Huddersfield Literature Festival 2021

 With details of upcoming events at HLF 2021:

Things are hotting up ...   A preview film to tempt you... All our 18-28 March online events are now available for booking and some workshops have already sold out, so don't delay! Here's a short one minute preview to tempt you - click on the image below:   The theme for this year's festival is ESCAPE - click on the image below to read our brochure and dive into a world of crime and cookery, fiction and film, poetry and performance .... many of our talks are free and they are all booking now      Escape into a world of poetry ... We've got some first class talks, performances and Q&As to keep you entertained this year:   Thursday 18 March 7pm  Online talk: Heather Clark & Dave Haslam: Sylvia Plath Join Prof Heather Clark and Dave Haslam for a discussion about Sylvia Plath’s life, work and legacy. Heather Clark is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the University of Huddersfield, and the author of Red Comet: The short life and blazing art of Sylvia Plath, a balanced and comprehensive biography featuring a wealth of new material about the poet.  “A first-class biography… Red Comet is a mighty achievement. Clark is compassionate, clear-eyed, sceptical.  Each chapter reads with the ease of a novel… I couldn’t put it down.” The Times Dave Haslam is a writer, broadcaster, and former Hacienda DJ. His limited-edition small format book My Second Home: Sylvia Plath in Paris, 1956 is about a crucial period in the poet’s life just before she married Ted Hughes – specifically her visits to the French capital.  Tickets £5 or free to University of Huddersfield staff and students BOOK HERE   Tuesday 23 March 1pm (online) Lockdown Poems & Open Mic From LtoR:  Chérie Taylor Battiste, Kei Miller, Michelle Scally Clarke On the anniversary of the first lockdown, join multi-award-winning poet, novelist and essayist Kei Miller (The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, Augustown, In Nearby Bushes), poet and playwright Chérie Taylor Battiste (Lioness) and poet, playwright and creative writing tutor Michelle Scally Clarke (I Am, She Is) for a special online performance of poems about lockdown, resilience and our Festival theme of ‘Escape’. Kei Miller appears courtesy of Renaissance One. The event will include a Q&A with the poets and the premiere of the second of three films in the #OutBreakOut series by Dark Horse Theatre commissioned by HLF for this year’s Festival. Members of Dark Horse Theatre From 2pm-3pm, there will a chance for participants to perform their own work in a welcoming and friendly Open Mic session, led by the Talking Zebras group. TICKETS FOR LOCKDOWN POETS, OPEN MIC AND DARK HORSE FILMS ARE FREE (with optional donation) BOOK HERE   Sustainable Huddersfield, a project founded last year, is running a short Local Impact Survey to measure and celebrate the contribution that local businesses, community groups and charities make to the town in terms of social, economic and environmental impact.   They are interested in capturing their findings in a Local Review, a report submitted to the United Nations     AND FINALLY .....   Thank you for the continued support of all our audiences, our fantastic authors, funders, sponsors, volunteers, suppliers and the Festival Team. Keep writing, keep reading and stay safe.                               Twitter Facebook Website   Copyright © 2021 Huddersfield Literature Festival. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 39 Birklands Road, Huddersfield HD2 2PF

Huddersfield Literature Festival · 39 Birklands Road · Huddersfield, HD2 2PF · United Kingdom

