ARTS DIARY

Leeds Lit returns for sixth year:

Festival organisers are delighted by the city’s support they have received over the last five years and aim to make this year’s festival in June an engaging and inspirational one filled with all things literary and more. Audiences can expect another wonderful gathering of authors from Leeds and across the West Yorkshire region as well as invited national and international guests. Leeds Lit Fest is organised by partners from across the city including The Leeds Library, Hyde Park Book Club, MILIM, The Leeds Big Bookend and Northern Short Story Festival, Leeds Church Institute, Strix and Leeds Libraries. As a newly registered Community Interest Company, Leeds Lit Fest will be reaching out to attract partnerships, sponsorships, grants, donations and collaborations with schools, businesses, trusts and foundations. June 15-23. leedslitfest.co.uk

New chair at IOU: Helen Marriage, artistic director of Artichoke has been appointed as chair of arts organisation IOU. She will be joined on the Board by new Trustees: cultural strategist, Catherine Waddington, Factory International Technical Director, Jack Thompson, and sculptor and David Nash studio manager Sam Clayton. These new appointments, plus existing board members will steer IOU towards becoming the North’s National Creation Centre for Contemporary Art, Engineering, and Technology. At Dean Clough, Halifax, plus artist residential facilities at the IOU Hebden Bridge Hostel, IOU’s transition to a Creation Centre will see the organisation provide sopportunities to artists and participants to co-create and produce innovative ideas, artworks, and interdisciplinary productions.

Print Fair at The Hepworth Wakefield:

The Hepworth Wakefield’s Print

Fair returns on the weekend of March 16/17, 10am-4pm. The fair is at Tileyard North, the refurbished mill opposite the gallery. Visitors can buy work directly from over 60 emerging and established artists and collectives – working in linocut printing, monoprinting, screen-printing, collagraph, woodcut, risograph, cyanotype, textile design and more. Entry is £2, free for members and under-18s.