BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Whitby Lit Fest - ECPv6.16.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Whitby Lit Fest
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Whitby Lit Fest
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:UTC
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:UTC
DTSTART:20240101T000000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251109T170000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251109T183000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20250802T145204Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250802T201313Z
UID:478-1762707600-1762713000@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:Sir Alan Ayckbourn in conversation with Kate Fenton
DESCRIPTION:One of Britain’s most celebrated playwrights is interviewed by festival patron\, the former BBC Radio 4 producer\, Kate Fenton. \nAs funny in person as his plays\, and as penetrating about human nature\, this conversation promises a fascinating insight into his craft\, his global success\, and why as a Londoner – he chose Scarborough to be home. \nThe Olivier and Tony Award winning playwright has written 91 full-length plays\, many of which have been produced in London’s West End and New York as well as around the world. His plays have been translated into more than 35 languages. \nAs an acclaimed director\, Sir Alan has worked extensively in the West End and at the National Theatre. He was the Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre\, Scarborough\, from 1972 to 2009. \nNow in his 66th year as a playwright\, Sir Alan continues to write and premiere work from his home in Scarborough\, where he remains closely associated with the Stephen Joseph Theatre. His latest work\, Earth Angel\, will premiere there this September. \nBuy Tickets \n\n			\n				\n			\n				\n				©Tony Bartholomew
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/sir-alan-ayckbourn-in-conversation-with-kate-fenton/
LOCATION:Eighteen91\, Brunswick Street\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 1RB\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Fiction,Headliners,Interviews & Panel Discussions
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Sir-Alan-AyckbournLIbrary_01-©-Tony-Bartholomew-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251109T110000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251109T123000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20250802T131142Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251002T090025Z
UID:465-1762686000-1762691400@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:Outrageous: The Mitford Letters: Rob Rinder and Leticia Lentini
DESCRIPTION:The fascination with the Mitford sisters is endless. The glamour. The tragedy. The scandal. Each pursued wildly different paths – communism and fascism – often at a great personal cost. \nRecognised for their beauty\, eccentricity\, conflicting political views\, and sharp intellect\, the six Mitford sisters were undoubtedly the ultimate ‘It Girls’ of the 20th century. \nThey’ve spawned numerous biographies and collected letters\, as well as their own books including Decca and Diana Mitford’s autobiographies and Nancy Mitford’s glittering novels. The sisters are also the subject of a TV biopic – Outrageous – on UKTV\, starring Bessie Carter\, Orla Hill\, Will Attenborough\, James Purefoy\, and Anna Chancellor. \nTV personality\, the barrister and author Rob Rinder\, has long had a slight obsession with the sisters\, as has Leticia Lentini\, who runs the Whitby-based publisher\, Crow Emporium. \nJoin them and Jessica Mitford’s son\, Benjamin Treuhaft\, as they delve into the explosive scandal and heartache. \nBuy Tickets SOLD OUT
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/outrageous-the-mitford-letters-rob-rinder-and-leticia-lentini/
LOCATION:Eighteen91\, Brunswick Street\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 1RB\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Fiction,Headliners,Interviews & Panel Discussions
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Rob-rinder-author-photo.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251108T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251108T203000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20250802T115721Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250812T181327Z
UID:462-1762628400-1762633800@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:The Man Behind the Stories: Lee Child in conversation with Rob Rinder
DESCRIPTION:Are you one of the 100 million people in need of an addictive Reacher fix? \nWith a book selling every nine seconds\, famous fans include Tom Cruise (who took Reacher to the big screen)\, Bill Clinton and Stephen King. \nExit Strategy is the 30th Reacher book (now co-written with his brother\, Andrew). \nThe first\, Killing Floor in 1997\, changed the author’s life. Then 40 years-old\, Jim Grant was made redundant from his job at Granada\, and reinvented himself as Lee Child. He spent £3.99 on pencils and paper\, sat down at his kitchen table\, and began to write. \nIt’s the stuff of Hollywood movies\, told in Lee’s first-ever autobiographical collection of essays that puts his writing in a cultural and personal context \nReacher: The Stories Behind the Stories takes us from that first novel scribbled in pencil\, to the advent of the internet and 9/11\, to seeing his books adapted to the big and small screen. \nExamining the story of a man who once put pencil to paper to turn his luck around\, and who made every word count\, is the author\, barrister and TV personality\, Rob Rinder. \nGarrulous and gossipy\, yet thoughtful and heartfelt\, he brings his trademark warmth and wit to gently interrogate one of the world’s leading thriller writers. \nA Holocaust survivor’s grandson\, Strictly Come Dancing contestant\, and regular face on the telly\, Rob began hosting the reality courtroom series Judge Rinder in 2014\, while still a practising barrister. He is also a Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author\, with a series of novels inspired by his experiences as a barrister: The Trial\, The Suspect and The Protest. \nBuy Tickets SOLD OUT
