MK Lit Fest returns this April

MK Lit Fest returns from 3-6 April 2024 with an exciting Spring Festival celebrating everything bookish or wordy in Milton Keynes. Book tickets at www.mklitfest.org for a wealth of writer events, writing workshops and fabulous children’s sessions. and join us in MK Central Library and Waterstones Midsummer Place to meet renowned authors, discover new favourites, get books signed – or develop your own writing skills.

We examine the key issues of our time, with Polly Toynbee exploring the true state of class in Britain through the prism of her extraordinary family, in conversation with writer Nell Frizzell. Russell Jones is back by popular demand to talk to Rob Gifford about his second book, Four Chancellors and a Funeral, and the political rollercoaster years of 2021-22, while Green Party peer Natalie Bennett talks to Adrian Spurrell about her mission to show how, when change is inevitable, we can Change Everything.

Fiction fans and literary types alike will enjoy multiple-award-winning author Francis Spufford in conversation about his extraordinary new novel, Cahokia Jazz, while graphic novelist – and MK resident – Paul Rainey talks to Caz Tricks about his acclaimed Why Don’t You Love Me?, and the rise of this literary form. We explore fiction and form yet further in an Open University-sponsored panel with Edward Hogan, Catherine Menon, Irenosen Okojie and Natalie Wood discussing with Emma Claire Sweeney the joys and challenges of choosing – for writers and readers – between novels, novellas, short stories or flash fiction. Non-fiction isn’t forgotten either: celebrated criminologist Professor David Wilson brings his unparalleled knowledge of murder and human nature to examine Murder at Home, making sense of the senseless.

And we bring you fresh writing from the city. Ghusoun Rahhal and Caroline Davies present new work inspired by the ‘Connecting Threads’ exhibition, a Community Foundation-funded collaboration between Westbury Fabric and Fibre Group and the Middle Eastern Culture Group. MK’s cultural godfather, Roy Nevitt, also joins us to announce the winners of our MinK2024 Creative Writing Competition, invite them to read their work, and launch Tales from the City, our fourth anthology of the best local writing.

For writers looking to develop their skills, we explore both fiction and non-fiction, with Julia Bell leading a workshop on giving shape and structure to writing memoir, and Leigh Russell on creative writing and the crucial art of plotting.

Our Children’s Lit Fest this spring features interactive events for all ages, with author Kelechi Okafor and award-winning illustrator Michaela Dias-Hayes’ Strong Like Me encouraging our youngest audience to find their own power; Alex Falase-Koya bringing Marv, the world’s kindest superhero, to life; and J.J Arcanjo introducing us to Crookhaven – the adventurous school for altruistic thieves….

MK Lit Fest: there’s a title for everyone, and they’re all page-turners! Tickets and full programme details: www.mklitfest.org