'Yes, M’lady': A Thorn in the Rose By Samantha Lee Howe
When the book arrived, I flicked through it initially and spotted the phrase, ‘Mel…the motorbike’ and thought this may just be for me. The prologue is set in London in 1941 and we’re introduced to Mel Greenway, on her nineteenth birthday, the day ‘the letter’ dropped through the letterbox, the letter inviting her to enlist.
Poem Of The Week: Happiness By Blake Morrison
Happiness ...but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain THOMAS HARDY Cloudless skies, old roses coming into flower, a breeze flicking through The Mayor of Casterbridge. Toasted granary bread with damson jam, a pair of goldfinches on the bird-feeder. The whiff of fennel and rosemary, the farmer’s quad bike leaving the field.
A Century Of The Thistle: Hugh Macdiarmid And Scotland’s Modernist Voice
2026 marks the centenary of a landmark in Scottish literature, though so far little appears to be happening to mark the occasion. Hugh MacDiarmid, whose A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle reshaped Scottish poetry through inventive language and modernist ambition, might not have been surprised by the lack of fanfare.
Longlist For Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year 2026
Harrogate International Festivals today announced the 18 titles longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2026, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, now in its twenty second year.
Manchester Must Dance - Mike Pickering
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As the resident DJ at the famed Hacienda in Manchester, Mike Pickering was there at the forefront of the euphoria of the acid house and dance movements. In his informative and compelling new book,Manchester Must Dance he tells the story of his time at the legendary club and life afterwards when he formed the soul and pop act M People.
The Danger Of Secrets: A Dark Death By Alice Fitzpatrick
A cosy crime, this novel is set on a suitably isolated, fictitious Welsh island which is inhabited by a close-knit population who look out for each other and don’t seek publicity.
Death Is Not Always The End: Accidents Will Happen By Andrew J. Field
Did she fall or did she jump? Accident or suicide? This novel begins in the court room as the Coroner tries to determine the answer. Lisa Wright was a talented violist who fell – or jumped – from a cliff top while out on a training run.
The Spy WHO Nodded At Me
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She has worked alongside British intelligence, been befriended — and duped — by a real spy, and watched her government blow up buildings in the Welsh countryside. Now, with her latest thriller, The Hiding Season, Ava Glass is bringing the shadowy world of espionage to Yorkshire.
Women’s Prize For Fiction Reveals 2026 Longlist
The Women’s Prize Trust – the registered charity building a better future by championing women’s writing – has revealed the longlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. The Prize is the greatest celebration of female creativity in the world, and is sponsored by Audible and Baileys.
Full Steam Ahead For Yorkshire Author's Book On The Birth Of The Railways
A Yorkshire author, who is passionate about railway history, has just published a book celebrating the ground-breaking launch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. Mixing historical fact and fiction, Neil McGoohan's The Iron Horse is a riveting account of how the very first railway in the world was funded and built.
World Book Day 2026: The Biggest Celebration Of Reading Yet
Thursday 5th March promises a day of magic, adventure and stories for children across the UK If you've ever wanted to fall in love with books — or help a child do the same — this is your moment.
Poem Of The Week: The Only English Kid By Hannah Lowe
The Only English Kid When the debate got going on ‘Englishness’, I’d pity the only English kid – poor Johnny in his spotless Reeboks and blue Fred Perry.
Poem Of The Week: Ends By Matthew Sweeney (1952-2018)
Ends At my end of the earth the Atlantic began. On good days trawlers were flecks far out, at night the green waves were luminous. Gulls were the birds that gobbled my crusts and the air in my bedroom was salty. For two weeks once a whale decayed on the pale beach while no one swam. It was gelignite that cleared the air. The uses of village carpenters were many.
Poem Of The Week: To Sleep By John Keats (1795-1821)
To Sleep O soft embalmer of the still midnight, Shutting, with careful fingers and benign, Our gloom-pleased eyes, embower'd from the light, Enshaded in forgetfulness divine: O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes, Or wait the ‘Amen’, ere thy poppy throws Around my bed its lulling charities.