We've got some great independent bookshop partners   Thursday 18 March, 5pm Online  Cooking with Ching He Huang The International Emmy-nominated TV chef and cookery author demonstrates a dish from her latest book: Asian Green. Ching has become an ambassador of Chinese cooking around the world. Born in Taiwan, raised in South Africa and UK, cookery was a vital connection between Ching and her Chinese heritage. Her approach to cookery stems from the traditional cooking and lifestyles of her farming community grandparents in Southern Taiwan, and these are her major food influences. Ching has demonstrated she is the go-to expert for Chinese cuisine. Her career in the media as a TV chef and author has spanned the last decade, transforming people's perceptions of Chinese food over this time by keeping it fresh, popular and engaged.    FREE EVENT (with optional donation) BOOK HERE   Saturday 20 March, 3pm Online Circling the County Join Huddersfield Authors Circle for poetry and prose performance FREE EVENT (with optional donation) BOOK HERE.   Please consider supporting our independent bookshop partners, Read Bookshop in Holmfirth and Fox Lane Books in North Yorkshire...              If you attend any author talks or workshops at this year's festival and want to order their books, your local independent bookshop is always happy to help - it's been a tough year for everyone and booksellers have had to adapt to doing a lot more of their sales online.   James and Louise at Read and Kirstie at Fox Lane will be happy to take your orders and arrange delivery - just click on the logos above to visit their websites   Looking for something to do over the half term holidays? Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has a whole week’s worth of musical activity for your children and grandchildren to enjoy, all free and online!   The events start everyday at 11am, streaming from our Facebook and YouTube channels, and are a perfect way to entertain your primary aged children. They require no special equipment so you can just tune in and get involved straight away.  There's a family orientated Indian singalong on Tuesday, an interactive music and movement session on Wednesday, a sounds for well-being session on Thursday and the week ends with a movement and vocals workout in Arabic:   Tues 16 Feb Indian Singing for children with Satnam Galsian Wed 17 Feb Interactive music and movement with Maria Harron Thurs 18 Feb Sounds that can heal with Natalie Sharp Fri 19 Feb Arabic singing and movement with Camille Maalawy Full information here   In addition there will be online music and movement sessions for children and their families with singer Jess Baker 21 February 2021 Morning session: 10.30am – 11am, Suitable for under 5 year olds Afternoon session: 2pm – 2.30pm, Suitable for primary aged children Free Events   These sessions will be held on Zoom, so please get in touch with Learning and Participation Officer,  Sophie Cooper, s.cooper@hud.ac.uk to book     Our festival brochure is now online with a great choice of free and paid online events for you to choose from - book before the end of February to save money on our early bird events.  Please note that not every event is available to book just yet - we are busy getting them all on to our website so please be patient and  keep checking back.   The theme for this year's festival is ESCAPE - click on the image below to read our brochure and dive into a world of crime and cookery, fiction and film, poetry and performance ....      AND FINALLY .....   Thank you for the continued support of all our audiences, our fantastic authors, funders, sponsors, volunteers, suppliers and the Festival Team. Keep writing, keep reading and stay safe.

Twitter Facebook Website   Copyright © 2021 Huddersfield Literature Festival. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 39 Birklands Road, Huddersfield HD2 2PF         Happy Valentine's Day from all at HLF   My Irreplaceable Other A Valentine's Day Poem by Alexander McCall Smith. Alexander awoke recently with this poem almost fully formed in his mind, as if it came to him in his sleep. He shares it with you today as people across the world celebrate love. The landscape pictured is Baddinsgill Reservoir in the Pentland Hills, a range of hills to the south of Edinburgh which are often mentioned in Alexander's books. Click on the image below to hear the poem:   And if you would like to hear Alexander, or 'Sandy' as he is better known, talk about his work join us on Sunday 28 March at 4pm online.   The popular author will be talking about his bestselling No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, his latest comic novel Your Inner Hedgehog and poetry collection In a Time of Distance.   EARLY BIRD TICKETS £5 - BOOK HERE      Our festival brochure is now online with a great choice of free and paid online events for you to choose from - book before the end of February to save money on our early bird events.  Please note that not every event is available to book just yet - we are busy getting them all on to our website so please be patient and  keep checking back.   The theme for this year's festival is ESCAPE - click on the image below to read our brochure and dive into a world of crime and cookery, fiction and film, poetry and performance ....      AND FINALLY .....   Thank you for the continued support of all our audiences, our fantastic authors, funders, sponsors, volunteers, suppliers and the Festival Team. Keep writing, keep reading and stay safe.                                            Twitter Facebook Website   Copyright © 2021 Huddersfield Literature Festival. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 39 Birklands Road, Huddersfield HD2 2PF         Huddersfield Literature Festival · 39 Birklands Road · Huddersfield, HD2 2PF · United Kingdom

