East Riding Festival Of Words 2019 Declared A Success

The East Riding Festival of Words 2019 has been declared a big success, both by audiences and the authors involved.

The festival took place in various locations across the East Riding between 15 and 20 October and featured a wide range of authors discussing murder, belonging and a great deal more besides.

Writers including Ann Cleeves, Jessica Fellowes and Christy Lefteri all came to Beverley, as part of the event organised by East Riding Libraries.

Planning is already underway for the 2020 Festival of Words, which will take place around the weekend of 17 and 18 October 2020.

John Skidmore, director of adults, health and customer services at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “I am absolutely delighted that this annual festival continues to go from strength to strength. Many of the events were sold out, and it is particularly pleasing that the programme of author events is put together by our library staff, who are able to arrange those authors who we know to be popular in this area.

“I know that our team are already scouring the library shelves to see what the East Riding likes to read, in preparation for next year’s festival.”

Reaction on social media this year included:

“Cannot express how lucky I feel to have attended this event so close to my doorstep”
“Brilliant weekend, thoroughly enjoyed it”
“Thanks to everyone involved for being so incredibly warm and welcoming today”.
The 2019 Festival of Words Poetry Competition is open until Saturday, 30 November.

This year’s theme is ‘My Mind, My Thoughts’, and entries will be judged by a panel of published Yorkshire poets led by James Nash. All poems entered are submitted anonymously, so each is judged on its own merits.

The winners will be invited to read their poems at a special event in January 2020 at North Bridlington Library. The prizes will be The Larkin Prize of £500, awarded by the Philip Larkin Society to the poem which the judges feel shows the most imaginative use of language and poetic form.

There will also be East Riding adult prizes of £200 for second place, and £100 for third, plus junior prizes of £75 for secondary school pupils and £50 for primary school pupils; plus four highly commended prizes of £25 each, two for adults and one each for primary and secondary aged children.

Entries can be made online at www.festivalofwords.co.uk and they cost £3 for adults, and schoolchildren of any age can enter free of charge.