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2018 dates for Rochdale Literature & Ideas Festival

Councillor Janet Emsley and Mark Foxley from 2017 sponsors The Wheatsheaf Centre

2018 dates for Rochdale Literature & Ideas Festival

Another exciting chapter in the five-year history of Rochdale Literature & Ideas Festival will be written in October.

This year’s spectacular literary showcase will run from Monday 15 to Monday 22 October with organisers promising eight days of exciting arts for all ages.

Events will cover drama, comedy, poetry, spoken word, visual arts and children’s shows. For young people aged 14 to 25, another exciting ‘Generation Z’ programme is being put together, with plans to commission a brand new piece of work specially for the festival.

Over 3,000 people attended last year’s festival with the programme including events featuring Tony Walsh, Jenny Eclair, Alan Johnson, Terry Waite CBE, Jessica Rankin and many more.

The highly-anticipated 2018 festival will include guest speakers and writers and is aimed at celebrating and promoting the Maskew Collection of classic literature and philosophy at Rochdale Central Library, encouraging people to engage with books and ideas. Annie and Frank Maskew, a Rochdale couple who shared a passion for reading and thinking, met in Rochdale Library in the 1950s and left a sum of money to be used on resources and events related to literature and philosophy to ensure classic works are available for future generations.

The annual autumn festival, which began in 2013, includes events at venues across the borough of Rochdale. 

Authors, performers and workshops will start to be confirmed from April onwards, with tickets on sale from 10am on 30 July.

Festival organisers are also on the lookout for young writers aged 14 to 25 to contribute to ‘Unmasked’, a zine of stories, creative writing and art to be published later this year by unmaskedzine.com

Councillor Janet Emsley cabinet member for neighbourhoods, community and culture said: “Once again we will be spreading our wings and bringing more new ideas to this popular festival. The event is now well established on the calendar and the calibre of guests we have had over the last five years has been superb. This year it runs for eight days and there will be something for everybody, so do get the dates in your calendar.”

Last year’s festival received glowing praise, with 99% rating events as excellent or good, 98% said they would return again and  94% agreed that the festival ‘helps raise the profile of arts and culture in Rochdale’.

For information about appearing at the festival, sponsorship or getting involved in other ways, email Rochdalelitfest@rochdale.gov.uk  If you’d like to contribute to ‘Unmasked’ zine, email unmasked@fluxmagazine.com

To watch video highlights of 2017 visit www.rochdaleliteraturefestival.co.uk 

For festival updates on Twitter connect with @RochdaleLitFest

 

25 Jan 2018