Take flight with the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival
Discover your Festival at harrogateinternationalfestivals.com
Discover Your Festival The Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival has long been the hot ticket on the national Festival circuit after Harper’s Bazaar picked the event as one of the UK’s ‘best literary festivals’, and this year is no different. Editing back what would have been a full weekend programme of events to just 16 means that each one is a highlight with a star studded line-up to delight and inspire. Every event in the programme will stream for free on the Harrogate International Festivals website over the long weekend of the 23rd-25th October.
Bringing Literature To Life Literature comes to life in Harrogate this October as Codex* comes to town. Over the weekend of the Festival this giant interactive book will light up the Town Centre, revealing some well-known tales and the story of Harrogate. Visit our website for more details.
Visit our website now to find out more and to discover your personal Festival programme.
Take flight with the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival Your Harrogate Story
*
Tell your Harrogate story in just ten words. Whether you’re born and bred in Harrogate, or a Festival visitor, this is the opportunity for the wordsmiths out there to get your imagination whirring. Share your story with us by emailing info@harrogate-festival.org.uk and we’ll publish it on our website. Keep your eyes peeled as the 10-word Harrogate stories pop up around Harrogate, on floors, on walls and on Codex.
Subject to licensing
Community Partners:
Major Supporters
Regular Funders
Event Sponsors
Streaming online from 23-25 October
Welcome from HIF: Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival has always been at the forefront of the literary scene. Recognised for championing upand-coming talent whilst also attracting bestselling authors and speakers to challenge and amuse, we thought long and hard before continuing with our programmes this year. We know, the arts are about more than just buildings, and rows of packed seats. They create community, conversation and with a host of free events across three fantastic days, we’re thrilled that we can continue to make a difference in the town and beyond. We’re proud that we’re made in Harrogate but enjoyed across the world. As an arts charity that relies on ticket sales and sponsorship for the overwhelming majority of our income, times are particularly hard, as we cannot produce our celebrated events. Much appreciation and thanks must be given to our generous donors and supporters who continue to ensure that the festivals may continue in the future, and in particular to Raworths as our title sponsor. A modern approach with traditional values is one of their tenets, and nowhere more is this more seen than in their continued support for the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival as we move online. We hope you enjoy every moment of the weekend’s activities and do keep an eye out for some exciting live pop-up events in the coming weeks. Look after yourselves, look after one another and we hope to see you soon. Sharon Canavar Chief Executive, Harrogate International Festivals
Welcome from Raworths: I am delighted to welcome you to this year’s Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival. Together with Harrogate International Festivals, everyone at Raworths was determined to hold the Festival this year, albeit one which looks a bit different as we are unable to gather in person. The content and delivery may have gone digital, but the inspiration that literature brings will continue to shine through. This year’s splendid line-up brings together a wonderful programme of events ensuring that there is something for everyone and helps to bring literature to life. I hope that you enjoy this year’s Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival. Zoe Robinson Managing Partner, Raworths Premier Partners THE GROUP
Discover your Festival at harrogateinternationalfestivals.com
Alexandra Shulman Clothes… and Other Things that Matter Former Editor-in-Chief of Bri�sh Vogue Alexandra Shulman presents her Sunday Times bestselling memoir. From the bra to the bikini, the trench coat to trainers, the slip dress to the suit, clothes are rarely just clothes. Shulman explores their meaning in women’s lives, how our wardrobes intersect with the larger world and how the clothes we wear (and choose not to wear) are the evoca�ve and compelling companions to the lives we lead.
Ariana Neumann | When Time Stopped Ariana Neumann shares her debut novel, When Time Stopped, a remarkably moving family memoir diving into the secrets of her father’s past, crossing oceans and spanning nearly ninety years. In uncovering her father’s story a�er all these years, she discovers nuance and depth to her own history and liberates poignant and thought-provoking truths about the threads of humanity that connect us all.
Bernard Cornwell | War Lord From the strife and division of the Dark Ages to the blood and bravery of the Napoleonic Wars, Bernard Cornwell has dazzled and entertained readers with his prolific string of page-turning bestsellers for almost forty years. War Lord is no excep�on. The highly an�cipated thirteenth book in the globally bestselling Last Kingdom series is the epic conclusion the world has been wai�ng for.
Book Off! A literary podcast with a difference. Joe Haddow invites bestselling author Cathy Rentzenbrink and Costa Short Story Award winner Luan Goldie to pitch a book they love and feel everyone should read. A�er much bell ringing and horn honking, Haddow will choose a winning �tle, based on the passion and persuasiveness of each pitch.
David Lammy MP | Tribes Both memoir and call-to-arms, Tribes explores our need to belong. MP for To�enham David Lammy examines how this need gene�cally programmed and socially acquired - can manifest itself in posi�ve ways, collabora�vely achieving great things that individuals alone cannot. And yet how, in recent years, globalisa�on and digi�sa�on have led to new, more pernicious kinds of tribalism.
