This year’s festival is supported by Leeds 2023, the citywide celebration of culture which will interweave themes of untold stories, radical acts, playful adventures and future generations.

The Festival is very excited to be hosting poet, playwright, memoirist, performer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay OBE (above) as he brings his memoir My Name is Why to Carriageworks Theatre (Fri 3rd March).  In it, Sissay reflects on his childhood, self-expression and Britishness, and in doing so explores the institutional care system, race, family and the meaning of home.

LEEDS 2023 and WOW - Women of The World Festival are on the lookout for young women and non-binary and gender non-conforming people to join them for a FREE twelve-week programme.

It’s an opportunity to develop skills in festival making and explore gender equality through activism and the arts. The WOWsers programme offers the chance to build new networks with other participants, artists, and activists, and to create their own event as part of a WOW festival in Leeds.