AYE WRITE! GLASGOW'S BOOK FESTIVAL
Mitchell Library and Theatre
6 - 14 March 2009

Aye Write! Glasgow’s Book Festival celebrates the rich variety of Glaswegian writing and also brings the best of Scottish and international writers to the city. The programme includes a mix of fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, screenwriting and graphic novels along with sessions on illustration and storytelling.
There are over 60 sessions in the main programme with past speakers including Louise Welsh, William McIlvanney, Billy McNeill, Ian McEwan, Roy Hattersley, Maggie O'Farrell, Iain Banks, Andrew Marr and Stuart Murdoch. In addition to over 70 weekday events for schools, there are weekend sessions for children.

Contact: Wilma Moore
Glasgow City Council
Libraries, information and learning
Mitchell Library
North Street
Glasgow
G3 7DN
Tel: +44 (0)141 287 2806
Fax: +44 (0)141 287 2871
Web links: http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Visitors/AyeWriteGlasgowsBookFestival/

ESSEX BOOK FESTIVAL
March 2009
A month long festival bringing readers and writers together throughout the county, with many events in libraries. The festival showcases new writers as well as bringing a range of established writers to Essex. Germaine Greer, Mike Ripley and Francis Wheen are patrons of the festival

Contact: June Turner (Reader Development Manager)
Essex Library Headquarters
Goldlay Gardens
Chelmsford
Essex
CM2 0EW
Tel: +44 (0)1245 244953\par Box Office +44 (0)1206 573948 \par
Fax: +44 (0)1245 492780
E-Mail: answers.direct@essex.gov.uk
Web links: http://www.essexbookfestival.org.uk

HALLAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL (BIENNIAL)

A biennial festival with a number of readings, events and discussions.

Sheffield Hallam University
City Campus
Howard Street
Sheffield
S1 1WB
Tel: +44 (0)114 253 2228
E-Mail: events@shu.ac.uk  

HUDDERSFIELD LITERATURE FESTIVAL
11 - 15 March 2009
Various venus around Huddersfield

This year’s festival promises to be the biggest and best yet. The festival launch party is in the style of a cheeky cabaret called Doctor Buck’s Burlesque and will feature, comedy, music, poetry, sketches and burlesque dancers, all tied together with the theme of literature past and present.

Other highlights include Ian McMillan and Tony Husband’s Cartoon History of Here:Comedy, cartoonery, poetry & impro. A very funny live-action cartoon of Huddersfield starring its friendly folks, fantastic fortunes, dazzling ambition and tender moments.

The festival finale is a genuine coup for Huddersfield. For over thirty years Mark E Smith has been the front man of The Fall - one of the most exciting and innovative rock groups in England. Mark will be talking about his life, work, writers and writing and his autobiography: Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E Smith, an hilarious comic rant. ‘I hope this book turns out like Mein Kampf for the Hollyoaks generation’ (Mark E Smith). This is a rare chance to meet the living leg end.

Contact: Rommi Smith, Creative Writing Projects Officer and Festival Co-ordinator
Tel: +44 (0) 1484 471 895
E-mail: brochure@litfest.org.uk

KING'S LYNN FICTION FESTIVAL
King's Lynn Town Hall
13 - 15 March 2009

A fiction festival featuring readings and talks. The Fiction Festival will be at its usual venue, the Town Hall on the Saturday Market Place.

Contact: Anthony Ellis (Chairman)
19 Tuesday Market Place
King's Lynn
Norfolk
PE30 1JW
Tel: +44 (0)1553 691661 (day)/+44 (0)1553 761919 (evening)
Fax: +44 (0)1553 691779
Web links: http://www.lynnlitfests.com

KING'S SUTTON LITERARY FESTIVAL
King's Sutton Memorial Hall
7 - 8 March 2009

Please do join us on 7th & 8th March 2009 to meet old friends and make new ones, and to celebrate King’s Sutton’s Weekend World of Books. This year's speakers are P D James, Douglas Hurd, David Owen, Patrick Gale, William Fiennes, Rosamund Bartlett, James Fergusson and Ed Cooke.

