Leeds Lit Fest starts tomorrow - Saturday 26 February – and launches a city-wide celebration of words and thought with its Children’s Festival at Leeds Central Library, a highlight of which is Young Bond author Steve Cole's appearance.  In total there are more than fifty events taking place over nine days with a mixture of in-person and online events.

The programme features live performances of classic literature, a quiz, family events, podcasts, audio/visual installations, a performance from Commoners Choir and Harmony Choir (Sunday 6th March), which complement traditional events such as readings, poetry, spoken word, writing workshops and discussions.

Author highlights for the festival include talks by AC Grayling (Sun 27th Feb), Jonathan Drori (Mon 28th Feb), Peter Hain (Thurs 3rd March), Johann Hari (Sat 5th March) and Rebecca Lowe (Sun 6th March). Poetry performances for the festival include On the Rise (Mon 28th Feb), a night of poetry, spoken word and music taking back power, and a panel and performance event organized by the British Library (Sat 5th March) curated by Khadijah Ibrahiim with poets Malika Booker, Jason Allen-Paisant, and Rommi Smith celebrating contemporary African literature.

Or you can revel in the Brontës as you’ve never read them before. The Full Bronte Cabaret is An Evening of Wuthering Delights! Combining comedy, storytelling, music, and games, this show of wuthering delights, has been hailed as ‘the anarchic love child of French and Saunders and Hinge and Brackett!’ Join Scary Little Girls at Carriageworks Theatre on Saturday 5th March.

As the finale to Leeds Lit Fest 22, our Scary Little Girls double bill ends with a Salon du Chocolat on Sunday 6th March. In this storytelling salon we celebrate the relationship between cocoa nibs, once considered a taboo substance, and forbidden literature combining mouthwatering chocolate treats with tales of the secret, banned and scandalous from authors such as Lord Byron, John Donne, Angela Carter and Joanne Harris.

Carl Hutton, Chair of Leeds Lit Fest and CEO of the Leeds Library said: “The last two years have been hugely challenging but they have also been an opportunity to adapt the Festival and to make it more inclusive and accessible to people across the city, the region, nationally and internationally. We've learned a lot about what we care about most, and we can't wait to see our audiences, both online and in real life."