective story is put together then have a go at writing one, using a lost object as the starting point and focusing on structure, plot and character development. This workshop is suitable for all writers, from beginners to the more advanced. Just bring a pen, paper . . . and imagination!

Martyn Bedford is the award-winning author of five novels for adults – including Acts of Revision, The Houdini Girl and The Island of Lost Souls – and three for young adults, as well as numerous short stories. His debut YA novel, Flip, won four regional prizes and was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and his latest, Twenty Questions for Gloria, was published in spring 2016 on both sides of the Atlantic. Between them his eight novels have been translated into fifteen languages. Martyn’s first solo collection of short fiction is published later this year by Comma Press.

 

 

A former journalist, Martyn is a senior lecturer in creative writing at Leeds Trinity University, where he teaches on the English & Writing BA and Creative Writing MA. He lives in West Yorkshire with his wife and two teenage daughters. To find out more, visit his website at www.martynbedford.com.

4-6                   James Nash author talk (Cinema Stories)

 

'Before the Second World War, there were around seventy cinemas operating in Leeds. Now, though some remain open, most of these ‘forgotten temples’ have been repurposed or demolished.

Since 2014, Leeds-based poets James Nash and Matthew Hedley Stoppard have been visiting the sites of legendary picture-houses, and documenting their current status with two inimitable, unmistakable poetic voices – whilst also considering the remarkable shared (yet personal) experience that is cinema-going.
So sit down on a spring-loaded chair, grab some popcorn, and enjoy one of the most original, evocative poetry collections since the invention of technicolour...'

Praise for the authors:

“James Nash illuminates, wonderfully, the small details and the large issues of life, love and language. [He writes] magical and memorable poems: poignant yet rich with humour, and underpinned, above all, by a great humanity.”
— Sarah Waters

“Matthew Hedley Stoppard uses inventive language and striking imagery ... [he has written] one of the most arresting poetry collections of the year.”
— The Guardian

TOWN HALL              7-LATE            Andy Kershaw in Conversation

 

 

'Andy will be talking about his travels to some of the world's most dangerous countries as a foreign correspondent, sharing his passion for manned space flight, and finishing off the evening with an open question and answer session with the audience.'

Back by popular demand, learn the following facts (and more):

»has visited 97 of the world's 194 countries.
» owns an LP and CD collection weighing seven tons.
» is a freelance broadcaster, journalist and foreign correspondent.
» was an eyewitness to the Rwandan genocide and reported it for the Today programme.
» worked for the Rolling Stones in 1982.
» is a regular reporter on BBC One's television programme The One Show.
» was a Radio 1 DJ for fifteen years - without ever having any ambition to become one.
» shared a cramped, chaotic office with John Peel for twelve years.
» was the first – and is still the only – journalist to use the word “fuck” on From Our Own Correspondent.
» presented Live Aid on BBC television.
» was banned from Malawi under the dictatorship of Dr Hastings Banda.
» ran away from university, on his first day there, to go to see BB King.

            

Link for tickets and information on all our great events:

www.clecklitfest.co.uk  

www.ticketsource.co.uk/cleckheatonliteraturefestival