Arts Book Review: Nick Toczek Wool City Rocker
Long before the arrival of the internet, if you wanted to know what was happening in the music scene or who the latest bands to look out for were, the likes of music magazines NME, Sounds and Melody Maker were indispensable sources of information.
Earth, Fire: Notes On Burials By Jayant Kashyap
The etymology of words plays much more than a passing role in Jayant Kashyap’s award-winning new collection for Poetry Business: his journey into the katabatic underworld of ritual and cultural observance is illuminated, at every turn, by recourse to the guideposts of language.
Vision & Labour: Making Comics: The Art Of Avery Hill Publishing
Harrogate’s Mercer Art Gallery has teamed up with indie publisher Avery Hill Publishing to create an exhibition showcasing some of today’s most exciting comics creators.
Poem Of The Week: The Sick Rose by William Blake (1757-1827)
The Sick Rose O rose, thou art sick!
Whitby Gets Ready For Inaugural Book Festival
Whitby is getting behind its inaugural literature festival which begins Thursday 6 November in venues across the coastal town. Schools, hotels, shops, and restaurants are getting behind the four-day celebration of Whitby as a literary destination.
This Week’s Highlights At Ilkley Literature Festival
Ilkley Literature Festival enters its final week with highlights including Hugh Bonneville, Sir Tony Robinson, and Jay Rayner. Several upcoming acts are sold out including Lady Hale, Wild Swans author Jung Chang, Irvine Welsh, and Michael Palin.
A Kind Of Alchemy: The Secret Collector By Abigail Johnson
I loved this book! Will that do? Probably not, so let me try to explain why.
Rising Star Colwill Brown Wins 20th Anniversary BBC National Short Story Award
Doncaster-born novelist and short story writer, Colwill Brown has won the twentieth anniversary BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) for You Cannot Thead a Moving Needle a ‘tense’ and ‘increasingly heartbreaking’ story exploring the long term effects of trauma told in ‘energetic’ South Yorkshire dialect.
Doncaster Author Colwill Brown Shortlisted For BBC National Shortstory Award 2025
The 2025 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (BBC NSSA) shortlist was announced on the evening of Thursday 11 September 2025 on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. The prestigious award os celebrating its 20th anniversary.
‘I Write, I Act, I Change’: Alice Carver Manifests Her Perfect Life By Hannah Lake
This novel has echoes of Bridget Jones and I was a bit, ‘well, it’s been done before…’. I adored Bridget Jones and rolled on the floor laughing (ROFL, I’ve been told) when I first read it.
The Scarbados Trilogy Is Complete And All Is Revealed
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Andrew Liddle sits down with Mark Harland whose latest book answers the questions his readers have been asking … Hot off the press is The New Hotel, Scarbados, the eagerly-awaited third volume of Mark Harland’s compelling tale of a Hull family which refuses to be beaten by the twin adversaries of lockdown and redundancy.
Follow Your Dreams: Same Time Next Week By Milly Johnson
I even loved the dedication in this book – so true and one to which everyone can relate. So, a good start. Life is a jigsaw, made up of many pieces. To recognise the fact and to be grateful that each piece, good and bad, creates the whole, offers a certain contentment, or so I believe.
Poem Of The Week: The Grocer By Craig Raine
The Grocer ‘the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation’ (James Joyce to Lady Gregory) The grocer’s hair is parted like a feather by two swift brushes and a dab of brilliantine. His cheesewire is a sun-dial selling by the hour. He brings it down at four and five o’clock, the wooden T gripped like a corkscrew. Greaseproof squares curl in diamonds on a hook.
Whitby Lit Fest Announce Inaugural Programme
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A celebrated playwright, a national treasure, and a host of bestselling authors and household names take part in the first ever Whitby Lit Fest. More than 50 authors will take part in venues across the coastal town from Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 November.
Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Celebrates Most Successful Event Ever
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The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival celebrates its most successful event ever after record numbers of crime fiction fans from around the world flocked to the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate to enjoy more than 30 events with 120 authors over four days, 17-20 July.
Poem Of The Week: God's Grandeur By Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)
God's Grandeur The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?