Welcome to the Leeds Big Bookend 2014!

Latest News: Headliner Announced

Alan Bennett by Antony Crolla

The Big Bookend is delighted to announce that our head line author for 2014 is the brilliant Alan Bennett, presented by the West Yorkshire Playhouse as part of their Alan Bennett Season. Join us in the Quarry theatre for An Audience with Alan Bennett, an afternoon in the company of one of the UK’s most highly regarded playwrights.

From humble origins as the son of a Co-Op butcher in Armley, Bennett has become one of the UK’s most distinctive and compelling voices - with an undeniable Leeds accent. He’ll be sharing his work and taking questions from the audience in this rare opportunity to meet Leeds’ most famous living author.

We are back for our third year of festival fun with three programmes which hopefully will have something for everybody. The details of which will follow soon but just to pique your interest…

In our main programme we have writers, poets, musicians and performers. There are panel events covering crime fiction, sport and media, propaganda and war and the Great War. Eddie Waring, jazz, food and drink, art, Alzheimer’s, protests and radical Chapeltown all sit side by side.

There will be a big focus on our local communities in the Leeds Story Cycle which will express the voice of Leeds, captured at the historic moment of the Grand Depart of the Tour de France. Seven stories will be created by six diverse community groups, each telling the tale of a different character’s journey to see the race begin.

For children, we have a fun filled and action packed programme featuring authors, poets and performers and a very large yurt for storytelling!

We have two competitions: a pirate themed writing competition for ages 5-11; and a review writing competition for young people aged 11 to 18.

Our programme for young people will launch with a big party at Waterstones on Friday 6th June, 6.30pm with with live music from Lucy and Jo, and award winning author Martyn Bedford.

Amy Keen and Sufiya Ahmed will be at Waterstones on Saturday evening.

Keep up to date with us on Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to meeting you in June!