With only two weeks to go until the opening of the Ilkley Literature Festival, audiences still have time to snap up the last remaining tickets for this year’s celebratory programme.

As part of a series of 40th anniversary events, Erwin James, patron of The Reader Organisation, and author of A Life Inside – the true story of his time serving a life sentence – joins members of the Leeds Black Elders and Festival audiences at a ‘40 years of reading’ event on October 5, to reflect to on the importance of reading in our lives.

On October 13, local historian Alex Cockshoft will take audiences on a literary walk around Ilkley, looking at the places and spaces that have provided the backdrop for key moments in the Festival’s history and the town’s role as a sanctuary for many literary greats – from Ted Hughes to Charlotte Bronte and TS Eliot.

There are also tickets available for several headline authors including Barry Norman, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Kirsty Wark, Peter Snow, Melvyn Bragg, Ian McMillan and Jonathan Aitken.

To download the full festival programme of events or to buy tickets, visit ilkleyliterature festival.org.uk.