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, Claudia Rankine, Alice Oswald, and Seamus Heaney, dramatists David Edgar and Courttia Newland, novelists Graham Swift, Emma Donoghue, J. M. Coetzee, Jennifer Egan, and many others.
See below for more information about this year’s events, and an archive of past events.
2020/21 Programme
- Dream of Uncommon Ground: Poetry with Bhanu Kapil, Vahni Capildeo, and Penny Boxall, 2 December 2020
- Book Launch: Castles from Cobwebs - J. A. Mensah in conversation with Sara Hunt, 17 February 2021
- Just Us: A Conversation with Claudia Rankine, 11 March 2021
- Poetry in Action: An Evening with Will Harris, 18 March 2021
- Kit Fan and Ellen Wiles in conversation with Alice Nah, 20 May 2021
- She-Energy: Women as Creators, 7 June 2021
- Courttia Newland in conversation with Dr Clive Nwonka, 9 June 2021
- My Mess is a Bit of a Life, 10 June 2021
- Sharlene Teo in conversation with Alexandra Kingston-Reese, 17 June 2021
- Lines of Inquiry: New Approaches to Poetry, 30 July 2021
Past Events
2019/20
- This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, 17 October 2019
- Nemesis: Collaborative Poetry in Performance, 6 November 2019
- Emilie Pine: Notes to Self, 21 November 2019
- Hirsh Sawhney in Conversation with Claire Chambers, 15 January 2020
- Lunch Poems: LGBT+ History Month Reading, 19 February 2020
- Performance Storytelling, 24 February 2020
- Alan Gillis Poetry Reading, 27 February 2020
- 'Still I Rise': International Women's Poetry, 6 March 2020
- Roundtable: Working with Authors, 7 May 2020
- Openings: Inaugural Event for New Writer-in-Residence, Vahni Capildeo, 22 May 2020
- Words and Swords: Mary Jean Chan and Vahni Capildeo, 7 June 2020
2018/19
- Ingrid Horrocks, Reading and In Conversation, 1 October 2018
- Poetry Book Society Autumn Launch, 11 October 2018
- Theodora Danek: Literature knows no frontiers, 18 October 2018
- Leontia Flynn Poetry Reading, 15 November 2018
- Amit Chaudhuri: The Origins of Dislike, 21 November 2018
- Sam Thompson: Reading and Interview, 25 January 2019
- Alia Trabucco Zerán, Sophie Hughes and Stefan Tobler: And Other Stories in Conversation, 7 February 2019
- Writing the Future, the Present, and the Past, 7 May 2019
- Sam Reese: Reading and Interview, 9 May 2019
- Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin: Poetry Reading and In Conversation, 13 May 2019
- Michael Donkor: Reading and Interview, 19 June 2019
- A Contemporary Robinsonade, 11 July 2019
2017/18
- Fiona Mozley, reading from Elmet, 11 October 2017
- Michael Longley: Poetry Reading, 12 October 2017
- Henri Cole: Poetry Reading, 23 October 2017
- The Insider Conversation: Literary Agent and Poet Isobel Dixon, 1 November 2017
- Jennifer Egan: Reading and Interview, 16 November 2017
- The Poetics of Faith: Exploring Belief in Modern Contemporary Poetry, 12-14 January 2018
- Clare Pollard: Poetry in Translation, 8 February 2018
- Two Poets: Christopher DeWeese and Valzhyna Mort, 21 February 2018
- Eleanor Catton: Reading and in Conversation, 28 February 2018
- Carcanet Poets: Phoebe Poewer and Oli Hazzard, 22 March 2018
- Poetry Reading: Vahni Capildeo and Alex Houen, 18 April 2018
- Daisy Johnson: Reading, 15 May 2018
- Stephanie Burt: Poetry Reading, 17 May 2018
2016/17
- Adam Crothers and Eborakon launch, 23 January 2017
- Gerald Dawe, 'In the wars: Irish Writing, 1914-1945', 1 February 2017
- Karl O'Hanlon and Phoebe Power: Poetry Reading, 27 February 2017
- Tabish Khair: 'The Significance of Stories in the Post-Truth Era', 9 March 2017
- Denise Riley Poetry Reading, 16 March 2017
- Poetry Reading: Ruby Robinson, Nuar Alsadir, Jodie Hollander, 11 May 2017
2015/16
- Reading and In Conversation: Olive Senior, 12 October 2015
- Reading and In Conversation: Shadab Zeest Hashmi, 29 October 2015
- Catriona O'Reilly Poetry Reading, 10 November 2015
- John Burnside Poetry Reading, 18 November 2015
- David Edgar in conversation: 'Adapting the Nineteenth Century Novel, from Nicholas Nickleby to Jekyll and Hyde', 27 January 2016
- David Edgar: 'Is the Playwright Dead?', 27 January 2016
- Tabish Khair: 'Is Literature Dead?, Critical Hauntings after the Death of the Author', 27 April 2016
- Readings by Chloe Stopa-Hunt and Edwina Attlee, 5 May 2016
- Graham Swift: Reading and In Conversation, 13 May 2016
- Mairi MacInnes Reading, 8 June 2016
- A. L. Kennedy Reading, 29 June 2016
- Alice Oswald Reads Her Poetry, 1 July 2016
2014/15
- Miss Lou, Jamaican Culture & Mervyn Morris, 23 October 2014
- Michael Longley: Poetry Reading, 5 February 2015
- Spencer Reece: Poetry Reading, 8 May 2015
- Neel Mukherjee: Reading and In Conversation, 14 May 2015
2013/14
- Amit Chaudhuri,: Reading and In Conversation on Words and Music, 23 October 2013
- Maureen McLane: Poetry Reading, 6 March 2014
- Tabish Khair: Islamisation and Fiction: A Narrative, 7 March 2014
- Reza Aslan, on The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, 26 March 2014
- Lavinia Greenlaw: A Double Sorrow, 23 April 2014
- Paul Mills, Mike Barlow and Jane Routh: Poetry Reading, 29 April 2014
- Alice Goodman and Michael Symmons Roberts in Conversation: Poetry, Music, and the Sacred, 30 April 2014
- On and off the page: Words, Music and Voice in Yeats and Stein, 3 May 2014
- Adil Ray: In Conversation, 15 May 2014
- World Music, World Literature, 17 May 2014
- Playing with Words: Music in Beckett and Joyce, 3 June 2014
- Daniel Mulhall: James Joyce: Ulysses, Order and Chaos, 16 June 2014
- Patrick French in Conversation: Writing the Living Writing the Dead, 19 June 2014
2012/13
- Ciaran Carson, 8 November 2012
- Justin Quinn, 5 December 2012
- Peter Robinson and Mairi MacInnes, 7 February 2013
- John Wilkinson, 23 April 2013
- Bernard O'Donoghue, 16 May 2013
- Seamus Heaney, 26 June 2013
- Ciaran Carson and Owenvarragh, 27 June 2013
2006 to 2012
- J. M. Coetzee, 6 June 2006
- Paul Muldoon, 31 October 2006
- Graham Swift, 27 October 2007
- Geoffrey Hill, 21 November 2007
- Carol Ann Duffy, 29 February 2008
- Lavinia Greenlaw, 5 March 2008
- Saskia Hamilton, 16 June 2009
- Simon Armitage, 28 January 2010
- Adam Foulds, 17 May 2010
- Don Paterson, 29 June 2010
- Christian Bok, 19 May 2011
- Sir Andrew Motion, 8 June 2011
- John Banville, 23 June 2011
- J. M. Coetzee, 24 June 2011
- Alice Oswald, 13 March 2012
- Jennifer Johnston, 29 June 2012
