Tickets are now on sale for the East Riding Festival of Words 2021

East Riding Libraries are delighted to announce a varied and exciting programme for their literature festival, The East Riding Festival of Words, which will be back with live events this autumn. The main festival will take place from Friday 15 to Saturday, 23 October, with additional events scheduled in the lead up, plus a varied programme of children’s events too. Tickets are now available from: www.festivalofwords.co.uk. 

Events have been programmed by the expert East Riding Libraries team, who keep a close eye on what people like to read and what's new in the world of books. There are some fascinating authors, performers and musicians who will be performing at the festival this year, as live audiences are welcomed back. 

The main festival begins on Friday, 15 October with Olympic composer, Luke Carver Goss, and celebrated Yorkshire poet, broadcaster and performer, Ian MacMillan, who are hosting a writing workshop exploring the collaboration between writers and musicians. Tickets for the workshop will cost £15 each.

That evening, at the Memorial Hall in Beverley, Luke and Ian present a hilarious night of words, music & breathtaking comedy, featuring songs, stories and a musical created out of thin air! Tickets for the evening event will cost £12 each.

Back by popular demand is the ‘Crime Day’ on Saturday, 16 October, hosted by local crime author, Nick Quantrill. The day starts with local author Amanda Mason, followed by Danuta Kot and Kate Evans discussing their thrilling books set along the dramatic East Coast. Next is a panel of bestselling ‘cosy crime’ writers (think gentler thrillers with likeable characters and less of the gritty gore!):  Frances Brody, Julia Chapman and Helen Cox. In the afternoon, the team are excited to welcome two of the most entertaining speakers on the crime writing circuit, bestselling husband and wife team Edward Marston and Judith Cutler, before finishing with former home-secretary and bestselling author, Alan Johnson, discussing his new thriller, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill.

The closing day of the festival will be ‘Bestsellers Day’ and will take place on Saturday, 23 October and features an exciting array of authors.

Starting the day with ‘The Big Read’, is Matson Taylor discussing ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ – a feel good explosion of a book, guaranteed to make you laugh! Following on from this is senior staff feature writer at the Telegraph, Joe Shute, discussing his fascinating book ‘Forecast: A diary of lost seasons’ which explores the climatic changes of the weather in Britain.

Next is bestselling historical fiction author, Stacey Halls, and finally the Festival team extend a warm welcome back to Christy Lefteri, who will be discussing her follow-up to the beautiful Beekeeper of Aleppo, entitled Songbird. 

Councillor Mike Medini, portfolio holder for cultural and leisure assets, said : “This is a superb line-up for the Festival of Words this year, and I am absolutely delighted that we are able to put on live events again, with appropriate safety measures in place. This programme has something for everyone, and I look forward to a successful Festival.”

Events will all have a reduced capacity this year, to allow for social distancing, and to ensure that attendees will feel comfortable and confident about being there.

Tickets will cost £7 for each individual session on each day, or £25 for the whole of ‘Crime Day’ and £18 for the whole of ‘Bestsellers Day’ on 23 October.

Tickets are on sale now via www.festivalofwords.co.uk