Ilkley Literature Festival

Ilkley Literature Festival takes place over two weeks in October every year in our small spa town at the foot of Ilkley Moor,  surrounded by beautiful countryside but only 30 mins from the centres of Leeds and Bradford. The Festival is produced by Word Up North, an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and a Bradford Metropolitan District Council regularly funded organisation.

Since 1973. innumerable renowned writers have taken to the Festival's stages, from Ian McEwan to Angela Carter, Alan Bennett to Ian McMillan, Bernardine Evaristo to Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou to Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Colm Tóibín to Ted Hughes.

Today, around 100 events take place in a variety of venues across the town and beyond - residencies, literary walks, discussions, commissions, workshops, exhibitions and performances.