Birmingham Literature Festival

The Birmingham Literature Festival, once was Birmingham Book Festival. Run by Writing West Midlands, the Festival has been a staple of the city’s autumn calendar for fifteen years.

When? 6 – 15 October, 2016

Where? Library of Birmingham

Who & What? 2016 TBA

Website? Birmingham Literature Festival

Twitter? @BhamLitFest

Facebook? https://www.facebook.com/pages/Birmingham-Literature-Festival/97775632519

Past Festivals?

2015 - Rev Richard Coles, Allan Ahlberg, Mark Billingham and former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove. They join broadcaster Stuart Maconie and musicians-turned-writers Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt (Everything But The Girl) to make up the full programme of over 40 events.

View 2014 Programme

This year’s headline events include Meera Syal talking about her writing, Jackie Kay celebrating National Poetry Day, Roger McGough and Liz Berry bringing their poetry to life, an evening with South African Director, actress and writer Janet Suzman and a day of BBC Radio programme recordings including Poetry Please and With Great Pleasure.

In addition, you can expect a light and quirky programme of surrounding activity, free events inspired by the non-performance spaces in the Library of Birmingham including the Emergency Poet and her 1970s vintage ambulance and ghost stories with Birmingham based theatre company Little Earthquake

Highlights reel of the event below.

2013 Programme

Headline events in the 2013 festival include a celebration of National Poetry Day featuring UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy with Imtiaz Dharker, writers Lionel Shriver,Will Self, Catherine O’Flynn, Jonathan Coe, Germaine Greer and Jenn Ashworth. Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, delivers a specially commissioned lecture and Benjamin Zephaniah will give an ‘urban sermon’ on the subject of multiculturalism. In addition, the first UK Canal Laureate, Jo Bell, will be hosting poetry sharing events, Stuart Maconie will curate and chair an evening with literary friends and we will enjoy a rehearsed reading of Alan Bennett’s play Denmark Hill.

A Readers’ afternoon and a fiction panel will introduce you to new books that just demand to be read, and world poets from Arc Publications will share recently translated work. British Asian writers Rosie Dastgir, Sathnam Sanghera and Qaisra Shahraz will discuss their experiences living in and writing about British cities.

For those interested in developing their own writing, there will be a series of creative writing workshops. These will include writing horror, getting poetry published, translation, writing historical fact/fiction and productivity for creative writers. There will be the opportunity to meet regional publishers Nine Arches Press, Flarestack Poets and Offa’s Press as they participate in Festival events, and to celebrate the launch of a new Tindal Street Fiction Group anthology.