Streaming online from 23-25 October
Elif Shafak | How To Stay Sane In An Age Of Division In this beau�fully wri�en and illumina�ng polemic, Booker Prize nominee Elif Shafak reflects on our age of pessimism, when emo�ons guide and misguide our poli�cs, and misinforma�on and fear are the norm. Shafak draws on her own memories and delves into the power of stories to reveal how wri�ng can nurture democracy, tolerance and progress.
Hugo Vickers | The Sphinx: The Life of Gladys Deacon Throughout his wri�ng life, Hugo Vickers has been obsessed by the beau monde and above all, the aristocracy and the crown. His latest novel The Sphinx is a fresh and revealing biography drawing on Gladys Deacon’s personal archive along with Vickers’s own research, uncovering a beguiling, clever, independent woman who was the brightest star of her age.
Jeremy Vine | The Diver and The Lover Best known for his BBC Radio 2 lunch�me programme and Eggheads, much loved presenter and broadcaster Jeremy Vine presents his debut novel The Diver and The Lover. Inspired by true events and Vine’s obsession with Salvador Dali, this is a powerful story of love and sacrifice and the lengths we will go to for who – or what – we love.
Jess Phillips MP Truth to Power: 7 Ways to Call Time on B.S. Birmingham born Labour MP Jess Phillips shares wisdom and hope from her own experiences in her second novel Truth to Power. Entertaining, empowering and uncompromising, it offers inspira�on and prac�cal help to people who want to speak out at a �me when many of us feel the world isn't listening.
Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason House of Music: Raising the Kanneh-Masons Seven brothers and sisters. All of them classically trained musicians. These siblings don't come from the rarefied environment of elite music schools, but from a state comprehensive in No�ngham. Their mother, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, opens up about what it takes to raise a musical family in a Britain divided by class and race.
Discover your Festival at harrogateinternationalfestivals.com
Ken Follett | The Evening and the Morning Ken Folle� delves into his new book, the prequel to his best-selling novel The Pillars of the Earth. Set over a century before the events of the original novel, The Evening and The Morning tells the story of three very different individuals and how they come together in conflict against a ruthless bishop who will do anything for wealth and power.
Lee Child with Heather Martin | The Reacher Guy Lee Child has a great public persona: he is gracious and generous with readers and fans. But Jim Grant is a re�cent and very private man. Heather Mar�n’s The Reacher Guy tells the story of how the boy from Birmingham reinvented himself to become the strongest brand in publishing, selling over one hundred million books in more than forty different languages across the globe.
Loyd Grossman | An Elephant in Rome Journalist, TV presenter and food brand creator Loyd Grossman’s latest novel draws on a lifelong interest in history, the arts and heritage. An Elephant in Rome teases out all the intertwined strands of history, power and art that make up the Eternal City and how it came to be.
The Arts Is In Crisis. For Harrogate International Festivals, our digital reinvention has come out of necessity to ensure survival of our arts charity and to continue in our mission of bringing the power of the arts to our audiences during the pandemic. Our Festival is free to watch, but we ask you to consider making a donation to our arts charity, in lieu of what you might normally have paid to enjoy these events. Donations can be made online through our website, or by texting HIF followed by the amount to 70085. Your support will help to brighten our future.
Streaming online from 23-25 October
Natalie Haynes Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths In tradi�onal retellings of the Greek myths, the focus is invariably on gods and men, but in Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, classicist and Women's Prize shortlisted writer Natalie Haynes refocuses our gaze on the remarkable women at the centre of these ancient stories.
Rory Bremner Widely regarded as Britain’s top sa�rical impressionist, Rory Bremner has provided defini�ve impersona�ons of PMs and Presidents. In a TV career of over 30 years, he’s won numerous awards, including 3 BAFTAs for his long-running Channel 4 sa�re series Bremner Bird & Fortune. Bremner reflects on his career so far, including his (brief) experience as a ballroom dancer.
Simon Mayo | Knife Edge Broadcaster, author and presenter of the Books of the Year podcast Simon Mayo unpacks his latest thriller Knife Edge. 6.45am. A sweltering London rush hour. And in the last 29 minutes, seven people have been murdered. In a series of coordinated a�acks, seven men and women across London have been targeted.
Our Interviewers: Matthew Stadlen As an interviewer myself, it's been a real treat to curate my own schedule of interviews for this year's fes�val. Of course we'd all prefer to be mee�ng in person but zoom has helped us to keep the exchange of ideas flowing during such challenging �mes. In David Lammy, Alexandra Shulman, Rory Bremner, Elif Shafak, Ariana Neumann and Jess Phillips, I know we have a vibrant programme to look forward to.
Gerry Foley
Heather Martin
Joe Haddow
Josie D’Arby
Katt Brown
Discover your Festival at harrogateinternationalfestivals.com
A FUTURE FORTHE
We’ve been creating life changing events,
town
defining
moments,
bringing the community together, and drawing the eyes of the world to Harrogate with the arts since 1966, and now your Festival needs you. This is a dark time for the arts, and Festivals like ours, with no performance space to call our own have no clear path for funding ahead. We need your help to ensure our future.
FESTIVAL During this challenging time you can help ensure that our future is bright. Support HIF today at harrogateinternationalfestivals.com