The full programme has now been revealed for this year’s hotly anticipated Chester Literature Festival.
The 2023 festival takes place from 9-26 November and promises two-and-a-half weeks of fantastic and fascinating events around the written and spoken word.
Among those who are involved in this year’s LitFest are gardener Monty Don, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, historian Professor David Olusoga, chef and broadcaster Andi Oliver and bestselling author Joanne Harris.
Events, conversations, workshops, performances and open mic sessions will take place over 18 days in a programme packed with something for everyone. There is also the return of the hugely popular Poetry Pub Crawl and a range of free activities which are on for the duration of the festival.
This year’s festival kicks off on the main stage on Thursday, 9 November with An Evening With Monty Don.
The popular BBC Gardener’s World presenter, gardening expert and writer will share his passion for gardens and the unique role they play in human inspiration and wellbeing.
Seasoned gardeners and green-fingered novices will enjoy tales from his career in gardening, detailing his favourite gardens both ancient and modern, and how he fell in love with the natural world.
Don is the author of many books about gardening, along with his Sunday Times bestseller Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs, inspired by his beloved late Golden Retriever who made regular appearances on Gardener’s World.
Expect to be entertained, educated and informed (with the emphasis on entertained) when actor, writer and poet Nigel Planer joins BAFTA award-winning screenwriter and BBC Radio 4’s ‘poet in reticence’ (and founder of Manchester Literature Festival) Henry Normal for an evening on the main stage on Friday, 10 November.
There will be poetry, stories, a Q&A, jokes and some memorable knitwear on display.
Liverpool-born comedian and double Sunday Times bestselling author Sophie McCartney brings her debut stand up tour Tired and Tested to Storyhouse on Saturday, 11 November, promising a riotous representation of modern-day ‘mumming’.
A rising star on the comedy circuit, McCartney won the 2020 Funny Woman award for Best Comedy Series and featured on the Mother & Baby Mum List 2021 as the funniest mum on Intstagram.
In March 2022 she released her debut non-fiction book Tired & Tested: The Wild Ride into Parenthood, while her first novel Mother Hens – billed as a black comedy centred around a group of harassed mothers with scores to settle on a hedonistic Ibiza hen do – is out now.
Then on Sunday, 12 November, author and journalist Tom Parfitt and Mike Parker – creator of ITV’s Coast to Coast series – come together for World Walking Adventures.
In the afternoon event, in the Garret Theatre, Parfitt will talk about his walking adventures encapsulated in his book High Caucasus: A Mountain Quest in Russia’s Haunted Hinterland, while Parker’s new book All The Wild Border: Wales, England and the Places Between takes a fascinating look at the Wales-England border.
Meanwhile, multi award-winning Poet Laureate Simon Armitage takes to the main stage for a special ‘an afternoon with’.
His latest book, Never Good With Horses: Assembled Lyrics, is the first ever collection of his lyric output including those for ‘ambient post-rock’ band Land Yacht Regatta and his days with DIY indie band The Scaremongers.
Then in the evening, critically acclaimed author, journalist and TV presenter Candice Brathwaite will join broadcaster Ngunan Adamu for a conversation about the young adult novel Cuts Both Ways, her first foray into fiction which made the Sunday Times bestseller list.
Cuts Both Ways is a sharp and funny love story that explores themes of race, class and the complexities of growing up as a black British teen.
Its exuberant and straight-talking author will discuss both her novel and also her personal and professional journeys, along with taking questions from the audience.
Writer, broadcaster and comedian Natalie Haynes, best-selling author of Pandora’s Jar, comes to the festival on Tuesday, 14 November with her new book Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth.
Learn all about Athene, goddess of war and wisdom who sprang fully formed from her father’s head, Demeter, goddess of agriculture, and the queen of all the Olympian gods, Hera. Prepare to sing the immortal song of the Muses and meet the Furies.
Grace Dent visits Chester Literature Festival on Wednesday, 15 November to talk about her best-selling memoir Hungry.
Hungry is a warm, witty and joyous voyage through the food writer’s life story, told via the gastronomic experiences which have stayed with her the most, from growing up in a Carlisle terrace eating beige food and enjoying treats with her nan to eating haute cuisine in some of the country’s finest restaurants.