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/the-man-behind-the-stories-lee-child-in-conversation-with-rob-rinder/
LOCATION:Whitby Spa Pavilion Theatre\, West Cliff\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 3EN\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Fiction,Headliners,Interviews & Panel Discussions
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/lee-child-1.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251108T170000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251108T183000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20250802T115103Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250805T110945Z
UID:459-1762621200-1762626600@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:Deadline: Steph McGovern
DESCRIPTION:Your child has been kidnapped. You’re live on television. Going live in 10\, 9\, 8 . . . \nToday is a huge day for TV reporter Rose’s career. A live interview with one of the most powerful men in the country\, on one of the nation’s biggest TV shows. 7\, 6\, 5 . . . \nBut\, when she hears an unfamiliar voice in her ear\, she knows something is very wrong. 4\, 3\, 2 . . . \nHer earpiece has been hacked. She’s live on air in the middle of the interview. They tell her they have kidnapped her family. \nDeadline is the debut crime thriller from the award-winning broadcaster and journalist\, Steph McGovern. Hear the inside story of how the seed of the novel was planted in her early days at the BBC\, and how a real-life stalker informed the novel. \nHailing from Middlesbrough\, Steph began her career as a producer on Radio 4 Today\, before moving to BBC news\, and presenting her own magazine show\, Ch4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch. \nShe’s put in the interview seat by the award-winning author of historical crime fiction\, Anna Mazzola\, who also writes thrillers under the pen name Anna Sharpe. Her most recent historical novel\, The Book of Secrets\, was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year\, 2025. \nBuy Tickets
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/deadline-steph-mcgovern/
LOCATION:Eighteen91\, Brunswick Street\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 1RB\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Fiction,Headliners
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/EDITED-SM-Headshot-02.23-credit-Carolyn-Mendelsohn-2-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251108T150000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251108T163000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20250802T114604Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251030T160455Z
UID:456-1762614000-1762619400@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:Vampish Tales: Emma Carroll
DESCRIPTION:For readers aged 9+\, bite into vampish powers with a brand-new adventure series following three cousins who discover they’re the descendants of Dracula. The trio combine their vampish powers to form the infamous vampire healing company\, Dracula & Daughters! A tale dangerously close to the heart! \nEmma Carroll is a multi-award winning and bestselling author and the ‘Queen of Historical Fiction’ (BookTrust). \nBuy Tickets
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/vampish-tales-emma-carroll/
LOCATION:Whitby Museum\, Pannett Park\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 1RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Dracula, Dickens & Local Interest,Fiction,Gothic Literature,Headliners
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Emma-Carroll.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251108T150000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251108T163000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20250802T113943Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250827T161243Z
UID:453-1762614000-1762619400@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:The Little Book of Miriam: Miriam Margolyes
DESCRIPTION:Famed for her unfiltered honesty and big heart\, Miriam Margolyes has a huge capacity for kindness\, is outrageously funny\, and her passion and curiosity cannot be dimmed. Qualities that have propelled her to the position of national treasure. \nAn award-winning actress\, Miriam has featured alongside Leonardo DiCaprio (Romeo and Juliet)\, played the beloved Professor Sprout (Harry Potter)\, and won a BAFTA for her role in Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence. Her stage credits include Dickens’ Women. \nShe has fronted incisive\, award-winning\, and humane documentaries\, including exploring what it means to be Australian. Her appearances on the Graham Norton Show go viral and\, in her eighties\, she was on the cover of Vogue. \nA life-long Dickens aficionado\, her recent Edinburgh Fringe show was Margolyes and Dickens: More Best Bits. She comes to Whitby at the end of a book tour for her latest memoir. \nJoin her for a candid interview with her long-time friend: Dickens’ great\, great\, great granddaughter\, the author\, art historian and broadcaster\, Lucinda Hawksley\, as she discusses her latest book: The Little Book of Miriam\, an A-Z of wit and wisdom. \nBuy Tickets SOLD OUT
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/the-little-book-of-miriam-miriam-margolyes/
LOCATION:Whitby Spa Pavilion Theatre\, West Cliff\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 3EN\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Dracula, Dickens & Local Interest,Fiction,Headliners,Interviews & Panel Discussions,Non-Fiction
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Miriam-Margolyes-1-c.-Carole-Barghi-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251107T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251107T203000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20250801T165448Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250922T094145Z
UID:416-1762542000-1762547400@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:Diaries of Note 366 Lives\, One Day at a Time: Shaun Usher
