Literature Festival turns another page as it returns for seventh year

A literature festival, which over the years has welcomed big names including Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Kate Adie, Michael Palin, Alastair Campbell, Lord Melvyn Bragg, is making its return in October.

The Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival is returning for a seventh year and has moved to a new autumn slot from October 19 – 22.

It has become the hot ticket on the national festival circuit thanks to its stellar line-up of literary names, with Harper’s Bazaar picking the event as one of the UK’s ‘best literary festivals’.

The programme for this year’s Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival will reflect the Harrogate International Festivals’ over-arching theme for 2017 – ‘Generations’.

Law firm Raworths became the inaugural sponsor of the literature festival in 2012 to celebrate its 125th anniversary.

Zoe Robinson, managing partner of Raworths, said: “We are thrilled to continue our support of Harrogate International Festivals. There is a real synergy in this partnership of two long standing Harrogate institutions, both proud of our legacies and contribution to the town. Raworths’ approach and values have been passed down through three generations of the Butterworth family in the firm, which was originally established 130 years ago in 1887 by Edwin Raworth, the great-grandfather of newsreader Sophie Raworth.”

She added: “We are committed to Harrogate, and proud to support the arts in the area and help enhance the town’s national reputation as the ‘Jewel of the North’, making it such a vibrant place in which to live and work.”

Gemma Rowland, operations manager at Harrogate International Festivals, said: “We are extremely grateful to Raworths for their commitment, and passionate support. The Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival has built an enviable reputation as a bespoke high calibre literary event. For this reason we have taken the decision to move the Festival to October – to give it room to further flourish and grow outside of our busy summer programme. October is also perfect timing for new releases ahead of the Christmas period to allow us to bring the biggest and best names and themes to our audiences.”

She added: “As an arts charity, only 2% of our income is from public money. The support of Raworths helps Harrogate continue to attract the biggest names in publishing. This shows what exciting innovation is possible when the business community steps in to support the arts.”

The Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival will take place at the Crown Hotel.

The programme will be announced in June.