It is also about love and loss, about how food plays a central role in our lives – and how a Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut in a hospital vending machine can brighten the toughest situation.
Award-winning, best-selling author and performance poet Sophia Thakur comes to the Garret Theatre on Friday, 17 November Thakur blends soulful music with performance poetry and has inspired audiences across the world from the Glastonbury stage to Ted Talks and television screens.
The Garret Theatre is also the setting for a pair of unmissable writing workshops on Saturday, 18 November with journalists and authors Tabitha Lasley and Caroline Corcoran.
How to Write Your Book will provide practical methods, tips, tricks and ideas to get your words on to the page and into a format that will make agents and editors take notice.
And How to Get Published aims to demystify the publishing industry and help you get your work in front of the right people with practical guidance and tried and tested strategies.
Author Tom Fort talks about his delightful new book Rivets, Trivets and Galvanised Buckets: Life in the Village Hardware Shop in a coffeetime event at the Garret Theatre.
Enjoy a celebration of the quintessential cornerstone of any British village, the shop – in this case a century-old hardware store the Fort family took on with dreams of it becoming the heart of village life.
The second festival weekend also welcomes TV and radio presenter Melanie Sykes who will be ‘in conversation’ with book blogger and YouTube star Simon Savidge on the main stage.
Sykes has been a well-known face on our TV screens and a voice on radio for almost 30 years, delivering humour, honesty and insight.
Her new book Illuminated: Autism & All the Things I’ve Left Unsaid lifts the lid on being a woman in the media in funny, furious and gloriously frank fashion, but also talks about how her autism diagnosis in middle age has supercharged her journey – a story not just of breakdown but also of breakthrough.
On Sunday, 19 November, award-winning historian, writer and broadcaster – and Professor of Public History – David Olusoga will be in conversation with David Watson, talking about his new book Black History for Every Day of the Year.
Olusoga, who studied history at the University of Liverpool, has presented a number of major TV programmes including Civilisations – alongside Mary Beard and Simon Schama, Black and British: A Forgotten History, The World War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire, Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners and his captivating, exploratory A House Through Time series.
In 2019 he was made an OBE for services to history and community integration.
Black History for Every Day of the Year, written and illustrated in collaboration with his siblings Yinka and Kemi Olusoga, gives readers a unique and vital celebration of Black history, sweeping across the world and through the ages. Meet well-known figures and unsung heroes, read about famous and lesser-known key cultural moments and discover brilliant information about Black people through history.
That event will be followed by a second ‘in conversation’ on the main Storyhouse stage as Andi Oliver joins Simon Savidge for a fascinating evening’s chat.
The award-winning TV chef and broadcaster enjoys a rich and varied career, with food and music at the forefront. She is host of BBC’s Great British Menu, Channel 4’s Beat the Chef and Food Unwrapped, and Sky Arts’ Live Book Club.
In this exclusive event for Chester Literature Festival, she will discuss The Pepperpot Diaries, her long-awaited first cookbook.
Poet and musician Reece Williams brings his powerful new stage show This Kind of Black (Requiem for Black Boys) to Storyhouse on Tuesday, 21 November.
The coming-of-age tale, set in 1990s Moss Side and commissioned by HOME in Manchester, celebrates a community held together by prayers, warmth and humour while also mourning the tragic loss of young life.
Williams is a towering presence on the northern spoken word and poetry scene. He joined poetry collective Young Identity in 2007, performing across the UK and abroad. He is currently community engagement manager for Manchester UNESCO City of Literature and the regular compere of Open Mic Stand.
At a Debut Writers Event on Wednesday, 22 November, a panel of first-time writers including Jessie Wells (The Good News Gazette) and Emma Venables (Fragments of a Woman) will discuss the trials and tribulations of writing their first book as well as the inspiration behind their stories and how their passion for writing kept them going.
