Caroline Lucas and ‘The Rest is History’ Podcast headline 2025 Literary Leicester festival
Literary Leicester, the University of Leicester’s annual free literature festival, will return next month.
The festival will take place between Wednesday 19 March and Saturday 22 March at the University of Leicester campus and throughout the city.
Established in 2008, Literary Leicester attracts up to 5000 attendees each year as well as Booker-Prize winners, celebrated cultural commentators, novelists, poets, historians, biographers and much more.
This year’s festival will include talks from former Green Party leader and MP, Caroline Lucas, and University of Leicester’s Jean Humphreys Writer in Residence, Kit de Waal celebrating the launch of her new novel, The Best of Everything.
A live episode of the world’s most popular history podcast ‘The Rest is History’ will be recorded in front of an audience in the University of Leicester’s Sir Bob Burgess Building.
The complete programme for this year’s festival is below:
Diaspora: Caribbean-Leicester conversations and performances with John Agard and fabian m thomas – Attenborough Arts Centre, Wednesday 19 March, 1pm
From Head and Heart to Page the Stage with fabian m thomas – Attenborough Arts Centre, Wednesday 19 March, 2:30pm
Creative Writing Student Showcase – Attenborough Arts Centre, Wednesday 20 March, 4:30pm
Another England: Caroline Lucas in Conversation with Corinne Fowler – Sir Bob Burgess Building, Wednesday 20 March, 6:30pm
Kit de Waal: The Best of Everything – Sir Bob Burgess Building, Wednesday 20 March, 8pm
On Bullying, School and Power – Attenborough Arts Centre, Thursday 21 March, 12.30pm
“Where Are You From? No, Where Are You Really From?” with Audrey Osler – Attenborough Arts Centre, Thursday 21 March, 2pm
Jane Austen at 250: The Great Balloon Debate – Attenborough Arts Centre, Thursday 21 March, 3:30pm
Voices from The Other Side of Hope: Writing as Activism – Attenborough Arts Centre, Thursday 21 March, 5pm
An Idiom Abroad with Adam Sharp – Sir Bob Burgess Building, Thursday 21 March, 6:30pm
Paul Muldoon: An Alphabet of Image and History – Sir Bob Burgess Building, Thursday 21 March, 8pm
“The Beginners Mind”: A Wellbeing Writing Workshop – Leicester Central Library, Friday 21 March, 12:30pm
First Story Showcase – Attenborough Art Centre, Friday 21 March, 1:30pm
The Air We Breathe: How to Talk About Our Air and Our Future – Attenborough Arts Centre, Friday 21 March, 3pm
LIAS presents: 10 Days that Changed the World – Attenborough Arts Centre, Friday 21 March, 4:30pm
‘The Rest is History’ Podcast: Live in Leicester! – Sir Bob Burgess Building, Friday 21 March, 6:30pm
Dragon Stories for Kids Aged 8 to 12 – Beaumont Hall, Saturday 22 March, 10am
“My Friend Monica”: Remembering Philip Larkin’s Partner Monica Jones – Ken Edwards Lecture Theatre 2, Saturday 22 March, 4pm
Event times and dates could change. Click here for up-to-date information.
Dr Harry Whitehead, Festival Director for Literary Leicester said: “Since we began in 2008, Literary Leicester has become a highlight of the city’s annual cultural scene. As well as our main festival, we now run free events throughout the year that hundreds of people attend.
“The festival this year is particularly exciting, with the world’s most popular history podcast, The Rest is History, coming to Leicester for a live show. Caroline Lucas discussing how we can diversify English national identity to feel more inclusive is also a wonderful event for Leicester, the country’s first white minority city.
“Celebrated British-Caribbean spoken word artist, John Agard, is in town. The poet Paul Muldoon has been called ‘the most significant English-language poet born since the Second World War’ (TLS) and it’s amazing to welcome him on a very rare visit to the UK.
“So many highlights – kid’s events, the environment, diaspora and immigration, Jane Austen at 250 (we’ll be chucking some of her heroines out of a balloon) and much more. We really hope you enjoy everything. And we’re proud to remain 100% free to all attendees.”