With York Literature Festival 2026 just around the corner, we caught up with English teacher and festival trustee Julia Edgar for a chat about the city’s literary heritage, what to expect this year, and the next chapter for bookworm-friendly festivals…
Hello, Julia! Thanks for speaking with us. How long have you been associated with York Literature Festival, and how did you first get involved?
I have been attending the festival as an audience member for at least a decade, so when a place became available on the board 18 months ago, I was really excited to join. I am a volunteer, but have had some amazing opportunities to invite authors to appear and interview them.
York has a rich literary history and was previously a hub for printing, publishing and bookbinding. What do you think modern-day York has to offer for writers and bookworms?
When people think of literary cities, they might think of Hay or Wigton first, but I think that York is absolutely a leading city of literature. We have such a wide range of booksellers: antiquarians, high street majors, indies, specialist booksellers and charity book shops, and we are shortly to get the largest independent book shop in the UK – and when you go into these shops, they are busy!
On top of that, we have a lively writer community with writing groups. York St John University offers courses in creative writing and publishing. We also have a resurgent poetry and spoken word scene here. Then, there’s the city itself: who can’t be inspired by the physical beauty of York, its history – it is such a special place and we have so many authors that have chosen to write about York, such as Susanna Clarke and Kate Atkinson.
If you could invite any writer, living or dead, to participate in York Literature Festival, who would it be, and why?
I was originally going to say Shakespeare because I am an English teacher, and of course, he’s the first writer that springs to mind, but actually, I think I would choose C.S. Lewis. Without him, I wouldn’t have become a bookworm as a small child. I would like to say thank you for Narnia and Aslan.
Do you have any personal literary heroes, and what is it about these figures you find so appealing?
I am a huge Margaret Atwood fan. She is so clear-sighted, and sometimes it feels like she can see into the future. The Handmaid’s Tale just seems to become more true every year.
Over the years, has the festival had to adapt to emerging trends, and how do you think literary festivals like yours will evolve in the future, especially in the context of digital and social media?
One of the things we have observed is the rise of BookTok – young people using social media to share physical books. The huge success of Jacqueline Harpman’s I Who Have Never Known Men is an example. It was published back in 1995, but became huge on BookTok in the past year. However, I think that what literature festivals offer most powerfully is an analogue experience: several hundred people gathering in a room to have an author they admire read their work, discuss their work, take questions from the audience, and then sign their copy. It’s amazing to get to meet an author you admire, and watching them online is just not the same!
In recent years, we’ve seen a sharp decline in daily reading rates, with fewer children and adults reading for pleasure. In your opinion, what can be done to counteract this, and what are the key advantages of getting stuck into a good book?
My day job is as an English teacher, and I can see that reading is key to everything for young people: academic success and personal well-being. The most important thing is for children to be read to as much as they can be: bedtime stories in particular. Living in a book-rich environment, going to the library and normalising books as birthday and Christmas presents are also key. Children seeing the grown-ups in their lives reading is also so important. This year is the National Year of Reading, to try to promote reading for pleasure, and they have a great motto: ‘Go All In’ – find the genre, writer or book that you love, and go all in! Reading has so many benefits: children who read soar through GCSE qualifications, but it’s so much more important than that. Fiction develops empathy and allows you to visit every land, every time and every world that you can possibly imagine, all whilst sat comfortably in your armchair.
Yorkies will be treated to a jam-packed events programme this year. What can visitors expect from the festival, and are there any events or visiting writers you’re particularly excited about?
We are so excited about the whole programme, but there are some particular highlights I have to mention. I can’t wait to see Susanna Clarke, as Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is one of the greatest books ever written. For the third year running, we have a special folk horror event – this time expanded out to a whole weekend. It involves a really enriching programme of academic talks, author events with leading writers such as Ramsey Campbell, Andrew Michael Hurley, Lucie McKnight Hardy and Lucy Rose, plus reading groups and writing workshops. For the crime fans, we have Elly Griffiths and Jasper Fforde alongside some other great new authors. But for me, there are two main standout events: Rónán Hession, who wrote Leonard and Hungry Paul, a novel so life-affirming that Julia Roberts tracked down the publisher to say thanks, and ended up narrating the TV programme last autumn, and Mark Webber of Pulp. I am so excited that a member of a Mercury Music Award-winning band is coming to the Crescent to talk about his music memoir, I’m with Pulp, Are You?.
Visit www.yourlocallink.co.uk/york-literature-festival-2026-full-events-programme to browse the full programme. Visit www.yorkliteraturefestival.co.uk to find further details, get in touch with the team, or book tickets. We’ll see you at the festival!
Add a comment