Strictly judge among literature festival stars

Strictly's head judge Shirley Ballas will head to Ilkley in October to take part in the literature festival

Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas, author Katie Atkinson and comedian Julian Clary are among some of the big names confirmed for this year's Ilkley Literature Festival.

The annual event is due to take place over 17 days in October, with events being held at venues across the West Yorkshire town.

The line-up for the festival, which gets under way on 4 October, would also include poets, chefs, historians, politicians, children's authors and the odd "national treasure", organisers said.

A spokesperson added that the festival would be an "epic celebration of books, reading and writing".

Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth will also be taking part in the 2024, organisers have confirmed

Ms Ballas, head judge on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, would be debuting her new murder mystery novel, Dance to the Death, at the festival, according to organisers.

Meanwhile, Booker Prize-winning novelist Alan Hollinghurst would be in town to celebrate the release of his first book in more than a decade, called Our Evenings.

Yorkshire author Katie Atkinson MBE, best known for her detective novels, would also join in the celebrations in Ilkley, discussing her new Jackson Brodie book at the festival.

Among 90 events, best-selling US author Jodo Picoult also planned to launch her latest novel, By Any Other Name, while Prue Leith would be showing off her new cookbook and Countdown's Gyles Brandreth would delve into the "happiness and joys" of the English language, organisers added.

Kate Atkinson will be discussing her latest detective novel

Ilkley Literature Festival director Erica Morris said: “We’re excited to welcome big names and big ideas.

"From exploring the secrets of happiness, to who owns the moon, to our turbulent state of politics here and across the pond, there’s plenty to entertain, engage and inspire.”

The 2024 festival would explore a series of themes, Ms Morris said.

Among those would be In Verse, which aimed to recognise the festival’s 50-year legacy of promoting poetry, with the very first festival opened by poet W.H. Auden in 1973.

Meanwhile, the theme of Democracies in Danger would be a nod to the 2024 election and would feature talks from journalists, politicians and experts on the state of politics and democracy.

The festival will feature more than 90 events in venue throughout Ilkley

Organisers revealed that climate and horticultural icons were also expected to star in an event called Explore Moor: Nurturing Nature, including Countryfile’s Tom Heap and Carol Klein from the BBC show Gardeners' World.

Several authors would also explore the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence on human creativity in a series of events themed around ethics and technology.

The 2024 Ilkley Literature Festival will run between 4 and 20 October.

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