The Kitchen is the venue for a free Local Authors Party on Thursday, 23 November, where writers can meet, network and pitch their work (fiction, non-fiction or poetry) to an audience. Places to speak are limited and should be booked in advance via programming@storyhouse.com
Then on Friday, 24 November and Saturday, 25 November there is the return of the popular Poetry Pub Crawl. Join a rowdy, fun and joyful journey around the pubs of Chester hearing poems and songs in each venue.
The evenings, hosted by festival favourite Molly Naylor and with entertainer Gavin Osborn, start with a drink at Storyhouse.
Break out the bunting on Friday, 24 November because poet Luke Wright is celebrating his Silver Jubilee.
Over 25 years, the fresh-faced Wright has built a reputation for being one of Britain’s most popular live poets. He has won an unprecedented four Saboteur Awards (awards for the spoken word), a Stage Award and a Fringe First accolade. He’s sold out shows around the world and regularly tours with John Cooper Clarke.
Thwarted in his attempts to hold a jubilee street party by council philistines, he is instead doing what a poet does best and taking a deep dive into himself in what promises to be his most confessional show yet.
It will be followed by a post-performance event in The Kitchen.
Saturday, 25 November sees Storyhouse welcome Niki Segnit, award-winning author of the global bestseller The Flavour Thesaurus.
Segnit’s follow up The Flavour Thesaurus: More Flavours sees her apply her groundbreaking approach to explore 92 mostly plant-based flavours from kale to cashew and pomegranate to pistachio, with more than 800 witty and erudite entries combining recipes, tasting notes and stories to bring each ingredient to life.
The Fab Four are the subject of a fascinating evening on the main stage in the company of the legendary ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris and author and music journalist Colin Hall, for 20 years custodian of John Lennon’s childhood home for the National Trust.
The Songs the Beatles Gave Away traces the tracks Lennon and McCartney (and George Harrison) wrote which were gifted to other 60s stars, from Cilla Black to Billy J Kramer and Tommy Quickly to The Rolling Stones.
And The Kitchen is the stage for a free Poetry Open Mic Night, hosted by local poet, performer and book artist Jeremy Dixon, and with the theme of Freedom of Identity.
The festival comes to a close on Sunday, 26 November when Internationally acclaimed author Joanne Harris returns to Storyhouse with not one but two events.
Maiden, Mother, Crone, he latest book, which is released on November 2, draws together her award-winning novellas A Pocketful of Crows, The Blue Salt Road and Orfeia together with illustrations from Bonnie Helen Hawkins, a new introduction from Harris and three original short stories in one volume which reimagines British folk stories.
Then #Storytime, which returns by popular demand, is a live show featuring takes from Harris’ book Honeycomb plus image projections and live music.
Both shows take place in the intimate Garret Theatre.
There are also three free events which run throughout the 18-day festival.
Love Letters to Your Library, in the Storyhouse lobby, encourages visitors to fill in a blank postcard with what a library means to them, while in Blind Date With a Book – running in the Library – visitors can borrow a mystery tome, wrapped in brown paper tagged with clues.
Installation The Last Taboo of Motherhood? illuminating an area of women’s health which has been historically overlooked: postnatal mental illness, will be in the Book Pod on the library’s first floor.
And a new initiative for 2023, is Sit For Six. A study by researchers at Sussex University has found that reading for as little as six minutes can reduce stress by as much as 68 percent.
During the festival, retreat into the lobby reading corner for six minutes (or longer).
Chester Literature Festival remains one of the longest-running annual literature events in the country.
It was launched in 1989 by volunteer organisation Chester Arts 89 and city booksellers who programmed a week of literary activity including a reading by the niece of novelist D H Lawrence.
This is the 12th year that the festival has been programmed by Storyhouse, and along with visiting names, special artists in residence have included Benjamin Zephaniah, Lemn Sissay and Ted Hughes Prize-winner Hollie McNish.
Storyhouse Creative Director Suzie Henderson said: “We have an incredible programme of authors, writers, poets and thinkers lined up for this year’s Chester Literature Festival.
“The event will take over the building for 18 entertaining and thought-provoking days this November. And whether you’re a fiction fan, lover of poetry, a history buff, adventurer or foodie, I can guarantee there’s something to tickle your literary fancy.”
