Category: Previous Festivals

Sunday 26th March 3pm

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Our festival finale is a family-friendly storytelling event based upon the Norwegian fairy tale, East of the Sun, West of the Moon. This session will bring together art, music and storytelling offering an unforgettable, immersive experience with storyteller Jacqueline Harris, cellist and composer Maja Bugge and artwork from acclaimed illustrator Jackie Morris.  

This event is sponsored by Handelsbanken.

Venue: The Sanctuary, Lancaster Library, 18 – 20 Market Street, Lancaster LA1 1HY

Tickets: £10 Full /£7.50 Concession /£5 Child (11 and under)

SPECIAL OFFER— Family Deal available for £25 (two adults two children)

PLEASE NOTE this production may not be suitable for children under 6 years.

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

Jacqueline Harris writes, tells and dramatizes stories based around folkloric and mythical themes. She weaves audio, film and projection into her stories and works to incorporate community stories into her live performances, to draw out particular themes.

Maja Bugge is an award winning composer and cellist, hailing from Norway and now based in Lancaster. Maja has undertaken numerous projects involving improvisation and has a special interest in works that explore the relationship between text and music.

Jackie Morris is an award-winning illustrator of books for children and adults. Her sumptuous illustrations and vivid depiction of the natural world have earned her a legion of fans the world over. Jackie has kindly offered the use of illustrations from her illustrated edition of East of the Sun West of the Moon, published by Frances Lincoln.

Sponsored by:

 

Saturday 25th March  7pm

Telling Tales: with Patience Agbabi

 

Award-winning poet Agbabi retells Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales for the 21st century.  From The Miller’s Tale to The Wife of Bath’s, she brings out the performance and wordplay of the work in an event involving the audience.

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Tickets: £12 Full /£10 Concession

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

Agbabi is the author of three collections, Bloodshot Monochrome, Transformatrix and R.A.W., and she is a former Poet Laureate of Canterbury.  Her poems have appeared on radio and TV around the world and she has toured widely with the British Council. The event is part of the Telling Tales Tour in association with literature producers Renaissance One.

Event guidance: 16 years to adult (adult content)

“A pilgrimage of punks, badasses, broken hearts, beat poets, silver-tongued fixers, town criers, beauties, sinners.” Jeanette Winterson

“The liveliest versions of Chaucer you’re likely to read” Simon Armitage

A taster performance can be seen here.

Saturday 25th March 4pm 

Kim Moore And Hannah Lowe 

Litfest welcomes back audience favourite Hannah Lowe alongside strong new voice Kim Moore for a reading with two poets known for exploring the importance of discrimination, family, history and music through their work.

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Tickets: £9.50 Full /£7.50 Concession

SPECIAL COMBO OFFER!— Three poetry day events (Polly Atkin, Philip

Burton and Gill Lambert, Kim Moore and Hannah Lowe) for £22/£18

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

Kim Moore’s first collection The Art of Falling was published by Seren in 2015.  Her poem ‘In That Year’ was shortlisted for the 2015 Forward Prize for Best Published Poem.  Her pamphlet If We Could Speak Like Wolves was a winner in the 2012 Poetry Business pamphlet Competition.  After working for 13 years as a peripatetic brass teacher, she began a PhD in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hannah Lowe’s first poetry collection Chick won the Michael Murphy Memorial Award for Best First Collection and was short-listed for the Forward, Aldeburgh and Seamus Heaney Best First Collection Prizes. In September 2014, she was named as one of 20 Next Generation poets. She has also published three chapbooks, and a memoir Long Time No See. Her latest poetry collection is Chan.

 

 

Saturday 25th March 2:30pm

Philip Burton and Gill Lambert

Litfest presents a reading with Indigo Dreams poets Philip Burton and Gill Lambert. Come along to hear two original northern voices seeking the poetry in everyday life.

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Tickets: £9.50 Full /£7.50 Concession

SPECIAL COMBO OFFER!— Three poetry day events (Polly Atkin, Philip Burton and Gill Lambert, Kim Moore and Hannah Lowe) for £22/£18

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

Philip Burton has a love for readings and performance, developed through life as an English and Drama teacher, Lancashire head teacher, folksinger, amateur actor, a multi-award winning poet, and as a poetry practitioner who, as Pip The Poet, has provided hundreds of poetry days for schools and for adult learners. His poems are widely published. He won the Teignmouth festival poetry competition, 2015, judged by Penelope Shuttle. His collection titled His Usual Theft, published by Indigo Dreams will be available in May 2017.

Gill Lambert is a poet and teacher from Yorkshire. She has been published in The Interpreter’s House , by Indigo Dreams, Beautiful Dragons, Paper Swans Press and Otley Word Feast Press; and on-line by The Fat Damsel, Clear Poetry, and Poetry Space. She won the 2016 Ilkley Literature Festival Open Mic competition, runs the “Shaken in Sheeptown” event in Skipton, and her first solo pamphlet will be published by Indigo Dreams later in 2017.

