Summerfest – Literary Festivals in June 2017

The list goes on! Literary festivals taking place in June, for which dates are available at the time of posting, including some that are already in progress, are listed below. Follow links for festival details, programme of events, etc.

Kibworth Book Festival, Leicestershire: a rolling festival with events throughout June

Ilminister Literary Festival, Somerset: 31 May – 8 June.

Flamstead Book Festival – Books in the Belfry: 1 June

Charles Causley Festival, Launceston, Cornwall: 1-5 June

Stoke Newington Literary Festival: 2-4 June

Belfast Book Festival: 7-17 June

Stoke-on-Trent Literary Festival: 8-10 June

Balham Literary Festival: 8-11 June

RS Thomas Literary Festival, Aberderon, North Wales: 9-11 June

Festival of Writing & Ideas, Borris House and Village, Carlow: 9-11 June

Crossing the Tees – Book Festival for the Tees Valley: 9-24 June

Howth Literary Arts Festival, North County Dublin: 9-11 June

Derby Book Festival: 9-17 June

Worcestershire LitFest & Fringe: 9-18 June

Manchester Children's Book Festival: 13 June – 15 July

Immrama – Festival of Travel Writing. Lismore, Co. Waterford: 14-18 June

Borders Book Festival, Harmony Garden, Melrose in Scottish Borders: 15-18 June

Dalkey Book Festival, South County Dublin: 15-18 June

Winchester Writers' Festival: 16-18 June

Broadstairs Dickens Festival – 80th year celebration: 17-23 June

Festival of Chichester: 17 June – 16 July

Hinterland – Festival of Literature and Art. Kells, Co. Meath: 22-25 June

Tiverton Literary Festival: 22-25 June

Sidmouth Literary Festival – sun, sea and books. East Devon: 23-25 June

Hebden Bridge Arts Festival – all the town's a stage: 23 June – 2 July

Proms at St Jude's Music and Literary Festival, Hampstead, London: 24 June – 2 July

Chalke Valley History Festival: 26 June to 2 July

Bradford Literature Festival: 30 June – 9 July

Follow LiteraryFestivals.co.uk and Culture Fox for news and most up-to-date information about festivals and events in the arts and literary field.

Apologies to anyone whom we may have missed on this occasion. Please be assured that it was not intentional – quite the contrary, in fact. If you are organising a literary festival or any arts/literary-related event, please get in touch with us – we want to hear from you!

Contact the Editor with your press releases, public announcements, etc or use the Event Notification Form that we provide for this purpose.

Dates for your Diary – Literary Festivals in May

Literary festivals continue across Ireland, Britain and further afield during May. Follow the links below for details, including times, dates, venues, programme of events.

Swindon Festival of Literature: 1-13 May

Cheltenham Poetry Festival: 4-15 May

Ullapool Book Festival: 5-7 May

Poetry-next-the-Sea – annual poetry festival that takes place in Wells-next-the-Sea, North Norfolk: 5-7 May

Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature: 6-13 May

Newcastle Poetry Festival: 9-13 May

Chipping Camden Literature Festival: 9-14 May

Guernsey Literary Festival: 10-14 May

Boswell Book Festival. Dumfries, Ayrshire – the world's only festival of biography and memoir: 12-14 May

Barnes Children's Literature Festival – London's largest dedicated children's literature festival: 13-14 May

Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) – annual travelling festival that tours around historic Palestine: 13-18 May

St Ives Literature Festival: 13-20 May

Crimefest. Bristol. International crime fiction festival – where the pen is bloodier than the sword!: 18-21 May

Litfest – a food and drinks literary festival at Ballymaloe, Co. Cork: 19-21 May

Charleston Festival – where books, ideas & creativity bloom: 19-29 May

International Literature Festival Dublin – Ireland's premier literary event, gathering the finest writers in the world to debate, provoke, delight and enthral: 20-29 May

Hay Festival – Wales: 25 May to 4 June

Bodmin Moor Poetry Festival – the poetry of dance, the dance of poetry: 26-28 May

Greenwich Book Festival, London: 26-27 May

May Festival (University of Aberdeen): 26-28 May

Salisbury International Arts Festival: 26 May to 10 June

Listowel Writers' Week: 31 May to 4 June

If we have omitted anyone, please except our sincere apologies. Obviously it was just that – an error of omission and not a deliberate slight! One way to avoid this happening in future, is to contact us – let us know about your organisation, activities, events. E-mail us with the details (time, date, venue, programme of events) or submit using the online form that we provide for this purpose.

Literary Festivals in April (Dates for your Diary)

Cambridge Literary Festival starts today and runs until 23 April.

