As of Monday February 25, the festival will have sold more than 900 tickets for events including Carol Ann Duffy and Little Machine, Simon Armitage, Will Self, Tony Hawks, and Martin Carthy and Peter Robinson. There have also been strong sales for events with local writers – Lizzi Linklater Presents, featuring local writers in City Screen’s Basement Bar, has sold over 40 tickets so far.
The festival’s first Poetry Competition, sponsored by YorkMix and judged by York poet and tutor Carole Bromley, has had more than 400 entries from all over the UK. Events at York St John University have drawn interest from students, who have been allocated tickets to attend events at the university.
“It feels like a breakthrough year,” said Miles Salter, festival director. “It’s taken a long time to get here, but I feel excited about the festival’s future potential in York. It looks like we’ll sell over 1,000 tickets by the time this year’s festival starts on March 19.”
He thanked the Arts Council and York St John University for their support. “We’ve also had help from York Theatre Royal, Visit York, Blackwell’s and YorkMix, as well as from numerous volunteers who want to see the festival succeed.”
The festival began life in 2007 and was initially run by City of York Council. In 2009 the festival was established as a voluntary enterprise and is now run by a committee of local literature enthusiasts. The festival gained Arts Council funding for the first time in late 2012.
- York Literature Festival runs from March 19-24 in venues across the city
- You can download a PDF programme here