Headingley LitFest: Challenging yet exciting

Wednesday 29 April 2015

Challenging yet exciting

Serene Leong writes:

Serene Leong

Heading to my first event at The New Headingley Club, I was mixed with emotions of excitement, anxiety and nervousness. That was the first time I was meeting the literature and arts lovers of the Headingley LitFest community.

I checked the bus timings again and made sure I wouldn't be late for the show. Within minutes of getting there, I was greeted with smiley faces and was immediately welcomed by the committee. I helped out with leaflets, feedback forms, collected tickets by the door and even got the chance to talk to the director and actors!

Throughout the next month, I attended various events and got to know people and listen to their stories. Working with the committee was challenging yet exciting. I was given freedom to organise my work schedule and voice out my opinions for input. Headingley LitFest is made up of volunteers passionate for the arts and promoting it within their community. This small and intimate setting allowed me to realise my potential for initiatives and at the same time starting up something on my own, the LitFest Instagram.

I am grateful for this opportunity to work with a group of talented and dedicated individuals. I made friends and I experienced new things. I’ve been to Headingley before, but Headingley LitFest brought me to places I didn’t know existed. Thank you for welcoming me into the Headingley LitFest community with loving arms. It’s been a fun ride and I can’t wait to get involved next year again!

(Serene was our student intern this year)

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LITERARY HEADINGLEY

Headingley is just the place for it! Don't expect a big circus with marquees, though: we're not at that stage yet. We're all volunteers as well.

Our venues include the HEART Centre on Bennett Road, the New Headingley Club on St Michael's Road, friendly cafés, historic local cinemas, Headingley Library, people's houses and the historic Leeds Library in Commercial Street, city centre.

Headingley's Literary Links

Headingley has strong connections with many writers:

Arthur Ransome was born in Headingley, J R R Tolkien lived at 5 Holly Bank and also at 2 Darnley Road, West Park when he was reader in English Language at the University of Leeds 1920 - 25, Alan Bennett lived over a butcher's shop opposite the Three Horseshoes, now Royale Dry Cleaners.

Lucy Newlyn has published poetry about her early life in Headingley, George Orwell stayed at 21 Estcourt Avenue with his sister Marjorie and her husband Humphrey 'Humpy' Dakin (with whom he visited the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth), T S Eliot used to visit his mother-in-law in Weetwood Lane, William Fryer Harvey was brought up in Spring Bank, Trevor Griffiths lived just off Victoria Road on Winstanley Terrace, Jon Silkin's first office of STAND magazine was his flat at 144 Otley Road, Sir Geoffrey Hill lived in Shire Oak Road, Peter Redgrove lived in Headingley between 1962 and 1965 when he was Gregory Fellow of Poetry at the University of Leeds, and playwright Kay Mellor still lives near The Hollies in Far Headingley.

Wilson Barrett, the charismatic first manager of the Grand Theatre, Leeds (a prolific playwright as well), lived in Beech Grove Terrace, Woodhouse in the 1870s. His house was a meeting place for many writers, artists and visitors to Leeds - such as W. S. Gilbert, George Grossmith and Atkinson Grimshaw.

Headingley LitFest 2020 was the thirteenth. The fourteenth will take place from March 2021 and will be adapted to the rules of the Covid pandemic. We are now a proud part of the annual Leeds Lit Fest.