Saturday 25th March      1pm

 Basic Nest Architecture: The launch of Polly Atkin’s first collection

Basic Nest Architecture, Polly Atkin’s first collection of poetry, marks a startling new talent, with intelligent, densely metaphorical lyrics, often inspired by the Lake District where she has made her home for a decade. The book is divided into three sections, themed around three interwoven ideas: place as nest, the mind as nest, and the body as nest. The collection explores ideas of home and belonging, in the world and in our own selves. The remarkable poems in Basic Nest Architecture are a testament to the persistence and artistry of Polly Atkin. As well as being profoundly personal, they reach out to the modern world in all it’s complexity and diversity.

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Tickets: £9.50 Full /£7.50 Concession

SPECIAL COMBO OFFER!— Three poetry day events (Polly Atkin, Philip Burton and Gill Lambert, Kim Moore and Hannah Lowe) for £22/£18

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

Polly Atkin lives in Cumbria. She is interested in the intersections between visual and literary arts, and poetry as a thing to be stumbled over during day-to-day life, as well as writing about the body, in poetry and prose.  In 2014 an extract from her first collection, Basic Nest Architecture, was awarded New Writing North’s Andrew Waterhouse Prize for ‘reflect[ing] a strong sense of place or the natural environment’. Her second poetry pamphlet Shadow Dispatches (Bridgend: Seren, 2013) won the Mslexia Pamphlet Prize, 2012. She currently teaches English Studies at the University of Strathclyde.

 

Friday 24th March  7:30pm

Austen’s Secret Stories: Jo Baker in conversation with Clancy Mason

  

Pride and Prejudice was only half of the story… In Jo Baker’s bestselling novel Longbourn she explores the privileged world of the Bennet family through the hidden lives of their servants. For housemaid Sarah, the predictable world of the servants’ hall is about to be changed forever. Join us for an evening of conversation as Jo discusses the process of breathing new life into Austen’s world.

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Tickets: £12 Full /£10 Concession

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

Jo Baker is the author of six novels, including the international bestseller Longbourn, currently in development as a motion picture with Studio Canal. Her work has been translated into 21 different languages; her most recent novel A Country Road, A Tree was named a book of the year in The Guardian and The New Statesman. She also writes short stories and poetry. She lives in Lancaster with her husband, the playwright Daragh Carville, and their two children. 

Clancy Mason currently leads Time To Read, a unique partnership of 21 Library Authorities in North West England, working together to promote reading. Clancy also co-directs Wordpool, Blackpool’s Arts and Libraries Festival of Words, currently in its 11^th year. Prior to this Clancy was the Arts Engagement Manager for Blackpool Council and has  previously has worked in education,  public health and marketing. Clancy has a particular interest in Young Adult fiction, but has a lifelong love affair with all things Jane Austen. Clancy is currently leading on plans to support libraries celebrating Jane Austen’s 200^th anniversary in 2017 with projects being developed encouraging library users to engage with the much loved author with a range of creative activities.

 

Thursday 23rd March 7pm

An evening with Sarah Howe        

Litfest are delighted to bring you an evening with award-winning poet Sarah Howe, supported by the Creative Writing MA Programme at   Lancaster University.

Sarah Howe is a British poet, academic and editor. Her first book, Loop of Jade (Chatto & Windus, 2015), won the T.S. Eliot Prize and The Sunday Times / PFD Young Writer of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Centre Poetry Prize and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Born in Hong Kong in 1983 to an English father and Chinese mother, she moved to England as a child. Her pamphlet, A Certain Chinese Encyclopedia (Tall-lighthouse, 2009), won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors. She is the founding editor of Prac Crit, an online journal of poetry and criticism. She is currently a Leverhulme Fellow in English at University College London.

 

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Tickets:  £10 Full /£8 Concession /£4 Lancaster University Student

SPECIAL OFFER  20 free tickets to English and Creative Writing students at Lancaster University, available in advance from the department.

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

 

Wednesday 22nd March 7pm

Translated Fiction, Translated Worlds: An evening with the Man Booker International Prize

In association with the Department of Languages and Cultures, Litfest brings you a fantastic evening of reading and discussion exploring the interplay between translation and creativity.

What does it take to become a literary translator? How can literary translations shape our understanding of other cultures? The Man Booker International Prize is a literary prize given to foreign fiction translated into English and is the first award to share the prize between translator and author. This event invites the public to a round-table discussion between the first translator Man Booker International winner Deborah Smith, translator and Man Booker International judge Daniel Hahn, and Man Booker International PR Truda Spruyt. It is free and open to the public.

The round-table discussion will be followed by a reading of Han Kang’s Man Booker International winning novel The Vegetarian by the translator of the novel, Deborah Smith.