Contact: Jackie Bradley
4 Church Avenue
Kings Sutton
Banbury
Oxon
OX17 3RJ
E-mail:tickets@kslitfest.co.uk; jackie.bradley@gmail.com

THE LONDON WORD FESTIVAL
7 - 25 March 2009

London Word Festival will explore words in all forms, from the spoken and sung to the scribbled and scrawled. From Blogs to comic books; from poetic lyricism to lyric poetry; from pop culture to the plain cult. The Festival will generate new work, with specially commissioned performance pieces, and artist-led collaborations.  

Web links: http://www.londonwordfestival.com/

OUNDLE FESTIVAL OF LITERATURE
7 - 21 March 2009

Featuring a programme of author events, poetry, philosophy, politics, story telling, biography, illustrators and novelists for young and old.

Contact: Liz Dillarstone (Publicity)
2 Herne Road
Oundle
PE8 4BS
Northamptonshire
Tel: +44 (0)1832 274960
Fax: +44 (0)1832 277173
E-Mail: Liz@oundlelitfest.org.uk
Web links: http://www.oundlelitfest.org.uk

SAFFRON WALDEN LITERARY FESTIVAL
26 February - 27 March 2009

Including poet Wendy Cope, Professor Desmond Olivier Dingle of the National Theatre of Brent , biographer Alison Weir, agony aunt Virginia Ironside, children's writers Celia Rees, Debi Gliori and Paul Dowswell, historians James Delingpole, Nigel Jones and Gary Sheffield, film critic, David Thomson and international concert violinist, Ruth Waterman are all coming, together with many other fascinating speakers.

Website: http://www.hartsevents.co.uk

STANZA: SCOTLAND'S POETRY FESTIVAL
St Andrews
18 - 22 March 2009

The only regular festival dedicated to poetry in Scotland, StAnza is international in outlook. Founded in 1998, it is held each March in St Andrews, Scotland’s oldest university town. The festival is an opportunity to engage with a wide variety of poetry, to hear world class poets reading in exciting and atmospheric venues, to experience a range of performances where music, film, dance and poetry work in harmony, to view exhibitions linking poetry with visual art and to discover the part poetry has played in the lives of a diverse range of writers, musicians and media personalities. The simple intention of StAnza is to celebrate poetry in all its many forms.

Contact: Brian Johnstone (Festival Director)
Registered Office:
57 Lade Braes
St Andrews
Fife
Scotland
KY16 9DA
Tel: +44 (0)1333 360 491 (Administration) +44 (0)1334 475 000 (Box Office) +44 (0)1592 414 714 (Programmes)
E-Mail: admin@stanzapoetry.org
Web links: http://www.stanzapoetry.org

WORDS BY THE WATER
Theatre by the Lake
27 February - 8 March 2009

Literature festival organised by Ways With Words. For ten days writers and readers get together to share the pleasure of books, words and ideas.

Contact: Kay Dunbar
Ways with Words
Droridge Farm
Dartington
Totnes
Devon
TQ9 6JG
Tel: +44 (0)1803 867373 (Administration)/+44 (0)1803 867311 (Box office)
Fax: +44 (0)1803 863688
E-Mail: admin@wayswithwords.co.uk
Web links: http://www.wayswithwords.co.uk

YORK LITERATURE FESTIVAL 2009
1 - 15 March 2009

Two weeks celebrating the written and spoken word in one of England's most beautiful cities. This year, the festival will draw to an end the celebrations for the National Year of Reading in York.

Contact: Sarah Garbacz
Address: Read Write York
Mill House
North Street
York YO1 6JD
Tel: +44 (0)1904 554 316
e-mail: read.write@york.gov.uk
Website: www.readwriteyork.co.uk