Other literary festivals across Ireland and Britain in the coming weeks, for which details are available include:

Cúirt International Festival of Literature (Galway, Ireland): 23-30 April 2017

Stratford Upon Avon Literary Festival (Spring Festival): 23-30 April 2017

Scarborough Literature Festival: 26 April to 1 May 2017

Strokestown International Poetry Festival: 27th to 30th April 2017

Hexham Book Festival: 2017 Festival dates are 28 April to 7 May

Wrexham Carnival of Words: Saturday 29th April to Saturday 6th May 2017

Colonsay Book Festival: 29-30 April, 2017

Chiddingstone Castle Literary Festival (West Kent): 30 April to 2 May 2017

For full details, follow the links to the festival websites. For information about other festivals running throughout the year – including events happening near you – visit the websites of Literary Festivals (covers Great Britain and Ireland) and Culture Fox (Irish events).

If you would like to see your festival, event or anything literary related featured here, send us an e-mail with all the relevant details (times, dates, venues, programme of events, etc). You can also notify us using the online form that we provide for this purpose.

Essex Book Festival - March/April programme

After a "fabulous launch and opening week", Essex Book Festival are gearing up for what they promise to be "an exciting second week" of the festival, which runs throughout March. Events in the programme yet to come can be viewed online from the festival website.

The festival was established in 1999, "to celebrate the book in all its forms with the widest possible audience in Essex. Since then it has grown into one of the leading festivals of its kind in the Eastern Region, inviting local writers and writers from all over the world to take part its activities. It also hosts a year round series of writing and reading programmes for all ages and abilities."

In April a Radical Writing Retreat will be hosted, in partnership with University of Essex and Radical Essex. Based at the Othona Community in Bradwell-on-Sea – one of the most remote and beautiful parts of Essex – the Essex Radical Writing Retreat will be a mix of inspirational and experimental workshops, readings, performances, walks and critiques, all designed to help push the boundaries of your writing.

Participating writers include landscape writer and social historian Ken Worpole (350 Miles: An Essex Journey; The New English Landscape), Essex-based novelist, Kate Worsley (She Rises), Award-winning poet and novelist, Philip Terry (Tapestry; Dante’s Inferno; Quennets), poet and folksinger, Dr Adrian May (Ballads of Bohemian Essex; Discovering England), and storyteller, Glenys Newton (Home Flown – The Laymamma’s Guide to an Empty Nest) winner of The Guardian's Moth Award for Live Storytelling in 2015.

The retreat is led by Dr James Canton (Out of Essex; Ancient Wonderings: Journeys into Prehistoric Britain) who teaches on the MA in Wild Writing at the University of Essex, and Ros Green, Director of Essex Book Festival.

The retreat runs from 5th to 7th April. For more information, including how to book your place, is available from the festival website.

World Book Day 2017 (Ireland and UK)

Today is World Book Day, or at least it is in some parts of the world – the Irish and UK parts of it to be precise! This year marks its 20th anniversary as an annual celebration.

Although UNESCO has designated 23 April as World Book and Copyright Day since 1995, Ireland and Great Britain celebrates it on a different day (2nd March), apparently. According to the organisers:

This date came about after serious thought and lengthy discussion to ensure that we were making the best decision for all participants and our supporters. We take into consideration religious holidays, school terms and potential conflict with other charitable activities. – World Book Day official website

In any case, who needs an excuse for an celebration, especially when it is a celebration of something that excites the passions?

"The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own."

And if that were not enough, the event organisers tell us that

Thanks to the generosity of National Book Tokens Ltd, publishers and booksellers, we can send millions of book vouchers to children and young people (some 15 million, in fact: that’s one for nearly every child aged under eighteen in the country).

Of course, they don't specify which country but it sounds like a good initiative, in any case. In that spirit, we say, Happy World Book Day to book lovers and literary aficionados in Great Britain and Ireland - the rest of you will just have to wait until April!

For more information about activities and events planned around World Book Day, see the official website.

16th Aldeburgh Literary Festival 2017

Aldeburgh Literary Festival 2017 takes place Thursday to Sunday, 2-5 March. Now in its 16th year, a series of events are lined up offering "a variety of talks, from the local to the global, the serious to the hilarious, the scientific to the philosophical." Events associated with the festival take place at the town's Jubilee Hall.

Aldeburgh is a coastal town in the English county of Suffolk, notable for having been the home of composer Benjamin Britten and the town also plays host to an annual Festival of Music and Arts, founded by Britten in 1948. The 2017 festival will take place from 9-25 June.

The literary festival, on the other hand, which is the initiative of the local Aldeburgh Bookshop, "fills the streets of Aldeburgh with visitors and conversation in a winter weekend." It describes itself as "a completely independent literary festival, receiving no grants or sponsorship."

Further information, including programme and schedule of events, is available from the website of The Aldeburgh Bookshop.

Forward March! Literary Festivals 2017. Dates for Your Diary

The month of March sees the literary festival circuit across Ireland, Great Britain and further afield, well and truly awake from its winter slumber. Events taking place that have been listed and confirmed include:

Headingley Lit Fest. A "rolling festival" which takes place annually in March but also some supplementary events "Between the Lines" throughout the year. Visit website for further information ...

Essex Book Festival. Runs throughout March. 31 Days, 90 Events, 45 Venues, 200+ Writers & Artists. Visit website for further information ...

