Headingley LitFest: T F Griffin and Douglas Houston

Thursday, 22 June 2017

T F Griffin and Douglas Houston - a celebration

Headingley Library 9 June 2017at 7pm

A warm and welcoming event - I was impressed by the range of participants who wished to share their appreciation (& love) of the poetry of TG & DH.

I very much enjoyed a well-organised evening. I knew a few people here, I live locally, and the event was a credit to Headingley.

Readers Ruth, Bill, Linda, Jules, Pam, Lynne and Sheila

Beautiful jazz music. Great poetry. Thanks.

Beautiful poems read with love and humour. Smooth jazz too! Excellent.

Des the Miner

Great to hear poetry as always, and I was introduced to two new poets (to me).

Thank you for a splendid evening where we could share the thoughts of two deep thinking men.

Their words so beautifully read & the selection so varied. The evening made perfect by the music!

Pam Scobie and Lynn Houston

An excellent evening of poetry and jazz. Hugely enjoyable!

Excellent event. Great readers, great snacks and drinks.

Very good. Well organised, good choice of poems.

--> Very educational

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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.