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Events

Tag: early bird

Finding Stories in the Park

Join creative coach and writer Juliet Thomas at Greenhead Park to have some creative fun and ignite your imagination in our event Finding Stories in the Park. 

Juliet will set you challenges to explore the park and discover its secrets to then turn into stories. You may choose to write about the beautiful flora, fauna and wildlife or you may take in the historical aspects of the park and the people who visit. Greenhead Park is over 130 years old and there is lots to see and write about in this workshop.  

Once you’ve explored the park, you’ll come back together as a group to then be guided by Juliet in creating your stories at the Community Room where refreshments will be provided. Finally, if you choose to, you can share your story to the group, feeling proud of what you have created in this inspiring afternoon. 

 

Juliet Thomas is a creative entrepreneur, coach, writer, and founder of The Curious Creative Club, where she helps people unlock their creative potential through coaching, workshops, and mentorship. After a career in PR, CSR and Marketing with major organisations like Leeds United FC and Yorkshire Building Society, Juliet shifted focus in 2018 to build a creative business that blends her passion for storytelling, nature, art and helping others to embrace their inner creativity. As a wild nature enthusiast and creative advocate, she is passionate about sharing her message, that all humans are creative, and is now working on her first book, Creative by Nature, a journey of personal transformation and creative empowerment, supported by Arts Council DYCP funding. 

Meet at the Community Room, which is in the same building as the Cafe in the Park (the smaller of the two park cafes, on the Gledholt Road side of the park).

 

Date: Sunday 18 May 

Time: 2pm-4.30pm 

Location: Community Room, Greenhead Park, Gledholt Road HD1 4HP 

Tickets: £15

Early Bird tickets are now ended

Age guidance:  16+ 

Access guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/kirklees-council/access-guides/greenhead-park  

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Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

  

Supported by funding from:

Arnold Clark Community Fund logo

Arnold Clarke Community Fund

 

Radio Sangam Qawwali Night

Radio Sangam presents a fabulous musical evening from a renowned Qawwali group, which will include some popular Bollywood music. A women-only event.  

Qawwali is a hypnotic performance of music and song inspired by Sufi religious tradition, where vocalists weave melodies over percussion-based music, including harmoniums, tabla and dholak.  

Radio Sangam is the most followed Asian radio station in the UK, only surpassed by the BBC Asian Network. Broadcasting 24/7, 365 days a year in Urdu, Punjabi, Sylheti, Arabic, Gujarati and English, the station promotes the heritage and culture of South Asia and is a trusted source of information and education.  

This event has limited ticket availability, so early booking is advised. 

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.  

 

Date:  Wednesday 14 May 

Time: 7.30pm-10pm 

Location: The Cellar, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street, HD1 2SP 

Tickets: £12

Early Bird tickets have now ended.

Age guidance: 16+ 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/huddersfield-literature-festival/access-guides/the-cellar 

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

 

Supported by funding from: 

Creative Scene Arts Council England

Creative Scene and Arts Council England

Self-Publishing Crash Course

Learn the top tips for self-publishing in this talk by bestselling local author and publisher of Curious Cat Books, Rachael Hardcastle. Rachael will share invaluable, no-nonsense, honest advice to inspire you to write and journal your way to complete a memoir, a poem, or even a full-length novel. She will share her experience about how to use print-on-demand technology to write, edit and design your book – and how to utilise Amazon to reach potential readers all over the world.  

Rachael Hardcastle is an Amazon international #1 bestselling author. She writes mostly fantasy and adventure books for young adults and teens – her stories are fun, fast-paced and addictive. Rachael understands that through writing, we face our darkest fears, explore infinite new worlds and realise our true purpose. Creative writing helps us to understand what that purpose is. Since starting her self-publishing experience in 2010, Rachael has worked with many individuals to help make their dreams of publishing a book a reality, including school children! Her imprint, Curious Cat Books, has been responsible for producing gorgeous children’s books, memoirs and more since 2017. 

https://www.rachaelhardcastle.com/ 

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.  

Date: Sunday 11 May 

Time: 3pm-5pm 

Location: Cellar, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street, Huddersfield HD1 2SP 

Tickets: £9 (£7 conc), free for University of Huddersfield staff and students & essential carers 

Early Bird tickets have now ended

Age guidance: 16+ 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/huddersfield-literature-festival/access-guides/syngenta-cellar 

For further information on concession and essential carer tickets please visit our FAQ’s page.