We've got some great talks lined up for March   Sunday 28 March 4pm Online   Alexander McCall Smith In Conversation 'I ordered all the AMS books that I hadn't read during the lockdown. Definitely the correct medicine'  – a reader comment   A former professor of Medical Law, ‘Sandy’ has written more than 100 books, including The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold 20+ million copies in the English language alone. Other titles include the 44 Scotland Street, Isabel Dalhousie, Von Igelfeld, Courdroy Mansion and Ulf Varg series. Plus various standalone novels, non-fiction, short story collections and children’s books. His work has been translated into 46 languages and has topped the bestseller lists worldwide.   The popular author will be talking about his bestselling No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, his latest comic novel Your Inner Hedgehog and poetry collection In a Time of Distance.   EARLY BIRD TICKETS £5 - BOOK HERE     Saturday 27 March 1pm Online Saima Mir: The Kahn - with AA Dhand  The award-winning journalist (BBC, Guardian) Saima Mir talks about her gritty debut thriller The Khan, set among the British Pakistani community in a northern city. It features an unforgettable female protagonist – a London barrister, who is drawn back into her father’s gangland world, when he’s found murdered. Saima Mir was born in Bradford and worked as young journalist there, an experience that has informed her exciting debut, with its themes of family loyalty, gang warfare and retribution. The Khan has been optioned by BBC Studios. Saima Mir will be interviewed by AA Dhand, the Bradford-based author of the Harry Virdee crime fiction series, latest title One Way Out. FREE EVENT - BOOK HERE   Saturday 27 March 7pm Online Online talk: Peter Robinson: DI Banks The Yorkshire-born author talks about his career as a number one bestselling crime writer, including his latest novel, Not Dark Yet, the 27th title in the DI Alan Banks series. Peter Robinson’s first novel, Gallows View (1987), introduced Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, starting a bestselling series of 27 books to date. He has also written many short stories. His work has been nominated for and won many awards and in 2002, Robinson was awarded the “Dagger in the Library” by the Crime Writers Association (CWA). The DCI Banks TV series starring Stephen Tompkinson ran on ITV from 2011 to 2017. Robinson now divides his time between Toronto and Richmond, North Yorkshire. TICKETS £5 - BOOK HERE   Thursday 18 March 7pm Online Heather Clark & Dave Haslam: Sylvia Plath “A first-class biography… Red Comet is a mighty achievement. Clark is compassionate, clear-eyed, sceptical. Each chapter reads with the ease of a novel… I couldn’t put it down.” The Times Join Prof Heather Clark and Dave Haslam for a discussion about Sylvia Plath’s life, work and legacy. Heather Clark is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the University of Huddersfield, and the author of Red Comet: The short life and blazing art of Sylvia Plath, a balanced and comprehensive biography featuring a wealth of new material about the poet.    Dave Haslam is a writer, broadcaster, and former Hacienda DJ. His limited-edition small format book My Second Home: Sylvia Plath in Paris, 1956 is about a crucial period in the poet’s life just before she married Ted Hughes – specifically her visits to the French capital.  TICKETS £5 - BOOK HERE   Wednesday 24 March 7pm Online              Online talk: Johny Pitts: Afropean The award-winning writer, photographer and broadcast journalist Johny Pitts talks about his book Afropean: Notes from Black Europe, winner of the prestigious 2020 Jhalak Prize. Afropean is an on-the-ground documentary of areas where Europeans of African descent are juggling their multiple allegiances and forging new identities. Here is an alternative map of the continent, which presents Afropeans as lead actors in their own story. A University of Huddersfield event. Booking is via Eventbrite. FREE EVENT - BOOK HERE   To Zoom or not to Zoom? The first of our online events are now available to book. All will take place on Zoom. If you haven’t used Zoom before, it couldn’t be easier – and we’ll be offering free Zoom training sessions and putting a handy guide on our website shortly. Please help us by completing the short survey - click on the image below to give us more information about your zooming capabilities!      Our festival brochure is now online with a great choice of free and paid online events for you to choose from - book before the end of February to save money on our early bird events.  Please note that not every event is available to book just yet - we are busy getting them all on to our website so please be patient and  keep checking back.   The theme for this year's festival is ESCAPE - click on the image below to read our brochure and dive into a world of crime and cookery, fiction and film, poetry and performance ....       Thanks for your generosity ... We want to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who donated to our 'Match It' funding programme via Local Giving - we raised a total of £4,747 which will be doubled by the One Community Foundation to an impressive £9,494. The lucky winners of our Prize Draw were: Andrea Allez Sylvia Gibbs Samantha Sharp Glyn Davies Gaby Christ-Devlin Linda Lumb   AND FINALLY .....   Thank you for the continued support of all our audiences, our fantastic authors, funders, sponsors, volunteers, suppliers and the Festival Team. Keep writing, keep reading and stay safe.                             Twitter Facebook Website   Copyright © 2021 Huddersfield Literature Festival. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 39 Birklands Road, Huddersfield HD2 2PF

