‘Soft Power’ explored at Ilkley Literature Festival

Journalist Yvonne Singh’s will talk about her book, INK! From Empire to Black Power

Ilkley Literature Festival explores the theme Soft Power this October with a series of author talks on power players, philosophers, peacemakers, and psychological warfare.

The north’s longest-running literary festival returns in its 52nd year with some of the country’s leading minds in politics, history, and academia discussing big ideas across 17 days in venues across the spa town.

Terry Stiastny [Photo: Ashley Bingham Photography]

In the panel Frontlines of Psychological Warfare, Times Radio political reporter Terry Stiastny discusses her book Believable Lies – the untold story of a secret British organisation, the Political Warfare Executive, briefed to wage psychological warfare to beat the Nazis.

She’s in conversation with the former head of international news at the Guardian, Charlie English, with his book The CIA Book Club - the astonishing story of how ten million books were smuggled across the Iron Curtain in an attempt to win the Cold War with literature.

Charlie English will discuss his book The CIA Book Club [Photo: Nicola Hippisle]

The festival also examines the legacies of influential but overlooked figures throughout history.

Journalist Yvonne Singh’s book, INK! From Empire to Black Power explores the pioneering journalists who addressed global racial injustice and whose work acted as a catalyst for change, covering a transformative period from the age of empire to the heady start of the 1980s.

Thant Myint-U, grandson of the UN’s longest-serving Secretary-General U Thant, traces his grandfather’s rise from schoolteacher to the centre of global politics, with his book, Peacemaker. One of America’s most admired men in the 1970s, U Thant is largely forgotten today.

Erica Morris, Director at Ilkley Literature Festival, said:

“Soft Power is a festival strand that promises fascinating and enlightening discussions around politics, history, society, race, and gender politics. We invite our audience to re-examine figures and events often lost or forgotten in history, despite their remarkable influence.” 

The award-winning biographer Sonia Purnell will unveil the spectacular story of one of the most powerful women of the 20th century – Pamela Churchill Hariman. Her book, Kingmaker, explores how Winston Churchill’s daughter-in-law left an indelible mark on the world today, influencing everyone from the Kennedys to Nelson Mandela.

At the dawn of the 20th century the philosopher Henri Bergson was the most famous philosopher on earth. An international celebrity, he made headlines around the world, yet has since faded from historical view. Author Emily Herring revives his story and how Bergson transformed 20th century thought with her book, Herald of a Restless World.

In literature, Dr Jill Liddington presents Writing Women Up North. Looking beyond the Brontës, Liddington promises a revealing talk on fascinating northern women writers from icons such as Anne Lister, who wrote five-million-word diaries, to Selina Cooper, one of the 29,000 Lancashire women cotton workers who signed and took their suffrage petition down to Westminster.

Valerie Waterhouse will appear at the Ilkley Lit Fest [Photo: Antonella Catalano]

Biographer Valerie Waterhouse reclaims an exceptional, overlooked Yorkshirewoman, Malachi Whitaker, as her 1939 memoir of life in Bradford on the cusp of war is finally being republished. Waterhouse puts the spotlight back on the author lauded by the likes of Vita Sackville-West; over 50 of Whitaker’s stories were broadcast on the BBC. 

Soft Power is one of several strands at 2025’s festival, alongside Talking Politics, Doing Justice, The Dark Side of the Internet, Novel Ideas, Explore Moor, Food for Thought and In Verse: The Rising of the North.

Authors appearing this year include Jung Chang, Mary Portas, Alan Davies, Jay Raynor, Hugh Bonneville, Nick Clegg, Ruby Tandoh, Simon Armitage, Michael Palin, Lady Hale, Rachel Joyce, and Irvine Welsh.

To book https://www.ilkleylitfest.org.uk Box Office: 01943 816714.