 

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

Polari: Celebrating LGBTQ+ writing talent

Enjoy fabulous performances from a diverse and talented line-up of LGBTQ+ writers. Hosted by bestselling author and journalist Paul Burston, the evening will showcase the work of acclaimed and award-winning novelist Okechukwu Nzelu, trans, non-binary, neurodivergent writer and cabaret artist Hook, and writer, poet and March Violets singer Rosie Garland. 

The event will start at 7pm with a 15-minute break, approx finish time 8.45pm. Followed at 9pm by Out + Loud LGBTQ+ open mic. 

About Polari Founded by author and journalist Paul Burston in a bar in Soho in 2007, award-winning literary salon Polari showcases and celebrates the best in LGBTQ+ poetry and writing. The Polari Prize is the UK’s only book prize for LGBTQ+ writing. It comprises three awards: Book of the Year, Debut book and children’s/YA prize. 

Paul Burston is curator and host of award-winning LGBTQ+ literary salon Polari and founder of the Polari Prize book awards for LGBTQ+ writers. In 2016, he featured in the British Council’s Global List of ‘33 visionary people promoting freedom, equality and LGBT rights around the world’. Paul is the author of six novels and five non-fiction books, and the editor of two short-story collections. His bestselling memoir We Can Be Heroes: A Survivor’s Story was published in 2023. 

Rosie Garland writes poetry, long and short fiction, and sings with post-punk band The March Violets. Poetry collection What Girls Do in the Dark (Nine Arches Press) was shortlisted for the Polari Prize 2021. Her latest novel, The Fates (Quercus) is a retelling of the Greek myth of the Fates, and her first collection of short fiction Your Sons & Your Daughters Are Beyond is out now (Fly On The Wall Press). In 2023, she was made Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and Val McDermid has named her one of the most compelling LGBT+ writers in the UK today. 

http://www.rosiegarland.com/ 

Hook is a trans, non-binary, neurodivergent mythical creature, writer, and cabaret artist. They use the pronouns they/them and hehe/hym. Hook is currently touring their new cabaret-comedy The Wheel of Nouns and has also previously written and then performed their work with Queer Arts at Pride 2024, Polari Literary Salon at Theatre 41, Roots Theatre at The York Theatre Royal, and The Wonderhaus Cabaret at The Wardrobe Theatre. 

Dr Okechukwu Nzelu FRSL won a Northern Writers’ Award from New Writing North in 2015. His debut novel The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney won a Betty Trask Award and his second novel Here Again Now was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award, the Polari Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Diverse Book Awards. He is a non-executive director of ALCS and CLA, and Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. In 2024 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. 

https://www.nzelu.org/  

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.  

Date: Saturday 10 May 

Time: 7pm-8.45pm 

Location: Cellar, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street HD1 2SP 

Tickets: £10 (£8 conc), free for University of Huddersfield staff and students & essential carers 

Early Bird tickets have now ended

Age Guidance: 16+ 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/huddersfield-literature-festival/access-guides/the-cellar 

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

Workshop: ‘Origins’ Poetry Workshop

Poet, writer and creative facilitator Chérie Taylor Battiste leads a poetry workshop designed especially for this year’s Festival.  

‘Origins’: An Exploration of Identity, Heritage, and Self-Discovery investigates the profound aspects of identity, heritage, and self-discovery, as explored in Chérie’s debut poetry collection Lioness.  

Participants will be encouraged to delve into their personal histories and reflect on the experiences and influences that have shaped their unique identities. 

Chérie will also feature as a guest poet at our Poetry Slam on the evening of 17 May – see our What’s On page for details. 

Chérie Taylor Battiste was born in London and raised in Leeds. She holds a degree in African Studies from SOAS and trained with the BBC Radio Drama Company. She has 20 years of expertise in facilitating drama and poetry-based workshops and regularly performs at creative and corporate events. 

Chérie is Patron of the Poetry Society at Holmfirth School and an Associate Artist with Renaissance One. As a writer, artist and actor, she has contributed to many creative projects. These include two recent projects for HuddLitFest: a collaboration with musician Omar Lyefook MBE to launch the Festival in 2023, with a film of her poem “He Remains” about David Oluwale; and an in conversation with Paterson Joseph for his novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho. 

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.  

Date: Saturday 17 May 

Time: 2pm-4pm 

Location: TEN, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street HD1 2SP 

Tickets: £15 (£10 conc)

Early Bird tickets are now ended 

Age Guidance: 16+ 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/huddersfield-literature-festival/access-guides/lawrence-batley-theatre 

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

Matt Jackson-Smith – My Life as a Yorkshire Vet

An evening with one of the stars of Channel 5’s hit show The Yorkshire Vet. In his funny, engaging and honest memoir, Matt Jackson-Smith reveals his journey so far – from watching The Yorkshire Vet with his gran to becoming one of the TV show’s most popular animal experts. 

