Literary Leicester is the University’s annual free literary festival, open to all. Brought to you by the School of Arts and the Centre for New Writing, the festival hosts events at the university and right across the city, in cinemas, theatres, community halls, schools and more. Since 2008, up to 5,000 attendees a year join us to participate in events with Booker-Prize winners, celebrated cultural commentators, novelists, poets, historians, biographers and much more. We discuss important, fun and fascinating contemporary topics across a wide range of subjects. In our multicultural city, our ongoing themes include inclusivity, diversity and accessibility. We are a festival for everyone.
We are delighted to announce that Literary Leicester is back for 2023. Still 100% free and open to all, the festival runs from 22 March 2023 to 25 March 2023 with a wide range of events throughout each day and evening, both on campus and across Leicester. Look out also for extra events running either side of the festival and on into May.
This year we have guest speakers including Slow Horses author Mick Herron, renowned journalist Samira Ahmed, Leicestershire born-and-bred author and brilliantly funny Nina Stibbe, novelist and memoirist Kit de Waal talks page to screen (with a guest video appearance from the one and only Lenny Henry), TS Eliot Prize-winning poet Joelle Taylor, celebrity chefs Felicity Cloake and (Leicester-born) Gurdeep Loyal, and many more. We’ll be talking about subjects ranging from Writing the Climate Emergency to Soviet dissident authors, 10 Meals That Changed the World to Samuel Pepys’s Cheese… There’ll also be children’s events and much more.
Free tickets for all events are available now via our Eventbrite listings.
In addition to our annual festival, we also host a variety of events throughout the year. Visit our events page to find out more.