Litfest Autumn Weekend at various venues and online
Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
There’s lots to look forward to at this year’s Litfest Autumn Weekend, Lancaster’s literature festival running 18 to 25 October, with the fabulously accessible chance to take part either in person or virtually.
The special autumnal edition features a packed hybrid programme of prose, poetry, and plenty more beyond.
One on our list is the fourth International Fiction Lecture, this year presented by 2023 International Booker Prize shortlistee Guadalupe Nettel (22 October 7.30pm £3). Mexico-born Guadalupe Nettel grew up ‘between Mexico and France’, and will be discussing and celebrating fiction as an international artform, considering the work of writers including Joan Didion and Gaël Faye.
Nettel is the author of the award-winning novels The Body Where I Was Born (2011), After the Winter (2014) and Still Born (2020), and three collections of short stories. The third, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, will be the topic for discussion at a special edition of Litfest’s International Fiction Bookclub (21 October 6.30pm £3), when the author will be joined by her translator Rosalind Harvey to help you get more familiar with her work.
Our interest is also piqued by the poetry double bill (19 October 4pm £5), when Camille Ralphs and Ian Seed will be reading from their latest publications, After You Were, I Am (Faber & Faber) and Night Window (Shearsman), respectively. Camille Ralphs studied at Lancaster University and is a poet and critic, and an editor at the Times Literary Supplement. Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous magazines, including the New York Review of Books, Poetry Review and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Ian Seed is a Lancaster-based poet and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Chester. His several collections include Anonymous Intruder and The Underground Cabaret. and Luke Kennard calls him ‘a master of the prose poem and the unexpected lyric’.
There’s also history, as Sharon Ruston (19 October) introduces Humphry Davy – chemist, inventor of the Davy Lamp, and poet – along with storytelling from Jacqueline Harris’ Slowing Down to the Speed of Light to original music by cellist Maja Bugge (18 October), and events for younger readers, as Katherine Woodfine brings the story of Anne of Green Gables to life (19 October). Litfest is also partnering with Lancaster Arts to welcome legendary record producer (Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, R.E.M., Fairport Convention) Joe Boyd in conversation with vinyl maestro Andrew Barker (25 October).
If you can’t make it to Lancaster city-centre venues The Storey or The Dukes, or the Lancaster University campus, fear not, as Litfest’s online streaming platform Crowdcast means you can join live wherever you are in the world – or you can enjoy recordings of most of the events on a 30-day catch-up. Just choose the experience that suits you best!
Ticket prices are being kept low at £5 in person and £3 online as the cost-of-living crisis continues to make life challenging for all. Litfest is teaming up with The Dukes, who will be providing a festival box office for both in person and online events, and you can book your tickets in person at the theatre on Moor Lane or by hitting the button below.