A celebration of his life and career so far, My Life as a Yorkshire Vet is packed with amusing anecdotes and heartwarming tales, from dealing with exotic wildcats and crocs to dramatic emergency Caesarean sections on dairy cows, and from open-shell operations on tortoises to looking after a care home’s beloved budgie. 

Matt Jackson-Smith trained as a vet at the University of Glasgow, the same place where the world’s most famous vet Alf Wight (James Herriot) trained. He now works at Donaldson’s Vets in Huddersfield as a mixed vet, treating farm and small animals, and in 2020 he joined Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet. Matt also features in The Yorkshire Vet: At Home With The Greens and Channel 5’s Springtime and Winter on the Farm. He lives in West Yorkshire with his wife and baby daughter.  

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.  

Sponsored by

Colne Valley Self Storage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date: Thursday 8 May 

Time: 7.30pm-8.30pm 

Location: The Civic Holmfirth, Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth HD9 3AS 

Tickets: £9 (£7 conc), free for essential carers accompanying a ticket holder 

Early Bird tickets have now ended.

Age guidance: 12+ (U16s should be accompanied by an adult) 

Access Guide: please contact the venue on 01484 682643 or visit: https://thecivicholmfirth.org/  

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

Why Are We So Fascinated by Ancient Egypt?

Enjoy a trip back in time to explore one of the most fascinating and influential periods of ancient history with Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price. 

In this captivating talk, he will explore the lives of the pyramid builders, the power of the Pharaohs, the complexities of the hieroglyphic writing system, the meanings behind the ritual of mummification and the functions of Egyptian art. He will also talk about the legacy of Tutankhamun and Cleopatra and how the colonial nature of archaeology shapes our understanding of ancient Egypt 

Dr Campbell Price received a BA, MA and PhD in Egyptology from the University of Liverpool, where now he is an Honorary Research Fellow. Since 2011, he has been Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum, part of the University of Manchester, one of the UK’s largest Egyptology collections.  

Campbell has undertaken fieldwork in Egypt at the sites of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham, Saqqara and at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. He has published widely on ancient Egyptian material culture and its interpretation. Recent books include Brief Histories: Ancient Egypt (Orion, 2024) and (with Stephanie Boonstra) Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries (Egypt Exploration Society 2025). Current research centres on understandings of the ancient Egyptian face in art history, museum encounters and popular culture. 

 Between 2021 and 2024, Campbell was Chair of Trustees for the Egypt Exploration Society, the UK’s biggest charity supporting and promoting Egyptian cultural heritage. He has lectured extensively throughout the UK, and internationally, and regularly comments and advises on Egyptological themes for TV and radio. 

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request. 

Date: Wednesday 14 May 

Time: 6.30pm-7.30pm 

Location: Diamond Jubilee Lecture Theatre, Charles Sikes Building, University of Huddersfield, 78 Firth Street, Huddersfield HD1 3BN 

Tickets: £7 (£6 conc), free for University of Huddersfield staff and students & essential carers.  

Early Bird tickets have now ended

Age guidance: 10+ 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/charles-sikes-building-diamond-jubilee-lecture-theatre  

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

For Directions and Parking please view: University of Huddersfield Campus Map 2022 and University of Huddersfield Public Parking Information Pack

Patrick Grant – Less

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Join Great British Sewing Bee judge Patrick Grant to find out how having fewer better things can make us happier.   

The average person today has nearly five times as many clothes as people did just 50 years ago. Last year 100 billion garments were produced worldwide, most made from oil, 30% of which were not even sold. The equivalent of one bin lorry full of clothing is dumped in landfill or burned every single second. 

In his latest book Less, he considers how we might make ourselves happier by rediscovering the joy of living with fewer, better quality things. Weaving in his personal journey through fashion, clothing and the other everyday objects in his life, this is a book that celebrates craftsmanship, making things with care, buying things with thought and valuing everything we own.   

About Patrick Grant
With a career in fashion spanning nearly two decades Patrick Grant has a lot to say about our clothing, who makes it and how it’s made. He is a regular on television and radio as a commentator on the clothing and textile industries and is best known as a judge on the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee.  

Patrick holds an honorary Doctorate from Heriot Watt University, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is in the Business of Fashion 500 index of the most influential people in global fashion. In 2016 he launched Community Clothing, a social enterprise which supports thousands of UK jobs through making and selling affordable high-quality clothing. 

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.  

