In the early days of February, Wolverhampton venues are opening their doors to the city’s annual Literature Festival. Featuring talks by authors, storytelling for all ages, poetry and workshops, the 2024 edition of the event includes shows to suit every lit-lover - and a lot more besides. We’ve taken a look at six of this year’s headliners, to provide a glimpse of what the festival has in store...

Pauline Black OBE | Thursday 1 February | Newhampton Arts Centre
Spanning over 40 years, Pauline Black’s music career began in Coventry in 1979 as founder member and lead singer of 2 Tone ska band The Selecter. Pauline continues to perform live, and her critically acclaimed memoir, Black By Design, was published in 2011. In an exclusive event kicking off this year’s festival, she shares her story of ‘music, race, family and roots’. The evening also provides the audience with an opportunity to put their questions to her. 

Ghost Huns | Friday 2 February | Newhampton Arts Centre
Join ‘comedians, basic huns and horror stans’ Hannah Byczkowski and Suzie Preece for a live manifestation of their podcast, Ghost Huns. Having regularly spooked their listeners - and themselves - since 2022, Hannah and Suzie promise plenty of laughter to go along with the screams, as they tell ‘the world’s creepiest ghost stories’. Depending how the night goes, they might even crack out the Ouija board... ‘They get haunted, so you don't have to.’

Raphael Rowe | Friday 2 February | Wolverhampton Art Gallery
A familiar face of BBC journalism - and host of Netflix’s Inside The World’s Toughest Prisons - Raphael Rowe’s career has taken him on adventures around the world. The journey that brought him here is even more remarkable, however: before being acquitted and released in 2000, Raphael served 12 years in a maximum security prison, after being falsely accused and tried. This latest show sees him telling his incredible story in person.

Louise Minchin | Saturday 3 February | Wolverhampton Art Gallery
After 20 years presenting BBC Breakfast,  Louise has turned her hand to writing, with her latest offering inspired by the people she met on the breakfast sofa. Fearless: Adventures With Extraordinary Women brings female adventurers into a spotlight primarily held by men. At the festival, she will be recounting these women’s exhilarating, moving and inspirational stories, and her own first-hand adventures as she joined them along the way.

Sohan Kailey | Saturday 3 February | Whitmore Reans Library
Children under 10 - and their grown-ups - are invited to join Wolverhampton artist, actor, dancer & storyteller Sohan on a ‘breathtaking journey’. The Maharajas’ Express is a multi-sensory adventure full of puppets, music and dancing. Travel with Sohan through a magical book to meet dinosaurs and Bhangra pirates, venture into the jungle and to outer space, and discover the power of imagination together, singing and dancing as you go.

Lou Sanders | Saturday 3 February | Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Idiosyncratic comedian Lou Sanders ponders life’s twists and turns during an evening of ‘laughter and candid conversation’.

In support of her latest book, What’s That Lady Doing?, Lou will share her unique perspective through tales of dead dads, bizarre encounters at the osteopath’s and unexpected run-ins with the law. Expect an evening of ‘side-splitting humour, profound insights, and relatable anecdotes that will leave you in stitches’.

Check out the full 2024 Festival programme at wolvesliteraturefestival.co.uk