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Leading literary lights launch free festival at Brunel for readers and writers

Acclaimed author and Brunel professor Will Self will launch the inaugural Hillingdon Literary Festival on campus this weekend.

The free community event from 16 to 18 October is a chance for the community to engage with more than 30 leading lights in the literary world, including fellow Brunel professor and performance poet Benjamin Zephaniah, novelist Kate Mosse OBE, and New York dramatist and biographer John Lahr.

Professor of Contemporary Thought at Brunel, Will Self, said: “The event I’m going to be doing at the festival is about stuff I’ve written about this place, that has been inspired by this place. So hopefully that will engage people who actually live here and engage them beyond a narrowly literary way.”

See why Professor Self thinks the first Hillingdon Literary Festival is important here.

The festival, which celebrates Brunel University London’s 50th Anniversary next year, and the London Borough of Hillingdon’s 50th Anniversary this year, will involve speakers at venues across the local area.

It also launches Brunel Arts, the new home for arts at the university, which is open to the public for classes, concerts and performances.

Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing, Benjamin Zephaniah, will be co-hosting a ‘Children’s Poetry Party’ with Joelle Taylor and performing with local poets in the 16th century Great Barn in Ruislip.

“I am so pleased to be hosting these two events for the Hillingdon Literary Festival. Both of my events are about making poetry more accessible and giving people the space to express themselves. This is all about the poets and the audience. I'm just the messenger,” he said.

Festival Director, Philip Tew, Professor of English at Brunel University London, added: “We anticipate that the festival will attract people from the Hillingdon community of all ages, as well as readers, and writers and would-be authors from far and wide.”

To book complimentary seats and see the full programme, visit www.HillingdonLiteraryFestival.com

To find out more about Brunel Arts, visit http://www.brunel.ac.uk/services/artscentre