Huddersfield Literature Festival · 39 Birklands Road · Huddersfield, HD2 2PF · United Kingdom

Start planning your festival experience www.huddlitfest.org.uk   The brochure is out there ... Our festival brochure is now online with a great choice of free and paid online events for you to choose from - book before the end of February to save money on our early bird events.  Please note that not every event is available to book just yet - we are busy getting them all on to our website so please be patient and  keep checking back.   The theme for this year's festival is ESCAPE - click on the image below to read our brochure and dive into a world of crime and cookery, fiction and film, poetry and performance ....      To zoom or not to zoom? The first of our online events are now available to book. All will take place on Zoom. If you haven’t used Zoom before, it couldn’t be easier – and we’ll be offering free Zoom training sessions and putting a handy guide on our website shortly. Please help us by completing the short survey - click on the image below to give us more information about your zooming capabilities!      HLF/Woven Book Trail 28 March - 5 April Do you belong to a group in your local area? In collaboration with Woven Festival, we are inviting neighbourhood groups to take part in a Book Trail as part of this year’s Huddersfield Literature Festival. Using eco-friendly and recycled materials, such as old clothes/fabrics, group members will create a scene or character(s) from a favourite book to display in their gardens or windows, to create a local trail from    Sunday 28 March (the last day of the Festival) to Monday 5 April   (Easter Monday).      There will be book token prizes for area winners and a literary/foodie hamper for one overall winner. Click HERE for more information    Thanks for your generosity ... We want to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who donated to our 'Match It' funding programme via Local Giving - we raised a total of £4,747 which will be doubled by the One Community Foundation to an impressive £9,494. We will also be announcing the winners of the prize draw in next week's newsletter.   AND FINALLY .....   Thank you for the continued support of all our audiences, our fantastic authors, funders, sponsors, volunteers, suppliers and the Festival Team. Keep writing, keep reading and stay safe.                             Twitter Facebook Website   Copyright © 2021 Huddersfield Literature Festival. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 39 Birklands Road, Huddersfield HD2 2PF

Huddersfield Literature Festival · 39 Birklands Road · Huddersfield, HD2 2PF · United Kingdom

