Liverpool's WoWFEST celebrates 25 years with month long programme

Liverpool’s WowFEST is marking its 25th birthday in May with a month-long programme of unmissable events featuring a host of famous names.

Frank Cottrell Boyce, Armando Iannucci, Irvine Welsh, The Singh Twins, Michael Rosen, John Cooper Clarke and Kit de Waal are among the line-up for the special anniversary edition of the annual festival of radical writing.

WoWFEST 25 takes place from May 1-30 at venues across the city centre.

The event is organised by the city’s award-winning arts organisation Writing on the Wall, and its co-directors Madeline Heneghan and Mike Morris say: “For our 25th anniversary year our accomplishments are also a powerful reminder of the work still to be done.

“Together, we continue to write, we continue to fight, and we continue to build a better world.

“We are, once again, proud to present our festival programme to launch our year of celebrations. Here's to the next 25 years of Writing on the Wall.”

Author Irvine Welsh returns to Liverpool on May 2 to kick off the birthday celebrations at Rough Trade in Hanover Street where he will be ‘in conversation’ with Zoe Howe, discussing Resolution – his third novel featuring the character of Ray Lennox.

A special free WoW birthday party will take place at Sefton Park Palm House on Sunday, May 4, featuring special guest Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell Boyce alongside a host of other writers, poets and creatives. Expect an afternoon of performances, creative activities and family fun.

Phil Scraton, who led the Hillsborough Independent Panel research team and wrote Hillsborough: The Truth, Power, Conflict and Criminalisation, will be at the Victoria Gallery & Museum on May 6, talking about public inquiries.

The Victoria Gallery & Museum is also the venue on May 9 when poet Levi Tafari launches his new book Being Human. Tafari appeared at the first WoWFEST and has been a long-time ambassador for the arts organisation.

Poets Brian Bilston and Henry Normal appear together for the first time when they take to the stage at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on May 14.

Then on May 15, the Liverpool Dead Good Poets Society will host a ‘poetic exploration’ of Oglet Shore, the fragile green space on the River Mersey which is threatened by local industry. The event takes place at Sefton Park Palm House.

St George’s Hall is the venue for Liverpool Rising Against Racism on May 17, with the line-up for the evening of music and spoken word including hip-hop legend Skinnyman, rapper Blue Saint and poet Amina Atiq.

Above: St George's Hall is among the venues for WoWFEST 25.

Author Sam Wetherell talks about his new book Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain at the St George’s Hall Concert Room on May 21, and Armando Iannucci and Michael Spicer present Absurdageddon at the Philharmonic Hall on May 22.

Meanwhile the Unity Theatre hosts the Against All Odds: Class and Resistance in the Arts discussion on May 27.

Michael Rosen, Jackie Kay, Jordan Stephens and Beth Suzanna appear at the Isla Gladstone Conservatory in Stanley Park on May 28 in a special family event From Spellow to Southport…With Love.

And John Cooper Clarke closes the festival on May 30 when he performs a sold-out live show at the Everyman.

There will also be events at The Black-E, Toxteth Library, Quaker Meeting House, VideOdyssey in Windsor Street, News From Nowhere, and online during the month.

WoWFEST takes place at Liverpool venues from May 1-30. For the full programme and booking, visit the website HERE