Old Woollen and Farsley Lit Fest regular Gary Wigglesworth (The Book Lovers’ Quiz Book) returns to host our annual quiz.

This is a literary quiz book with a difference. Rather than basic sets of questions, The Book Lover’s Quiz Book mirrors the format of Gary’s live quizzes, at the Betsey Trotwood in London and elsewhere. So, there are lots of multiple-choice questions, some amusing answers, clever red herrings, little-known facts about authors and some of the much-loved Say What You See picture round.

Join Leigh Radford as she delves into One Yellow Eye, her darkly funny, debut novel; a zombie thriller set in London. The book is full of heartbreak, revulsion and black humour.

Leigh will tell us more about her transition from broadcast media to writing a horror novel, described by the Times as, ‘Snort-inducingly funny . . . One for those with strong stomachs and big hearts.’

About the Book

A scientist desperately searches for a cure to a zombie virus while also hiding a monumental secret.

In Halloween week, two writers at the pinnacle of their craft explore myth, place and meaning and our darkest imaginings.

Two writers get together to discuss all things folk horror, macabre and menace! We can’t wait for this meeting of minds as these two authors chat and tell us more about their new books and the work that goes into researching and writing them.

Through Our Eyes is a musical ensemble that creates and performs adventurous, original, experimental music and give voice to our first-hand experiences of being musicians who happen to have disabilities. 

Join us for a musical journey, with toe tapping takes, sonic soundscapes, and haunting melodies. 

This is brought to you by the Seacroft Philosophical Society.

Following a sold-out tour and international success, award-winning comedian Ian Stone is back – and he’s searching for life’s missing magic.Ian says, “Life can’t just be the humdrum, the mundane, and the routine before the inevitable slide into disease, decay, and death. Why can’t we sneak in a bit of awesome, a tad of amazing, and maybe a smidge of wonderful? A forest canopy opening onto a huge vista would be enchanting for some, but my ancestors wandered in the desert for forty years — I think we’ve been outdoors enough.

Director Christopher Auchter, a member of the Haida Nation, reconstructs the story of the 1985 stand-off between his community and a major logging company. The resistance, which was rooted in Haida spirituality, blocked the loggers from accessing Lyell Island. Tension increased as police and the media descended on the standoff, transforming the protest into a national flashpoint on Indigenous land rights, environmental protection and justice.

Menelik Shabazz shines a light on the music genre often dubbed ‘romantic reggae’; a uniquely Black British sound that developed in the late '70s and '80s against a backdrop of riots, racial tension and sound systems.

As has become tradition, we will be closing the exhibition with the Lunchtime Conversation. An opportunity for a home-cooked meal around the kitchen table here at BasementHQ and lively chat with the artist and other guests before a guided tour of the exhibition.

In a 21st Century world where connection and identity have become abstract concepts associated with nationhood and ideology rather than humanity, how do we reconnect with the essence of what it means to be human?