Queen of aga saga - Joanne Trollope - tops guest list at book fortnight

York Literature Festival has unveiled its programme with headliners including Joanne Trollope, Kate Mosse and Alan Johnson.
Joanne TrollopeJoanne Trollope
Joanne Trollope

Now in its 12th year, the event starts on Friday March 15 for two weeks of literary related events - well known authors, poetry and performance, history and politics, a speculative fiction day as well as a Children’s Day on Saturday March 23.

The festival will take place in a range of interesting city centre venues. There are events during the day as well as in the evening, so the programme is designed to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

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Dystopian futures will be discussed on Saturday March 16 with a series of talks on speculative fiction, while March 22 to March 24 sees a Big History Weekend, including well-known historian and broadcaster Kate Williams on Saturday March 23 talking about the Rival Queens, Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I.

There will be former politicians and raconteurs Alan Johnson, Saturday March 23, and Chris Mullin, Thursday March 28, and best-selling crime writer, Mark Billingham will close the Festival on Saturday March 30.

"We are incredibly proud of how wide ranging this year’s festival will be", said festival director Susanna Cooper, "we have tried to pull together a programme that will appeal to all types of readers and interest groups.

"So we have well-known names such as Joanna Trollope and Kate Mosse through to a big History Weekend. Poetry and performance, writing and publishing, storytelling, walking tours, panels and debates, children orientated events and politics are all in the programme."

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Programme highlights include poet Liz Lochhead, Saturday March 16, Joanna Trollope, Sunday March 17, Diane Setterfield, Thursday March 21, Kate Mosse, Friday March 22, Kate Williams, Alan Johnson, Saturday March 23, Tessa Dunlop, Sunday March 24, Chris Mullin, Thursday March 28.

Tickets can be booked through the festival website www.yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk , or through the York Theatre Royal box office, 01904 623568. Tickets are limited in some venues.

"This is our best Festival yet’, said Nick David, Chair of the York Literature Festival, ‘and we hope to attract even more people in 2019.

"We have tried to deliver a wider range of topics and types of authors and are pleased that so many high profile authors will be coming to the York Literature Festival this year."