Leeds Inspired

After a highly successful debut in 2025 the Leeds Writing Festival returns this September with an equally impressive line-up of expert authors, literary agents and publishing professionals, for a day of inspiration, craft, and community at Leeds Trinity University. Sponsored by a group of Leeds authors, Writers of the North, Leeds Writing Festival offers a choice of ten courses or workshops over four sessions, showcasing the craft of writing.

Illustration from A Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell. Image Credit Mark Newton Photography. Known as the Maitland-Harris set, Thackray’s copy previously formed part of the Richard D. Harris Collection of natural history books. Its most notable former owner was Victorian novelist and poet Ella Fuller Maitland (1857-1939), whose signature appears in the front of the edition.

This Autumn, Leeds International Piano Competition invites volunteers to take part in a beautiful and unusual community project, in collaboration with our friends and partners Pianodrome CIC and Besbrode Pianos and led by Festival Artist in Resonance, Dora Goldsbrough. Between September and December 2026, we'll carefully dismantle around 30 old pianos, rescuing beautiful timber, ironwork and materials that would otherwise be lost to landfill.

poeEMS Workshop / 25 Jun 2026 What is the poeMS workshop? poeMS, a name that brings together poetry and MS, is a two-hour creative writing workshop organised by the Centre for Music, Text and Cultures in Leeds. Participants will read and discuss poetry written by someone living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), then write their own in response. No poetry experience is required. Who is it for?

This month brings some of the most well-known and best-loved music into the centre of Leeds as Opera North performs Classics in the Square, a celebration of Leeds 400 and the latest addition to the summer series being held by Leeds City Council in Millennium Square. Supported by the Laidlaw Opera Trust, the pay what you can event on Sunday 28 June has been designed to give people the chance to hear their favourite tunes played live by a full 60-piece orchestra.

Blog Written by City of Maths City of Maths Leeds has always been a city of innovation, creativity and big ideas. Now, as the UK’s first-ever City of Maths, Leeds is adding another unique title to its name. Running throughout 2026 and 2027, City of Maths is a city-wide celebration designed to show that maths isn’t just something that happens in classrooms – it’s part of everyday life, from art and sport to music, technology, nature and the world around us.

Leeds International Film Festival Volunteers Pack Betram’s story Bertram was recently invited to input into Screen Yorkshire's strategic Growth Plan, a vision aimed at attracting production companies to the region and improving infrastructure for local crew. “I definitely felt out of my depth sitting next to producers, festival directors and cinematographers with far more experience, but I am really glad I attended.

South Asian Arts-uk (SAA-uk) proudly marks the 15th anniversary of its flagship Leeds Summer Solstice Festival with its most expansive and immersive edition to date, An Evening of Celestial Music, taking place on Sunday 21st June 2026 at the Howard Assembly Room, Leeds. Rooted in the rhythms of nature, astronomy, and the enduring relationship between sound and time, the festival has evolved into a distinctive cultural moment in Leeds’ artistic calendar.

Red Ladder Theatre Company and Silent Uproar – two boundary-pushing theatre companies – are delighted to announce an exciting new partnership, showcasing the North of England’s rich seam of playwriting talent. Leeds-based Red Ladder and Hull’s Silent Uproar will co-produce two new plays starting with Close Enough to Touch, a powerful, one-person show about sex, heartbreak…and toilets, written by new playwright Henry Roberts, that will tour across the UK this autumn.

Blog Written by Culture Fashion Show UK Inspired by the designers showcasing CFSUK26 on Saturday 6th June Leeds is preparing for a landmark cultural moment as Culture Fashion Show UK returns on Saturday 6th June at Fearns, Leeds Dock. This year marks a pivotal shift in our journey — a moment that signals how far the platform has grown, and how far it is now reaching.