Writers at York

Writers at York is a lively programme of readings and workshops, which bring to York the exciting new voices and some of the most important contemporary writers. Events in recent years have featured poets Denise Riley, Alice Oswald, and Seamus Heaney, playwright David Edgar, novelists Graham Swift, Emma Donoghue, J. M. Coetzee, Booker-shortlisted novelist Fiona Mozley, and many others.

See below for more information about this year’s events, and an archive of past events.

2019/20 Programme

Words & Swords: Mary Jean Chan and Vahni Capildeo: 7 June 2020 (Festival of Ideas, Online)
Openings: Inaugural Event for New Writer-in-Residence, Vahni Capildeo, 22 May 2020 (Online)
Roundtable: Working with Authors: 7 May 2020 (Online)
'Still I Rise': International Women's Poetry: 6 March 2020 (Treehouse, HRC)
Alan Gillis Poetry Reading: 27 February 2020 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Performance Storytelling: 24 February 2020 (Treehouse, HRC)
Lunch Poems: LGBT+ History Month Reading: 19 February 2020 (Leavis Room)
Hirsh Sawhney in Conversation with Claire Chambers: 15 January 2020 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, 17 October 2019 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Nemesis: Collaborative Poetry in Performance, 6 November 2019 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Emilie Pine: Notes to Self, 21 November 2019 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
A Conversation Between Hirsh Sawhney and Claire Chambers, 15 January 2020 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)

Past Events

2018/19

Ingrid Horrocks, Reading and In Conversation, 1 October 2018 (Treehouse, HRC)
Poetry Book Society Autumn Launch, 11 October 2018 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Theodora Danek: 'Literature knows no frontiers', 18 October 2018 (Treehouse, HRC)
Leontia Flynn Poetry Reading, 15 November 2018 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Amit Chaudhuri: 'The Origins of Dislike', 21 November 2018 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Sam Thompson: Reading and Interview, 25 January 2019 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Alia Trabucco Zerán, Sophie Hughes and Stefan Tobler, 7 February 2019 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Writing the Future, the Present, and the Past, 7 May 2019 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Sam Reese: Reading and Interview, 9 May 2019 (York Medical Society, York)
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin: Poetry Reading and In Conversation, 13 May 2019 (Treehouse, HRC)
Michael Donkor: Reading and Interview, 19 June 2019 (Treehouse, HRC)
A Contemporary Robinsonade, 11 July 2019 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)

2017/18

Fiona Mozley reading from 'Elmet', 11 October 2017 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Michael Longley: A Poetry Reading, 12 October 2017 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Henri Cole Poetry Reading, 23 October 2017 (Leavis Room, Derwent)
The Insider Conversation: Literary Agent and Poet Isobel Dixon, 1 November 2017 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Jennifer Egan: A Reading and Interview, 16 November 2017 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
The Poetics of Faith conference, 12-14 January 2018 (HRC)
Clare Pollard: Poetry in Translation, 8 February 2018 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Two Poets: Christopher DeWeese and Valzhyna Mort, 21 February 2018 (Treehouse, HRC)
Eleanor Catton: Reading and in Conversation, 28 February 2018 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Carcanet Poets: Phoebe Poewer and Oli Hazzard, 22 March 2018 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Poetry Reading: Vahni Capildeo and Alex Houen, 18 April 2018 (Treehouse, HRC)
Daisy Johnson reading, 15 May 2018 (Treehouse, HRC)
Stephanie Burt: Poetry Reading, 17 May 2018 (VN/045, Vanbrugh)

2016/17

Poetry Reading: Ruby Robinson, Nuar Alsadir, Jodie Hollander, 11th May 2017 (York Explore Library)
Denise Riley Poetry Reading, 16th March 2017 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Tabish Khair: 'The Significance of Stories in the Post-Truth Era', 9th March 2017 (BS/007, HRC)
Karl O'Hanlon and Phoebe Power: Poetry Reading (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Gerald Dawe, 'In the wars: Irish Writing, 1914-1945', 1st February 2017 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Adam Crothers and Eborakon launch, 23 January 2017 (Treehouse, HRC)

2015/16

Alice Oswald Reads Her Poetry, 1st July 2016 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
A. L. Kennedy Reading, 29th June 2016 (York Explore Library and Archives)
Mairi MacInnes Reading, 8th June 2016 (Treehouse, HRC)
Graham Swift Reading, 13th May 2016 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Chloe Stopa-Hunt and Edwina Attlee, 5th May 2016 (Treehouse, HRC)
Talk by Tabish Khair, 27th April 2016 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
David Edgar: 'Is the Playwright Dead?', 27th January 2016 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
David Edgar in conversation with John Bowen, 27th January 2016 (Treehouse, HRC)
J ohn Burnside Poetry Reading, 18th November 2015 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Catriona O'Reilly Poetry Reading, 10th November 2015 (Treehouse, HRC)
Reading and In Conversation: Shadab Zeest Hashmi, 29th October 2015 (King's Manor, York)
Reading and In Conversation: Olive Senior, 12th October 2015 (Treehouse, HRC)

2014/15

The Book of Gaza: Life and literature on the Strip, 9th June 2015 (D/L/002, Derwent)
Neel Mukherjee, 14th May 2015 (York Medical Society)
Spencer Reece, 8th May 2015 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Michael Longley, 5th February 2015 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Miss Lou, Jamaican Culture & Mervyn Morris, 23rd October 2014 (Treehouse, HRC)

2013/14

Patrick French, 19th June 2014 (Treehouse, HRC)
Daniel Mulhall, 16th June 2014 (Bowland Auditorium, HRC)
Playing with Words: Music in Beckett and Joyce, 3rd June 2014 (NCEM, York)
World Music, World Literature, 17th May 2014 (Department of Music)
Adil Ray, 15th May 2014 (Department of Theatre, Film and Television)
On and off the page: Words, Music and Voice in Yeats and Stein, 3rd May (Department of Music)
Alice Goodman and Michael Symmons Roberts, 30th April 2014 (York Minster)
Paul Mills, Mike Barlow and Jane Routh, 29th April 2014 (York Explore Library)
Lavinia Greenlaw, 23rd April 2014 (King's Manor)
Reza Aslan, 26th March 2014 (York Medical Society)
Tabish Khair, 7th March 2014 (York Medical Society)
Maureen McLane, 6th March 2014 (Treehouse, HRC)
Amit Chaudhuri, 23rd October 2013 (Treehouse, HRC)