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1TH

Tickets are free and available to be booked online in advance here.

Saturday 18th March 7:30pm

Jackie Kay:

Supported by Natural Causes

Jackie Kay is an award-winning poet and writer from Scotland. She has published many collections of poetry, novels and stories for children, as well  as writing extensively for stage and television. She became the Scots Makar, the National Poet for Scotland, in 2017. She is also Chancellor of the University of Salford and Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Her most recent poetry collection, ‘Fiere’, was shortlisted for the Costa Prize.

NATURAL CAUSES

Natural Causes launch their new recording ‘Spoons’ tonight playing settings of Jackie Kay’s poems sung by Hugh Nankivell and featuring Chris Dowding on flugelhorn and trumpet, Pat Allison on clarinet and guitars and Ben McCabe on french horn and drums. 

Venue: MoreMusic, Morecambe, Lancashire,

Tickets: £10/£8 in advance and £12/£10 on the door

Tickets can be bought in various ways

Online: via the website www.moremusic.org.uk.

By Phone: 01524 831997 / 01524 582808.

In Person: At More Music or Morecambe Visitor Information Centre.

SPECIAL OFFER HALF PRICE TICKETS FOR LOCAL RESIDENTS –

There are 20 half price tickets available for West End residents with LA3

or LA4 postcodes (Half price of the full on-the-door price). Proof of address needed.

Saturday 18th March 11am – 5pm

Alpha, a powerful graphic novel in French by Bessora and Barroux, tells the story of a West African migrant who leaves Ivory Coast to find his family in France. Thus unfolds a tragic, unforgettable tale about the hopes and perils of migration. Discover this story for yourself by joining our Spectacular Translation Machine – whether you’re a seasoned Francophone speaker or your knowledge extends as far as the dialogue of ‘Allo ‘Allo. Translation always involves at least four hands: those of the author and those of the translator. But we’re hoping for the people of Lancaster to roll up their sleeves and join us in the engine room of our machine. How can we bring the words spectacularly alive in English and for a new audience? With expert help on hand to guide us, including Alpha‘s award-winning translator, Sarah Ardizzone, this is suitable for everybody 14+.

Venue: The Music Room, The Storey, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1TH

Tickets are free and are available to be reserved here.

Alpha is published by Gallimard Jeunesse in France, where it was awarded the Prix Médecins Sans Frontières 2015.

Alpha is published by Barrington Stoke in the UK, where it is supported by English PEN and Amnesty International, and has been nominated for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards 2017.

Alpha: The Spectacle opened the Migrant Stories Strand at Edinburgh International Book Festival 2016 with the support of the French Institute.

The Spectacular Translation Machine was first commissioned by the Southbank Centre in partnership with the British Centre for Literary Translation.

Sarah Ardizzone is an award-winning translator and the co-founder of Translators in Schools.

Friday 17th March 7pm

Spotlight

For 21 years without break Lancaster Spotlight has provided a platform for local writers and musicians at its monthly cabaret of poetry, prose, comedy and original music along with an Open Mic for new performers.

Kriss Foster will compere the Showcase event of our current ‘Listening To Youth’ project. Aimed at finding and working with local young writers and Performers, the project is a follow-on from a successful Spotlight youth projects in 2012 and 2014.

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Tickets: £5 Full/ £3 Concession available for purchase on the door

Doors Open: 7pm

Wednesday 15th March 7:30pm

Beyond the Water’s Edge:

Poetry from our world

The Dukes and Lancaster Litfest present a Midland Creative Project in Association with Belgrade Theatre Coventry.

Venue: The Dukes Theatre, Moor Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1QE

Tickets: £12 Full/ £10 Concession/ £9 Friends

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: www.dukes-lancaster.org

By Phone: 01524  598500

Hear voices from around the world, distilled into poetry in this unique performance. Midland Creative Projects take the words of the world’s poets and present them on stage with live music to create a celebration of our lives in all their forms.

Drawing from every continent we are given stories that move and inspire – from Sweden to Chile and all points between. The drama of love, loss and re-birth mingle with the comedy of daily life, resulting in a captivating series of portraits presented through the words of some of the world’s best poets.

Directed by Steve Byrne from Interplay Theatre, Beyond the water’s edge uses poems published by Bloodaxe Books with music and original set design by Talking Birds.

Saturday 11th March 7pm

The Litfest Homebake

Litfest needs you! This year we are inviting local writers to our very first Litfest Homebake, bringing together a wonderful collection of new voices together for the very first time.  Contributions are welcome from across all genres – poems, prose, storytelling, jokes, memories.  Whether you are interested in a ten minute reading slot or you want to experience some of the best new talent everyone is invited! Bring your words, your ears and your cakes! All welcome!

