City’s literature festival set to return for 38th year
A popular literature festival is set to take to the stage in March.
Lancaster Literature Festival, otherwise known as Litfest, is now in its 38th year, will return for over three weeks in March.
The festival, which will run from March 3 – 26, will take place at a range of venues across the city, including The Shire Hall, The Dukes Theatre, Friends Meeting House, The Storey and The Gregson Centre. There will also be an event at MoreMusic in Morecambe.
The festival, which is organised by six board members, will see both local and national acts take to the stage in the city, as well as a range of discussions and workshops for people to get involved in.
Natalie Sorrell Charlesworth, member of the board for Litfest, thinks that the festival is vital to the city.
She said: “This year, we hope to cement the festival in its new place in the calendar and to raise our profile again after a hard few years struggling with organisational changes and cuts to the Arts Budget and, as ever, to bring some of the very best literature to the people of Lancaster.
“We try to bring people to the festival who the audience might not normally have the opportunity to see like poets Sarah Howe and Patience Agbabi alongside other more local writers.
“We have workshops such as the one run by April Poets with David Tait, Chris Moore’s blogging workshop ‘Voice and Vision’ and Alpha and The Spectacular Translation Machine to encourage audience engagement and provide education opportunities.
“The festival has been part of the literary scene in Lancaster for decades, many people have attended the festival year after year and it’s become a staple of the arts calendar.”
This year’s festival will include a translation workshop working from a graphic novel and an evening discussing translation in literature with people associated with the International Man Booker Prize.
There will also be poetry events including one day entirely devoted to it and a blogging workshop for locals. There will also be a theatrical production at The Dukes and Jackie Kay’s reading at MoreMusic, which will also include musical support from Natural Causes.
The festival will be launched on Friday, March 3 by Doctor Who writer Paul Magrs who will be discussing characters and challenges associated with writing across different media.
