Sat 30 March 2024
The Grand Opera House York is to host not one but two events as part of this year’s York Literature Festival – poet LEMN SISSAY and food critic and writer, GRACE DENT.
Tickets are now on sale for two literary legends live on stage; Lemn Sissay in the afternoon, followed by Grace Dent in the evening.
Rob O’Connor, Festival Director says:
“York Literature Festival is pleased to announce a collaboration with Grand Opera House York on Saturday 30 March with two exciting events with poet Lemn Sissay and food critic and writer Grace Dent. Lemn will be reading from his latest collection Let the Light Pour In, which promises to be a spectacular performance of poetry and reminiscence. Grace will be in conversation regarding her memoir Hungry, her podcast and book Comfort Eating as well as her life as a food critic. We hope that everyone will enjoy this exciting conclusion to this year’s festival!”
Lemn Sissay – Let the Light Pour In
For the past decade, Lemn Sissay has composed a short poem as dawn breaks each morning. Life-affirming, witty and full of wonder, these poems chronicle his own battle with the dark and are fuelled by resilience and defiant joy. Let the Light Pour In is a collection of the best of these poems, and a book celebrating this morning practice.
Lemn Sissay is a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer and broadcaster. He has authored collections of poetry and plays and his memoir My Name Is Why was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. His Landmark poems are visible in London, Manchester, Huddersfield and Addis Ababa.
He has been made an Honorary Doctor by the Universities of Manchester, Kent, Essex, Huddersfield and Brunel, and in 2019 he was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize. He received an MBE in 2010 and an OBE in 2021 for services to literature and charity. In 2023, Sissay was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.
An Audience with Grace Dent
Celebrate the 2024 York Literature Festival with food critic, columnist, author and presenter Grace Dent. In this special event, Grace will be in conversation about all things food, her memoir Hungry and her other work.
As a columnist, Grace has written weekly columns for The Independent and The London Evening Standard until she took on the revered role of restaurant critic for The Guardian, for which she won the Guild of Food Writers’ Food Writing Award 2019. In October 2020, HarperCollins published Grace’s memoir Hungry, a book for people who love to eat and love to laugh.
On screen Grace is perhaps best known as a regular guest and critic on MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals. She also hosts the hugely successful podcast entitled Comfort Eating, which inspired the recent book of the same name.