Birmingham Lit Fest Presents….

This week’s guest is one of few who – universally – get referred to as a “National Treasure”. Michael
Rosen has written over 70 books, including many of the most-read and most-loved children’s books
of the modern day. He’s also a poet and memoirist, and joined us to talk about his book Many
Different Kinds of Love, written as a result of his time on an intensive care ward during the Covid-19
pandemic in Spring 2020...

After 2 years of online or dispersed events, the National Writers’ Conference returned in July 2022 in Birmingham. This podcast is a snapshot of a friendly day of writers sharing their tips and experiences of how to have and maintain a writing career.

Welcome to the last instalment of 2021’s commissioned series of writing. Each month, across the year, we have asked writers and poets to reflect on each month as it has passed. As we say goodbye to 2021, and embrace the start of a new year, we have brough

Writer and Professor Thomas Glave wrote our very first commissioned piece in January 2021, describing a quiet, reflective post-Christmas Brindley Place in the midst of lockdown. In December's offering, he reflects beautifully on that experience in a piece

April 2021’s online event featured author and journalist Sathnam Sanghera discussing his latest book Empireland. In conversation with Sara Wajid, the co-CEO of the Birmingham Museum’s Trust, he discussed the ways in which legacies of empire permeate every

Solihull based scriptwriter Annabel Brightling has written November's piece for the festival blog. In it, she reflects on the excitement of the premiere of drama SeaView at the Belgrade Theatre, a show she wrote the first episode of, and the need for larg

May 2021’s online live event brought together two writers whose books are rooted in the Midlands, Emma Purshouse and Lisa Blower. In conversation with author Kit de Waal, they discuss their latest novels Dogged and Pondweed, making space for more working-

In June 2021, we hosted an online live event with author Caleb Azumah Nelson about his debut novel Open Water. In conversation with Birmingham Poet Laureate Casey Bailey, they talk about Caleb’s beautiful love story about two young artists who met at a pu

This week, bestselling novelist and acclaimed podcast host Elizabeth Day, talks to Sathnam Sanghera about her new novel Magpie. Join them as they talk about writing thrillers, and a novel that tells a gripping and unsettling story about power, motherhood

This is the Canon, written by Joan Anim-Addo, Deirdre Osborne and Kadija Sesay, is a book that aims to decolonise what we think of as the literary canon, which is all too often dominated by white authors. In this week’s episode the authors talk to writer