Celebrate HuddLitFest's 20th Birthday
As HuddLitFest celebrates its 20th anniversary, Living North find out why this award-winning festival is bound to last
Festival director Michelle Hodgson has a background in book publishing. ‘When I moved to Huddersfield and the opportunity came up to run the festival, it was a no brainer for me – it was something I really wanted to do,’ she says. ‘I actually went to volunteer in 2012 to find out it’d stopped running that year, so I offered the opportunity to relaunch it. I did a long weekend in March 2013 calling on all my old publishing contacts and we had a great lineup – Jodi Picoult, Kate Atkinson and Joanne Harris who's local. I could tell there was still an appetite for the festival, so I got it properly established as a not-for-profit company and brought more people on board. We've built it up since then to where we are today.’
Michelle’s focus is on accessibility, and ensuring the festival is representative of the local community. ‘We found out, through doing surveys, that about 75 percent of our audience do come from HD postcodes, and really appreciate having something on their doorstep,’ she says. ‘It’s nice being able to have really big names coming here, but also to have accessible events and to have events which promote local talent. We have a lot of local authors and poets who get involved with the festival each year, and we give people opportunities through open mic nights as well. We try and continue that with training and access guides, subtitled events, but also by working with a lot of community organisations so that we make sure that our events and our programme reflect the local community.’
Michelle knows locals are passionate about the world of literature. ‘There is obviously a whole heritage in Yorkshire of writers and poets from centuries ago, never mind decades, and today I would say that there is a host of really talented writers and poets working and living in Yorkshire, so there's lots to draw on. I lived in London for 20 years and I think it's easy to presume that all the culture is in London, but if you go out to any of the regions in the UK, there are lots of festivals doing similar things to us, and the local population do want to go to events and and listen to poetry and get involved in writing workshops or hear from their favourite authors.’
As a not-for-profit company, grants, ticket sales and sponsorship are key to keeping the festival going. ‘One thing people perhaps don't realise is that in any given year the festival might not be able to run if we don’t get the funding, so we have to keep progressing, doing new things, being creative and trying to keep the festival going that way,’ explains Michelle.
For its 20th anniversary, HuddLitFest is welcoming back patron Lemn Sissay and Huddersfield’s poet laureate Simon Armitage. ‘They're kind of bookending festival with their events,’ Michelle says. ‘We’ve got some other big names like crime writer Val McDermid and Ardal O’Hanlon – he’s a best selling novelist as well as a stand-up comedian and actor. We’re also running a lot of the regular features that we try and do every year, for example our poetry slam’s always really popular. We were the first festival [north of Watford] to programme Polari, an LGBTQ + event which now tours all over the UK. They've been back every single year since 2014 with a great lineup. Of course family events are really important for us, so we've got Spider-Man and we're running special Winnie the Pooh storytelling sessions. In fact, it's 100 years since the first Winnie the Pooh book came out.’
This year also sees the launch of National Year of Reading 2026 – a UK-wide campaign designed to inspire more people to read. ‘We’ve launched a pilot project for Reading Warriors in a local school, Crow Lane Primary, which is encouraging children to read and the children themselves are getting involved in helping to design the project,’ adds Michelle. ‘We’re going to be applying for a different pot of funds to try and expand that across Kirklees. We've already started doing more outside Huddersfield in other parts of Kirklees. It's not always easy because we're a relatively small team and we're all based here but, in particular, our schools programme is now active in schools across Kirklees, not just in Huddersfield. That's an area we'd like to keep expanding.’
Huddersfield is also welcoming the regeneration project Our Cultural Heart, including a new community library hub. ‘We’ll be doing some things in the autumn in the library and there's also some funding coming up to help cultural organisations run events,’ Michelle says. ‘It’s a case of keeping going with what we do well.’
The Gruffalo
5TH–7TH MAY
Lawrence Batley Theatre
Tall Stories’ musical adaptation of the picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, celebrating the show’s 25th anniversary.
HuddLitFest 20th Birthday Party
8TH MAY
Amped
A free party to celebrate 20 years of the festival (with cake).
Meet Elmer & Storytelling with Spider-Man
9TH MAY
Amped
A chance for kids to meet Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and Spider-Man.
Emily Brontë Reappraised
9TH MAY
Lawrence Batley Theatre
Rediscovering Emily Brontë for our times – one for the Wuthering Heights fans.
Illustrating Children’s Books with Chris Mould
10TH MAY
Amped
A draw-along session with Bradfordian award-winning children’s author and illustrator, Chris Mould.
