Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my page. Let me introduce myself: my name is Erica, I live in North Yorkshire with my gorgeous pup, G, and I have worked for Ilkley Literature Festival for the past seven years. Since 2019, I have been Director of this fantastic and dear-to-my-heart charity. 

The year 2023 marks a monumental milestone for our small charity: founded in 1973, Ilkley Literature Festival is celebrating its golden anniversary!

Who is Ilkley Literature Festival?

ILF is perhaps best known for being the longest-running festival in the north, bringing literary giants to our small town on the edges of the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales. However, over the years I have seen the impact that ILF has had on the communities it serves beyond bringing authors to Ilkley for our annual autumn festival.

The charity provides emerging writers and poets with the platform to share their work, kickstarting their careers through Fringe Festivals, development programmes and workshops. Children and young people are also given the chance to develop their skills and confidence through writing groups, schools programmes, dedicated children’s events, internships and placements.

This work is absolutely vital to us and the community, but we have to be honest and say that it has been a tough few years. Rising costs, falling revenue streams and standstill public funding means we have much less money to deliver these programmes than we did ten years ago.

My Challenge: Walking 50* Miles for 50 moor  *Well, almost… 47 miles to be exact.

To ensure we continue delivering these programmes of work and survive ’50 moor years’ of ILF, we need your help. We aim to raise £50,000 this year. To kickstart this I am walking the Stanza Stones trail this Spring!

The Stanza Stones Trail was commissioned by ILF as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Poet Laureate Simon Armitage wrote a set of poems inspired by the language and landscape of the Pennine Watershed. These were then carved onto stones across the upland, forming a ‘Poetry Trail’ from Marsden to Ilkley.

In March and April, I will be walking this beautiful trail – sadly without G (he is only small and his little paws can’t take that much walking!), but a few other friendly faces (ILF colleagues) might join me along the way. Starting in Marsden and ending on our beautiful Ilkley Moor, I will split my walk into six stints (a 47-mile walk in one leg might be a bit much!) over three weekends.

It’s going to be a tough challenge, but I am looking forward to getting outside, walking, and seeing the stunning sights!

How will your money help?

I can’t stress enough how much your donation would help the local communities we benefit, as well as ensure we can survive another 50 years of ILF.

• £10 would pay for the cost of a festival event ticket for a book lover who otherwise could not afford to attend
• £20 would fund a free creative writing workshop for an aspiring writer on low income
• £100 would pay for an hour of free professional mentoring for an aspiring writer from an underrepresented background
• £250 would fund a free place for a term for a student on our Young Writers’ group
• £500 would provide live-captioning of an event so it can be enjoyed by d/Deaf people and those hard of hearing
• £750 would fund a unique opportunity for a poet from the North of England at the start of their career to commission new work, receive mentoring, network and raise their profile
• £1,500 would fund one term of our Story Explorer sessions for children aged 7 to 11 in areas of the Bradford District where such opportunities are limited
• £5,000 would fund a major new writing commission

Thank You!

Thank you again for taking the time to read my story. If you choose to donate and support my fundraising journey, I – and the rest of the ILF team – will be forever grateful. I’ll be sure to keep you updated throughout my journey on the ILF socials: @ilkleylitfest