Poet Simon Armitage to appear at Rochdale Literature Festival

Simon Armitage

Internationally acclaimed poet, playwright and novelist Simon Armitage CBE has been added to the line up for the first Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival this autumn.

The BAFTA award winner will be reading extracts from his book ‘Walking Home’ describing the trip he took along the famous Pennine Way. He’ll also be reading some of his well known poetry and talking about his writing for radio, film, television and the stage.

Simon has made literary, history and travel programmes for Radio 4 as well as presenting a number of television documentaries. In 2011 he became Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield.

His poetry collections include Book of Matches (1993) and The Dead Sea Poems (1995). He has written two novels, Little Green Man (2001) and The White Stuff (2004), as well as All Points North (1998), a collection of essays on the north of England. Many of his poems appear in the AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) GCSE syllabus for English Literature in the United Kingdom. His writing is characterised by a dry Yorkshire wit combined with "an accessible, realist style and critical seriousness.

A prolific award winner, Simon has also been awarded an Ivor Novello Award for song-writing, the prestigious Keats-Shelley Prize for Poetry, and the CBE for services to poetry.

Simon said he is very much looking forward to coming back to Rochdale: "I wrote many of my early poems while working there as a probation officer in the late nineteen eighties and also made a poetry-film about the Ashfield Valley estate called Xanadu. It will be interesting to renew the acquaintance, see who has changed the most."

Rochdale’s three day festival runs 25 to 27 October covering drama, dance, music, theatre, films and visual arts. The festival will also include a series of live performances and family friendly activities, all linked to literature and philosophy, with the full programme due to be revealed later this month.

Already confirmed on the line-up is the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy broadcaster Gyles Brandreth and Dragons Den winner Mark Champkins.

The event will take place at various venues across the borough and is aimed at all ages, providing a chance to get together with others to share or discover a passion for reading and books.

It is due to the generosity of Annie and Frank Maskew, a Rochdale couple who shared a passion for reading and thinking, and originally met in Rochdale Library. They left a sum of money to be used on resources and events related to literature, and philosophy to ensure classic works are available for future generations.

The festival is organised by Rochdale council, funded by the Maskew Bequest and the Arts Council’s Grants for the Arts Award.