Letters and papers from well-known authors such as Margaret Atwood, JG Ballard, Angela Carter, Iris Murdoch, Ben
Okri and Fay Weldon, feature in the Granta magazine archive,which is comprised of around three-hundred boxes of material.
It includes acclaimed artist Grayson Perry, Booker prize winner Ben
Okri, War Horse writer Michael Morpurgo, TV journalist and documentary maker Stacey Dooley, Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, crime writer Val McDermid and renowned restaurant critic Jay Rayner.
Full details and bookings: www.wordsweekend.com Michael Morpurgo Ben
OkriFull details and bookings: www.wordsweekend.com Ben
Okri Sage Gateshead
"We never think that our mothers will die," the Nigerian poet Ben
Okri reflected.
The New Statesman has described it as 'a dazzling celebration of Pakistani poetry music dance history and politics' while Booker Prize-winning author Ben
Okri found the LLF 'magnificent' and lauded how it was 'staged with thoughtfulness care and great success ...
According to him, the works of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ben
Okri, Chimamanda Adichie and Cypran Ekwesi have laid a foundation to build upon by upcoming writers.
An Evening with Booker Prize Winner Ben
Okri Booker Prize-winning Nigerian writer, Ben
Okri, discusses his contribution to literature and his latest novel, The Freedom Artist, an impassioned plea for justice and a penetrating examination of how freedom is threatened in a posttruth society.
BIRTHDAYS: Judd Hirsch, actor, 84; Frank Dobson, politician, 79; Mike Love, singer (Beach Boys), 78; David Cronenberg, film director, 76; Sly Stone, musician, 76; Ry Cooder, rock singer, 72; John Duttine, actor, 70; Ben
Okri, novelist, 60; Eva Amurri, actress, 34.
(Last year's home edition featured Booker winner Ben
Okri, Pulitzer winner Paul Salopek, Lucknow-based Urdu novelist Anis Ashfaq, Emmy winner Riz Ahmed, Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, author and presenter Reza Aslan.) The first ever edition of LLF kicked off in February 2013 with the return of author and activist Tariq Ali to the Pakistani stage.
Ben
Okri's poem 'Grenfell Tower, June, 2017', which was penned just after the fire that saw 72 people dead, also had the same reception.
Some even feature as musicians on the band's 13 albums, like Man Booker winners Yann Martel (Life of Pi) and Ben
Okri (The Famished Road), and best-selling authors Joanne Harris (Chocolat) and Louis de Bernieres (Captain Corelli's Mandolin).