To avoid disappointment those wishing to read on the night are advised to book their place in the line-up by contacting marketing@litfest.org.

Venue: The Gregson Centre, 33 Moorgate, Lancaster, LA1 3PY

Tickets: £4/£2

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808 

 

 

Thursday 9th March

Writing Workshop with David Tait:     4-6pm

Tales from the World City

What is it that drives us to the city? Do we get lost or are we reborn? What lures us to particular cities? In this workshop we will be ‘hitting the streets’ (as Queneau might have it), diving into dark alleyways, discovering and delighting in poetry and prose that has been inspired by some of the world’s greatest cities. Bring your mind’s passport!

Venue: Friends Meeting House, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Tickets: £20 / £10 concessions.

Can be purchased from: https://aprilpoets.org/paypal/

                                                    or contact aprilpoetsnw@gmail.com

 

April Poets Reading:          7:15pm

With David Tait, Carola Luther and Jennifer Copley

This promises to be another eclectic night of poetry and music: touching on the real, the near, the far and the dead. Between them these three poets are prize-winners, powerful performers and convincing ventriloquists of many realities. There will be an open mic slot and music.

Venue: The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH

Doors open 7.15pm

Tickets on the door £5/£3

David Tait lives in Nanjing, China. His first collection Self-Portrait with Happiness was shortlisted for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and The  Polari First Book Award and received an Eric Gregory Award. His most recent pamphlet, Three Dragon Day, was a winner in The Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition and shortlisted for The Michael Marks Award.

Carola Luther grew up in South Africa and moved to England in 1981. Her first Carcanet collection Walking the Animals was nominated for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2004. Her second is Arguing with Malarchy .

Jennifer Copley has published five pamphlets and three full-length collections. Her latest pamphlet, Vinegar and Brown Paper, is from Like This Press.

Saturday 4th March

Life-Lines   2pm

Two of the most exciting debut Young Adult books from 2016, Louise Gornall’s Under Rose Tinted Skies and Liz Flannagan’s Eden Summer both drew on real life experiences. Organised as part of the wider offer around the Lancashire Book of the Year, this special event explores how reading and stories can contextualise life experiences.  This session will be hosted by the creator of the #YATakeover, Chris Moore and followed by a series of readings by young people.

Venue: The Gallery, The Dukes, Moor Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1QE

Tickets: £3 per event or SPECIAL OFFER £5 for both events

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox – Life Lines or Voice and Vision

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

 

Liz Flannagan’s debut novel Eden Summer is published by David Fickling Books and was partially influenced by the real life case of Sophie Lancaster who was tragically killed in East Lancashire. As well as being an author, Liz is an enormously knowledgeable and passionate enthusiast for Young Adult fiction.

Based in North Lancashire, Louise Gornall’s first novel, Under Rose Tinted Skies, was published to great acclaim by the Chicken House in 2016. Louise’s book explores agoraphobia and anxiety and draws upon some of her own life experiences.  It’s an important work that helps to remove stigma surrounding mental health.

 

Voice and Vision: 3:30pm

Forging a Place in New Media

 

Join blogger and social media extraordinaire, Chris Moore for a workshop

exploring voice and vision. If you have ever wanted to set up a blog or have been   interested in creating a buzz around books, this is the event for you!

Chris is a key influencer in Young Adult fiction and is a regular commentator on children and young adult publishing on his blog the YAfictionados where he also reviews and helps to lead and manage guest bloggers. In addition to his innovative work in digital marketing, Chris has also worked with numerous publishers, leading charity BookTrust and has been involved with programming for the Manchester Children’s Book Festival and hosting at the Lancashire Book of the Year and YAShot.

Friday 3rd March 7:30pm

Bigger on the Inside: Writing for Doctor Who

Take a trip through time and join us in the prestigious Shire Hall at Lancaster Castle as Paul Magrs and Eddie Robson talk about character, continuity and challenges associated with writing across different media for Doctor Who. 

Cosplay and jellybabies are welcome at this event!

Venue: The Shire Hall, Lancaster Castle, Castle Parade, Lancaster

Tickets: £12 Full/ £10 Concession

Tickets can be purchased in a variety of ways:

Online: VIC Ticketbox

In Person: Lancaster and Morecambe Visitor Information Centres

By phone: 01524 582394/ 01524 582808

 

Paul Magrs is a graduate of Lancaster University and is the author of the popular Brenda and Effie novels.  He has written a number of groundbreaking books for teenagers and young adults including his first, Strange Boy. Paul has written many novels and audio adventures as part of the Doctor Who universe and is the creator of the fan-favourite Time Lady, Iris Wildthyme.

 

Eddie Robson has written for television, radio and theatre.  His writing credits include Hollyoaks, That Mitchell and Webb Sound and radio sitcom, Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully which he created.  Eddie has written short stories, audio dramas and comics for the Doctor Who universe.