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Date: Friday 16 May 

Time: 7pm-8pm 

Location: The Civic Holmfirth, Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth HD9 3AS 

Tickets: £20 (£17 conc), free for essential carers accompanying a ticket holder 

Early Bird tickets have now ended

Age guidance: 12+ (U16s should be accompanied by an adult) 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/huddersfield-literature-festival/access-guides/the-civic-holmfirth  

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

Stuart Maconie on The Beatles

THIS EVENT HAS SOLD OUT

Acclaimed author and broadcaster Stuart Maconie talks about his latest book: With a Little Help from their Friends. With a subtitle of The Beatles changed the world. But who changed theirs? – this is an engaging, surprising and revealing look at the Beatles story. 

Everyone knows a Beatles tune. But their story goes beyond the omnipresent songs and iconic albums. Theirs is a tale that has become one of the core stories we tell about ourselves as a nation. The Beatles narrative has both shaped and reflected the country we live in today. Four lads from Liverpool have taken a seat alongside Shakespeare as one of our key cultural exports to the world, a world they changed and re-made in their own image in a blaze of creativity. But these four distinct personalities changed the world not in isolation but with more than a little help from their friends. 

Like all the best stories there’s an incredible supporting cast, and all the most compelling elements of the great dramas: ambition, power, triumph, disaster, heartbreak, tragedy, drama, intrigue, lust… and of course, love. 

Split into 3 sections, Before The Beatles, With the Beatles and Beyond the Beatles, bestselling writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie tells the epic tale of the people who made the band who made Britain, and along the way adds his own experiences, encounters and conversations that show the Beatles like you’ve never seen them before. 

Stuart Maconie is the author of several critically acclaimed books, including: The Nanny State Made Me, Hope and Glory, Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North, The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and its People and a memoir Cider With Roadies. He is Britain’s best-selling non-TV-tie-in travel author and has written the official biographies of the bands Blur and James. Host of BBC6 Music’s Radcliffe and Maconie and The Freak Zone, he regularly deputises for other presenters on Radio 2 and 6 Music, as well as presenting long-running shows and documentaries for radio and TV. He writes for various papers and magazine and has a column in the Radio Times. 

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.  

Date: Saturday 17 May 

Time: 4pm-5pm 

Location: Cellar, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street, Huddersfield HD1 2SP 

Tickets: £12 (£10 conc), free for essential carers accompanying a ticket holder 

Early Bird tickets are now ended

For further information on concession and essential carer tickets please visit our FAQ’s page.

Age guidance: 14+ (U16s should be accompanied by an adult) 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/huddersfield-literature-festival/access-guides/the-cellar

THIS EVENT HAS SOLD OUT

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.

Linda Green – The Woman with All the Answers

Richard & Judy bestseller Linda Green talks about her brilliantly observed, witty and heart-warming new book club read The Woman with All the Answers.  

Alexa knows your family better than you do. Now you’re about to get to know her…  

Fifty-two-year-old Michelle Banks is struggling to keep all the plates spinning. She’s a perimenopausal district nurse, caring for elderly parents. Her husband is wasting their money on children’s TV memorabilia, her teenage daughter is riddled with anxiety and her 16-year-old son is behaving secretively. 

Alexa is the only one who knows how much Michelle is juggling. Listening in via four smart speakers, she also knows that it’s about to get even worse. So, when Michelle pleads for help from the woman with all the answers, Alexa decides to go rogue and reveal her true identity as Pauline – a 65-year-old former voiceover artist from Halifax – to teach Michelle everything she knows… 

Linda Green is the bestselling author of 11 previous novels, which have sold more than 1.4 million copies in the UK, with foreign rights sold in 15 territories. Her novel, One Moment, was a Radio 2 Book Club pick, and The Last Thing She Told Me was a Richard and Judy Book Club selection. Linda is also a creative writing tutor and an award-winning journalist who has written for The Guardian and The Big Issue, and has appeared on Newsnight, Radio 5 Live, Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour and BBC News.  She lives in West Yorkshire with her husband, teenage son and cat Hugo. 

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.

Date: Thursday 8 May 

Time: 7pm-8pm 

Location: Honley Library, West Ave, Honley HD9 6HF 

Tickets: £5 (£4 conc), Free for essential carers accompanying a paying ticket holder.

Early Bird Tickets sales have now ended.

For further information on concession and essential carer tickets please visit our FAQ’s page.

Age guidance: 12+ (U16s should be accompanied by an adult) 

For access information: contact the Library on: 01484 414 868 

Book tickets

Please note: When purchasing tickets please download the Eventbrite ‘app’ or ‘create an Eventbrite account’. This will facilitate quicker access to your tickets.