StAnza, St. Andrews, 1 - 5 March. Scotland's International Poetry Festival's mission is to celebrate poetry, to bring poetry to audiences and to enable encounters with poetry. Visit website for further information ...

Aldeburgh Literary Festival, 2-5 March. Featuring "an extraordinary variety of talks, from the local to the global, the serious to the hilarious, the scientific to the philosophical." Visit website for further information ...

Ennis Book Club Festival, 3-5 March. The country's only book club festival offers a "unique mix of readings, discussion, comedy and chat in one of Ireland's friendliest towns." Visit website for further information ...

Huddersfield Literature Festival, 4-19 March. Innovative and high-profile events to support and showcase both established and new, emerging writers and performers, as well as the opportunity to attend workshops and masterclasses. Visit website for further information ...

Aye Write! Glasgow's Book Festival, 9-19 March. 200 authors and three venues all packed into one festival with two family days either side of a packed week of events, designed especially for schools. Visit website for further information ...

Kings Lynn Fiction Festival, 10-12 March. Presenting "some of the best contemporary writers of chapter and verse in a friendly and informal setting." A poetry festival is also held in September under the same auspices. Visit website for further information ...

F. Festival, Dublin, 11 March. Celebrating women in the arts at venues across Dublin through a variety of artistic and creative media. Visit website for further information ...

London Book Fair, 14-16 March. A global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. Takes place at Olympia, West London. Covering all aspects of the publishing industry. Visit website for further information ...

York Literature Festival, 16 - 30 March. Promoting the arts in York, with an emphasis on literature, spoken word and poetry, also featuring music, comedy, cinema and theatre. This year's festival promises to deliver its largest programme ever, with more than 60 events in two weeks. Visit website for further information ...

Chagword – Dartmoor's Literary Festival in Chagford, 17-19 March. A festival now in its third year, it aims "to establish Chagford as a focus of literary excellence, by attracting high quality speakers and providing new opportunities for local people to experience literature in direct, accessible and dynamic ways." Visit website for further information ...

Alderney Literary Festival, 24-26 March. The Channel Island of Alderney, in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, hosts this "boutique history festival where people who enjoy reading and writing about the past come together to talk books and have a great weekend." Visit website for further information ...

Cardiff Children's Literature Festival, 25 March - April 2. Spread over two weekends, with events in both English and Welsh, the festival celebrates the very best in contemporary children's books. Visit website for further information ...

For further information about these and other festivals running throughout the year – including events happening near you – visit the websites of Literary Festivals (covers Great Britain and Ireland) and Culture Fox (mainly Irish focus).

If you are a festival organiser and would like to promote your event on Writing & Literary, please Contact Us by e-mail or, you can submit the relevant information using our online form. We cannot guarantee inclusion but we will do our best to promote it for you, free of charge. We recommend that you give us sufficient advance notice of the event. A telephone number is also always handy, in case we need to verify any of the information given.

Purbeck Literary Festival goes WILD in 2017

Purbeck Literary Festival, now in its fourth year, begins tomorrow (16 February) and runs until Saturday, 25th. It is, according to LiteraryFestivals.co.uk, the first such festival of the new season, "as far as we can tell."

According to the festival organisers:

Our theme this year is WILD. We have a fantastic array of events lined-up. From Wild tales of travels, nature, poetry, music, and artists to Wild adventures in restoring old buildings, finding fossils and a whole host of kids events – there’s something for everyone.

The full programme of events is available to view and download from the festival website.

"Venues across the district, including village halls, schools, country pubs, cafes and hotels support the festival" but where exactly is Purbeck? It is a local government district in Dorset, England, named after the Isle of Purbeck, which is actually a peninsula.

"Exploring literature through our landscape" seems to be the festival's guiding purpose, according to the organisers:

Swanage and Purbeck in Dorset is a fantastic location for a relaxing short break by the sea. Why not come and enjoy the Purbeck Literary Festival events at the same time?

So, now you know!

Penzance Literary Festival 2016

Penzance Literary Festival 2016 takes place from 6-9 July. Submissions are now being accepted on the 'very flexible' theme of Going Underground.

West Penwith has a history as a mining community and that is what inspired us, but what goes underground is so much more: music, espionage, counter culture, earthworms, moles and hobbits…

Guidelines are available to view online and to download. The final date for submissions is 19 February. Further information is available from the festival website and Facebook page.

Bradford Festival of Literature 2016

The 2016 Bradford Literature Festival takes place from 20-29 May. The festival programme will be formally launched in March.

Bradford Literature Festival offers a distinct, diverse and dynamic blend of programming. As well as celebrating the spoken and written word in its broadest sense, the festival celebrates the UK’s literary, historical, cultural and faith heritage. The range of events aim to provide a literary offer in the heart of Bradford, reflecting the cultural sensibilities of the city’s diverse demographic; thereby acting as a bridge between different communities as well as a neutral space for dialogue.

You can keep up-to-date with the latest festival news by following online. The festival website includes information about Bradford's history and heritage, maps of the area including festival venues.