Literary Festival returns to Leicester

World-renowned authors will be heading to Leicester for one of the biggest and most diverse literary festivals in the East Midlands, taking place between 23rd – 26th March 2022.

Run by the University of Leicester, the annual Literary Leicester Festival brings together award-winning writers and best-selling novelists from different genres, backgrounds and styles and will feature a number of free to attend events at different locations across the city.

Leicester alumni and no.1 bestselling author, Adele Parks, will be opening this year’s event, which will also feature Booker-Prize winning novelist Howard Jakobson, 2021's Costa-prize winning novelist Monique Roffey and best-selling Children's author, Pippa Goodhart.

World-renowned travel writers, Colin Thubron and Monisha Rajesh will be discussing the future of travel writing after the pandemic and spoken-word poetry will be performed by Grace Nichols, and John Agard.

The Festival, which attracts more than five thousand visitors a year, will be re-launched as part of the University’s Centenary celebrations this year. To celebrate the milestone, there’ll be a series of talks looking at other literary centenaries in 2022. 

Professor Nishan Canagarajah, President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Leicester, said: “The University of Leicester is proud to be hosting the Literary Leicester Festival in our Centenary year. The festival is unique in the way that it brings together a really diverse range of voices. 

“It is truly a festival for everyone and it demonstrates how we embrace diversity in everything that we do as a University. We look forward to welcoming everyone to this wonderful event.”

Dr Harry Whitehead, Director of Literary Leicester, said: “I’m thrilled to see Literary Leicester 2022 return to live, in-person literary events. We’re hugely proud to continue our tradition of offering big-name authors and compelling topics of discussion, 100% free, in our wonderful, diverse city. 

“We’re also working with local schools, libraries and charities. We’re celebrating fifteen years of the Letterbox Club with a fantastic family event on Saturday 26th, and our Fringe showcases some of the University’s most exciting research. 

“By holding our headline events in the evenings and at weekends, and by remaining completely free, we draw a larger, more diverse audience than many other festivals. As well as devoted lit-fest attendees, we also hope to see those who’ve not considered coming along to a literature event before. We’re here for everyone.”

The University was formed by the communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland for the benefit of the local community, and events such as the Literary Leicester Festival demonstrate the University’s commitment to enriching the cultural vitality of the region. Each year, the University holds public lectures, music events, drama, theatre and concerts both on and off campus for local communities.