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The north’s longest-running literary festival, Ilkley Literature Festival, has announced its 2025 line-up.
A host of household names including politicians, national treasures, journalists, novelists, historians, comedians, and academics head to the spa town across 17 packed days from Friday 3 to Sunday 19 October.
Tickets go on general sale on Tuesday 26 August, with priority bookings open for Friends of the Festival a week before, from Wednesday 20 August.
Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister and President, Global Affairs, at Meta, opens the festival with an urgent look at the state of the internet, taking us behind the scenes of Meta and exploring where Big Tech has gone wrong – and right – with his book, How to Save the Internet. A star of the global literary scene, Wild Swans author Jung Chang brings the follow-up to her epic personal history that defined a generation. Half a century on, she brings the story of her family, and of China, up to date in what promises to be a moving and unforgettable evening.
Audiences can spend an evening with the Poet laureate, Simon Armitage, as he reads from his two new poetry books, Dwell and New Cemetery.
National treasures, the ever-intrepid Michael Palin transports audiences to South America, with an account of his travels in Venezuela, and festival favourite Gyles Brandreth discusses his book Somewhere, A Boy and A Bear marking the centenary of the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh. Lady Hale, the former President of the Supreme Court, brings an eye-opening event on the British justice system.
Hot topics also include a fascinating insight into the Post Office scandal with sub-postmaster, Jo Hamilton, whose story was immortalised in the ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Comedian Alan Davies shares his journey into the world of stand-up comedy, with his latest memoir, White Male Stand-Up. Queen of retail, Mary Portas takes us behind the shop window, with I Shop, Therefore I Am, and audiences are invited to an evening with the Paddington and Downton Abbey star and bestselling memoirist, Hugh Bonneville.
Other well-known faces include Sir Tony Robinson introducing his fiction debut, one of the best-known names in British broadcasting Edward Stourton, and BBC radio presenters Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie.
Erica Morris, director of Ilkley Literature Festival, said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming big names and exploring big ideas in Ilkley’s annual celebration of books, reading and writing. There’s a huge range of fascinating subjects this year: from folklore to fermentation, geology to globalisation, and cavapoos to comedy. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to our beautiful spa town for what promises to be entertaining and enlightening festival.”
The festival will explore a series of themes for 2025.
Jo Hamilton and Lady Hale’s events are under the theme Doing Justice, in which Lee Lawrence also investigates the scale of racial injustice in the UK and Tony Juniper explores how a fairer world could save the planet.
Novel Ideas celebrates novels and the craft of storytelling, with bestselling authors Rachel Joyce, Esther Freud, and the Women’s Prize-shortlisted Nussaibah Younis and Sanam Mahloudji discussing their latest novels. Irvine Welsh also discusses the sequel to the million-copy bestseller Trainspotting. Men in Love picks up the story Renton, Spud, Sick Boy, and Begbie in a new era as they head into rave and romance in the late 1980s.
For The Dark Side of the Internet theme, journalist James Bloodworth shares his experiences investigating the toxic subcultures of the ‘manosphere’ and Dr Kaitlyn Regehr explains why screen addiction is on the rise, and how we can quit our phones.
The theme Talking Politics delves into UK politics with former Chief Whip and Conservative MP, Simon Hart, and political columnist, Steve Richards with his book, Tony Blair, as well as geopolitics and globalisation with Vince Cable and BBC Verify correspondent Ben Chu.
A Food for Thought strand features Jay Rayner who recounts his 25 year-career as a restaurant critic. Ruby Tandoh explores how food has become a national obsession, Tim Spector OBE shares the life-changing power of microbes, and Sabrina Ghayour makes Middle Eastern recipes easy.
Soft Power re-examines overlooked historical figures and events, including forgotten women. Biographer Sonia Purnell discusses Pamela Churchill Harriman – one of the most powerful women ofthe 20 th century, influencing Winston Churchill, the Kennedys to Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. Valerie Waterhouse also puts the life of an exceptional and overlooked Bradford-born Yorkshirewoman and writer, Malachi Whitaker, on the literary map - born in 1895 in Bradford, the BBC aired over 50 broadcasts of her stories yet she is largely overlooked today.
Explore Moor will look at how our connections with the earth and our landscape shape us and includes appearances from Mike Berners-Lee, TV presenter and earth scientist Anjana Khatwa and T.S. Eliot Prize-winning, Leeds-based poet Jason Allen-Paisant.
Famed for its strong connections to poetry, the festival’s strand In Verse: The Rising of the North highlights the northern poetry scene and features a panel reimagining Tony Harrison’s ‘V.’ Written during the Miner’s Strike and deemed controversial at the time of its release, the poem explores class, anger, and alienation; 40 years on contemporary poets including Andrew McMillan and Malika Booker discuss the impact of Harrison’s poem and read their re-imaginings of this seminal piece. There will also be a series of poetry showcases, including one from rising northern poets, and a free networking event for poets to meet and mingle.
Big ideas also include how to save the planet in a climate crisis, explorations in philosophy, and the science of politeness.
To view the full programme and book tickets CLICK HERE
Follow @ilkleylitfest
Box Office: 01943 816714.
Header Image: Cow and Calf Rocks, Ilkley (Image Gabe Petch)