Listings:
An Evening With Monty Don
Main stage
Thursday, 9 November 2023
7.30pm
Tickets £35/£31.50 Storyhouse Members/ (non-book tickets) £20/£18 Storyhouse Members
Henry Normal and Nigel Planer
Main stage
Friday, 10 November 2023
7.30pm
Tickets £17.50/£15.75 Storyhouse Members
Sophie McCartney: Tired and Tested
Main stage
Saturday, 11 November 2023
8pm
SOLD OUT
World Walking Adventures
Garret Theatre
Sunday, 12 November 2023
2pm
Tickets £15/Storyhouse Members £13.50
An Afternoon With Simon Armitage
Main stage
Sunday, 12 November 2023
2pm
Tickets £15/Storyhouse Members £13.50
Candice Brathwaite
Main stage
Sunday, 12 November 2023
7pm
Tickets £18/Storyhouse Members £16.20
Natalie Haynes: Divine Might
Main stage
Tuesday, 14 November 2023
7pm
Tickets £15/Storyhouse Members £13.50
Grace Dent
Main stage
Wednesday, 15 November 2023
7pm
Tickets £22/Storyhouse Members £19.80
Sophia Thakur
Garret Theatre
Wednesday, 15 November 2023
7.30pm
Tickets £15/Storyhouse Members £13.50
Workshops by Tabitha Lasley and Caroline Corcoran
How to Write Your Book/How to Get Published
Garret Theatre
Saturday, 18 November 2023
10am/1pm
Tickets £25/Storyhouse Members £22.50 (per session)
Tom Fort: Rivets, Trivets and Galvanised Buckets – Life in a Village Hardware Sho
Garret Theatre
Saturday, 18 November 2023
11am
Tickets £5/Storyhouse Members £4.50
Melanie Sykes in Conversation with Simon Savidge
Main stage
Saturday, 18 November 2023
7pm
Tickets £18/£Storyhouse Members £16.20
David Olusoga in Conversation with David Watson
Main stage
Sunday, 19 November 2023
2pm
Tickets £22/Storyhouse Members £19.80
Andi Oliver in Conversation with Simon Savidge
Main stage
Sunday, 19 November 2023
6.30pm
Tickets £18/Storyhouse Members £16.20
Reece Williams: This Kind of Black (Requiem for Black Boys)
Garret Theatre
Tuesday, 21 November 2023
7.30pm
Tickets £15/Storyhouse Members £13.50
A Debut Writers’ Event
Garret Theatre
Wednesday, 22 November 2023
7.30pm
Tickets £15/Storyhouse Members £13.50
Local Authors Party
The Kitchen
Thursday, 23 November 2023
7.30pm
Free
Poetry Pub Crawl
The Kitchen and then on to other venues
Friday and Saturday, 24-25 November 2023
7.30pm
Tickets £25/Storyhouse Members £22.50
Luke Wright’s Silver Jubilee
Garret Theatre
Friday, 24 November 2023
7.30pm
Tickets £15/Storyhouse Members £13.50
Niki Segnit: The Flavour Thesaurus – More Flavour
Garret Theatre
Saturday, 25 November 2023
2pm
Tickets £10/Storyhouse Members £9
Bob Harris and Colin Hall: The Songs the Beatles Gave Away
Garret Theatre
Saturday, 25 November 2023
7.30pm
Tickets £20/Storyhouse Members £18
Poetry Open Mic Night: Freedom of Identity
The Kitchen
Saturday, 25 November 2023
8pm
Free
Joanne Harris
Maiden, Mother, Crone/#Storytime
Garret Theatre
Sunday, 26 November 2023
4pm/7.30pm
Tickets £12/Storyhouse Members £10.80 (Maiden, Mother, Crone)/£16.50/Storyhouse Members £14.85 (#Storytime)
Free Events
Love Letters to Your Library
The Lobby
Thursday 9, November-Saturday, 26 November 2023
All day
Blind Date with a Book
Library
Thursday 9, November-Saturday, 26 November 2023
All day
Six for Six
The Lobby
Thursday 9, November-Saturday, 26 November 2023
All day
