Headingley LitFest: The Secret Life of Gavrilo Princip

Tuesday 8 April 2014

The Secret Life of Gavrilo Princip - with Aritha Van Herk

Aritha van Herk - partnership with Yorkshire Network for Canadian Studies
7pm Headingley Library Monday 7 April

Aritha van Herk is an acclaimed, award-winning writer of several genres who came to the friendly environment of Headingley Library in our first partnership with the Yorkshire Network for Canadian Studies and our final event in a month-long programme – and what a very good way to end.

Audience comments:

Wonderful – very hospitable at the library and loved the talk.

Aritha was an engaging speaker, at times quite dramatic – especially in the section of the reading describing the assassination of FF and Sophie. Excellent Q/A session.

Aritha van Herk with Catherine Bates

I absolutely loved getting the opportunity to hear Aritha speak. I studied ‘No Fixed Address’ as an undergraduate and never expected I’d have the chance to hear a Canadian author here. Thank you.

Thanks for the Canadian link, good writing.

Interesting, informative and enjoyable reading and talk. More please.

Entertaining and informative, would have liked to find out more generally about her interests and approaches and not just the issues arising from her current work; thoroughly enjoyable and stimulating nevertheless.

A very interesting event with a wider range of topics covered than I had expected!

FANTASTIC. Thank you. A fascinating alternative insight into such a well known part of history.

It was a really warm and friendly event, with an inspiring presenter and friendly staff. Good evening and duration. Happy to attend more events!

Very enjoyable experience, good talk/reading with stimulating discussion. To maintain audience focus, perhaps readings could be broken into sections with responses. Or a break half way.

Brilliant: enjoyed both the reading and the discussion. I was impressed with the wide-ranging knowledge of the author/speaker, detailed fluidity and her dramatic voice.

The author’s reading was intellectually stimulating, a treat.

She was a interesting speaker.

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LITERARY HEADINGLEY

Headingley is just the place for it! Don't expect a big circus with marquees, though: we're not at that stage yet. We're all volunteers as well.

Our venues include the HEART Centre on Bennett Road, the New Headingley Club on St Michael's Road, friendly cafés, historic local cinemas, Headingley Library, people's houses and the historic Leeds Library in Commercial Street, city centre.

Headingley's Literary Links

Headingley has strong connections with many writers:

Arthur Ransome was born in Headingley, J R R Tolkien lived at 5 Holly Bank and also at 2 Darnley Road, West Park when he was reader in English Language at the University of Leeds 1920 - 25, Alan Bennett lived over a butcher's shop opposite the Three Horseshoes, now Royale Dry Cleaners.

Lucy Newlyn has published poetry about her early life in Headingley, George Orwell stayed at 21 Estcourt Avenue with his sister Marjorie and her husband Humphrey 'Humpy' Dakin (with whom he visited the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth), T S Eliot used to visit his mother-in-law in Weetwood Lane, William Fryer Harvey was brought up in Spring Bank, Trevor Griffiths lived just off Victoria Road on Winstanley Terrace, Jon Silkin's first office of STAND magazine was his flat at 144 Otley Road, Sir Geoffrey Hill lived in Shire Oak Road, Peter Redgrove lived in Headingley between 1962 and 1965 when he was Gregory Fellow of Poetry at the University of Leeds, and playwright Kay Mellor still lives near The Hollies in Far Headingley.

Wilson Barrett, the charismatic first manager of the Grand Theatre, Leeds (a prolific playwright as well), lived in Beech Grove Terrace, Woodhouse in the 1870s. His house was a meeting place for many writers, artists and visitors to Leeds - such as W. S. Gilbert, George Grossmith and Atkinson Grimshaw.

Headingley LitFest 2020 was the thirteenth. The fourteenth will take place from March 2021 and will be adapted to the rules of the Covid pandemic. We are now a proud part of the annual Leeds Lit Fest.