DESCRIPTION:Shaun Usher is a literary phenomenon – the appointed custodian of letters\, lists and now\, diaries. \nHis book Letters of Note not only became a huge bestseller\, it evolved into Letters Live featuring A-list actors reading out the letters on iconic stages in London\, New York\, LA\, and Venice. \nThis year\, he took it to Glastonbury with Benedict Cumberbatch\, Simon Pegg\, Andrew Scott\, and James Norton to name a few. \nWhitby is his next stop! \nDiaries of Note is a daily celebration of the diary—one of the most intimate\, therapeutic\, and revealing forms of writing imaginable—and a regular opportunity to see how people have attempted to memorialise and make sense of their lives throughout the ages. \n\n			\n				\n			\n				\n				Miriam Margolyes\n				\n			\n				\n			\n				\n				Ace Bhatti\n				\n			\n				\n			\n				\n				Lucinda Hawksley\n				\n			\n				\n			\n				\n				Shaun Usher\n				\n		\n\nJoin him in conversation with historian and author\, Lucinda Hawksley\, featuring actors Miriam Margolyes and Ace Bhatti giving very special diary readings. \nBuy Tickets
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/diaries-of-note-366-lives-one-day-at-a-time-shaun-usher/
LOCATION:Eighteen91\, Brunswick Street\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 1RB\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Headliners,Non-Fiction,Poetry & Spoken Word
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IMG_5096-scaled.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251107T170000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251107T183000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20250801T165021Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251031T174808Z
UID:414-1762534800-1762540200@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:Scream Queen: Yvette Fielding
DESCRIPTION:From the rollercoaster ride of being Blue Peter’s youngest ever presenter to the rather unusual job of ‘ghost hunter\,’ real-life Ghostbuster Yvette Fielding has Whitby spooked. \nThe coastal town is the setting of her latest children’s book The Vampire of Whitby and the place she told the Yorkshire Post she’d like to retire to. The former presenter of TV’s Most Haunted\, Yvette’s memoir is fittingly titled\, Scream Queen. \nShaking a blinking torch\, going into a dark cellar\, and stepping into the fog\, writer Gavin Collinson shines a light on the TV personality and author in what promises to be an entertaining\, and enlightening\, interview. \nGavin Collinson is a crime writer best known for The Hitchcock Murders\, the Marc Novak trilogy and more recently\, his Moriarty series of thrillers which place the Napoleon of Crime in a contemporary setting. \nAs a cultural historian he’s specialised in screen adaptions of Victorian literature\, focussing on Dracula and the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He’s written extensively for the BBC\, the British Film Institute and Hammer Films\, and you can read many of his features at www.hammerfilms.com/blogs/news including pieces on Dracula(1958)\, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and the history of Hammer Films\, including its movies inspired by the novels of Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley. \nAway from the world of Gothic horror he’s written Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality (featuring David Tennant and Adjoa Andoh)\, Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins (featuring Jodie Whittaker and Ingrid Oliver) and the stage play\,Samson Fox: The Man Who Captured Sunlight which premiered at the Harrogate Royal Hall in 2022. \nBuy Tickets
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/scream-queen-yvette-fielding/
LOCATION:Eighteen91\, Brunswick Street\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 1RB\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Dracula, Dickens & Local Interest,Fiction,Gothic Literature,Headliners
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Yvette_copyright_IanThraves2-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251106T150000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251106T163000
DTSTAMP:20260610T231213
CREATED:20251002T150924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251024T102402Z
UID:840-1762441200-1762446600@whitbylitfest.org.uk
SUMMARY:My Life in Books: Greta Scacchi - CANCELLED
DESCRIPTION:Greta Scacchi was catapulted to stardom at the age of 22 in Merchant Ivory’s HEAT & DUST – based on the Booker prize winning novel by Ruth Prater Jhabvala. \nWithin a year she was playing Sir Laurence Olivier’s muse in John Fowles’ THE EBONY TOWER and opposite Alan Bates in Graham Greene’s DR FISCHER OF GENEVA. She talks to crime-writer Peter Guttridge about her experiences of playing in these adaptations and numerous others that followed ranging from Austen\, Waugh\, Dumas and Tolstoy to Michael Tolkein (The Player)\, Scott Turow (Presumed Innocent)\, Simenon\, Agatha Christie and…The Bible. \nIn a 40-year career Anglo-Italian Greta Scacchi has acted in well over 50 films\, plays and TV productions all over the world. (She is fluent in Italian\, French and German.) She has won numerous awards for her performances. \nAward-winning crime-writer Peter Guttridge has interviewed on stage hundreds of writers of all sorts at book festivals large & small. He co-founded Books By The Beach in Scarborough in 2014. \nCANCELLED \nWe regret to announce that Greta Scacchi will not be appearing at the Whitby Lit Fest. Sadly\, filming commitments have now been confirmed which have clashed with her session\, and so she will therefore be unable to attend her scheduled session at the Museum. We are disappointed\, but hope that we will be able to welcome her to Whitby at a future Whitby Lit Fest.  \n \nThank you for your understanding\, and we hope to welcome you to some of the other sessions happening throughout the Whitby Lit Fest.
URL:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/event/my-life-in-books-greta-scacchi/
LOCATION:Whitby Museum\, Pannett Park\, Whitby\, North Yorkshire\, YO21 1RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Headliners
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Greta-Scacchi-Headshot-photographer-Bee-Gilbert.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Whitby Lit Fest":MAILTO:info@whitbylitfest.org.uk
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR