THE first names for Ilkley Literature Festival 2018 have been revealed with the Poet Laureate, an England cricket hero and a Strictly star featuring among the headline names.

At her last visit to the Festival Susan Calman talked about her dream of appearing on Strictly Come Dancing and now returns to Ilkley as one of the stars of the 2017 series. Cricketer Moeen Ali comes to the town to talk about his life and career as one of England’s best all-rounders. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy will close the Festival with a joint reading with Festival Poet in Residence Imtiaz Dharker.

Queen of the ‘Aga Saga’ Joanna Trollope and legendary BBC correspondent John Simpson will be appearing the Festival which will feature over 200 events across Ilkley between September 28 and October 14 this year.

The Festival exhibition also returns, with work and letters from the Scottish poet WS Graham and the St Ives painters who inspired his work, generously shared by local collector Ronnie Duncan.

Festival Director, Rachel Feldberg said: "We are very excited to be able to release the first headline names for this year’s Festival. There will be many more big names to come over the next few months and we look forward to sharing the full programme with you later in the Summer."

The full Ilkley Literature Festival programme will be revealed on Monday, August 13, with tickets going on general sale at 9am on Tuesday, August 28. Tickets will be on sale to Festival Friends from Monday, August 20 and you can become a Festival Friend today at www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk

Ilkley Literature Festival has been awarded funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to run a poetry and animation project with pupils who are new to English.

They will be working in Leeds and Bradford with Bishop Young Church of England Academy, The Cooperative Academy of Leeds, Appleton Academy and Dixon Kings Academy to deliver a series of sessions in creative writing and digital storytelling. Funded through an Explore and Test grant, the project aims to test new approaches using non-technical writing activities to increase confidence and engagement in pupils who are new to English. The project begins this week and will run though the autumn term.