Last week to take part in our prize draw - Festival workshops now booking online!   Start booking for this year's Festival  The first of our online events are now available to book. All will take place on Zoom. If you haven’t used Zoom before, it couldn’t be easier – and we’ll be offering free Zoom training and putting a handy guide on our website shortly. Thursday 18 March, 1pm-2.30pm Online workshop: Capturing a First Draft with Monique Roffey A fantastic opportunity to take part in a workshop led by 2020 Costa Book of the Year Award-winner, Monique Roffey, in a small group of just 15 people. What do you need to think about before you set out to write the first draft of a novel? This is your chance to get expert advice from Monique who is a senior lecturer at Manchester Writing School. She will discuss the 'process before the process' of writing, ie research, plotting and building characters and thinking about motifs.      In short, all the work you need to think about before setting out on your first draft. She will discuss drafting and word counts, and she will unpack a realistic process of how to capture a first draft of a novel. There will also be handout material from Orhan Pahmuk's essay 'What Our Minds Do When We Read Novels'.  Come prepared to listen, take notes and ask questions. This 90-minute workshop will take the form of a 30-minute talk followed by a Q&A and then a writing exercise. TICKETS £15 - BOOK HERE Remember only 15 places - and you heard about it first!    All the online events below are free – though we welcome donations to our Local Giving page Sunday 21 March 3pm Georgina Wilson-Powell: Is It Really Green?   Are paper bags always more environmentally friendly than plastic? How much better for the planet are electric cars? In this interactive talk and Q&A, the author of Is it Really Green?: Everyday Eco-Dilemmas Answered and founder of online sustainable lifestyle magazine Pebble,  will talk you through some of the key issues and answer your eco-dilemma                                                  FREE - BOOK HERE    Friday 26 March 7pm: How to be Hopeful by Bernadette Russell "Exactly what is needed right now. Hope AND action."  Stella Duffy OBE  The perfect book for challenging times, How to Be Hopeful: Your Toolkit to Rediscover Hope and Help Create a Kinder World combines cutting-edge research with timeless philosophy and tales of triumph over adversity. In this online event, author, storyteller and kindness advocate Bernadette Russell guides you through simple, practical ideas to cultivate kindness and boost your hope levels. FREE - BOOK HERE   Thursday 25 March 7pm: Polari LGBTQ+ performance "Polari is a unique mix of voices that provokes the strongest responses from its audience – love, laughter, tears but most of all, thought." Val McDermid A festival favourite, Polari celebrates literature that explores the LGBTQ+ experience. Host Paul Burston (The Black Path, The Closer I Get) reads from his own work and introduces Amrou Al-Kadhi, who won the Polari First Book Prize for their honest, funny and moving memoir Life As A Unicorn, and Kate Davies, who won the Polari Prize for her frank and funny novel In At The Deep End FREE -  BOOK HERE To make a donation go to: https://localgiving.org/charity/HLF/      Sunday 31 January is the last opportunity to take part in our prize draw: We are offering you the chance to win one of five book bundles and an exclusive poster signed by our Patron, Sir Patrick Stewart!   The book bundles on offer include: murder, mystery and suspense from authors including Frances Brody, Simon Beckett and Ali Knight; health and wellbeing books including journalist Lucy Mangan’s ‘Bedtime Stories for Stressed Out Adults’ and Cheryl Rickman’s ‘The Happiness Bible’; theatre and autobiography from former theatre critic Michael Billington and former Secretary of State Alan Johnson; romance on the dance floor from Strictly Come Dancing professional, Anton Du Beke and a heartwarming wartime love story from Alexander McCall Smith;  contemporary issues from authors including paramedic Jake Jones and Maya Goodfellow whose book ‘Hostile Environment’ looks at how immigrants become scapegoats.   To be in with a chance of winning you must make a donation to the Festival’s Local Giving page by 31 January 2021. Your donation will be doubled through the ‘Match It’ funding programme run by the local One Community Foundation, with all proceeds going towards Festival events. Your details will then be entered into a prize draw to win either a book bundle or a signed poster.  To date we have reached a total of £3,100 (which will be doubled by One Commmunity) but it would be amazing to get this up to £4,000 - thank you so much to all those who have contributed. Please note that anyone who has already donated will also be entered into the prize draw. To make a donation click here:     Full terms and conditions can be found on our website     AND FINALLY .....   Thank you for the continued support of all our audiences, our fantastic authors, funders, sponsors, volunteers, suppliers and the Festival Team. Keep writing, keep reading and stay safe.                             Twitter Facebook Website   Copyright © 2021 Huddersfield Literature Festival. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 39 Birklands Road, Huddersfield HD2 2PF

Huddersfield Literature Festival · 39 Birklands Road · Huddersfield, HD2 2PF · United Kingdom