BCU students step into the literary world at Birmingham Literature Festival

Students at Birmingham City University will get the chance to step beyond the classroom and meet writers, publishers and the wider literary industry when Birmingham Literature Festival returns this week.

The festival runs from Thursday 8 to Monday 12 October. BCU students will be able to volunteer at events and create social media content around the programme, giving them first-hand experience of the professional world of literature.

"A vital connection"

Professor Gregory Leadbetter, Director of the Institute of Creative and Critical Writing at BCU, Professor of Poetry and course director of the university's MA in Creative Writing, said the Department of English and Media was proud of its close relationship with the festival.

"It shows a vital connection between the work we do in class, as writers and thinkers ourselves, and what is happening now in contemporary publishing at the leading edge of literature," he said.

"The festival has a uniquely welcoming feel and is a wonderful testament to the power of good writing. This is a special occasion in contemporary literary culture, and it's great to have our students involved with the festival more closely than ever for 2026."

Events on campus

The university is also bringing the festival onto its campus, with BCU's Royal Birmingham Conservatoire hosting several events, some sponsored by the university. They include:

• En Pointe, Off Kilter, with Thomas Glave;
• Pathetic Masculinity: Putting the Feeling into Fiction, with Taylor Burns and Keiran Goddard;
• Writing Nature, with Professor Leadbetter, Paul Evans, Brett Westwood and Alys Fowler.

Alumni on the bill

BCU graduates and current students also feature in this year's programme. Martin Kennedy Yates and Kate Mascarenhas, both graduates of the MA in Creative Writing, are taking part. So is Ayan Aden, the outgoing Birmingham Poet Laureate, who is currently studying gemmology at the university.

Why it matters for students

Publishing and the creative industries can be hard to break into, and many jobs depend on contacts and experience as much as qualifications. Volunteering at a major festival lets students see how events are run, meet authors, agents and editors, and build a portfolio of work, while hearing directly from writers about how they built their careers.

About the festival

Birmingham Literature Festival brings writers, poets and thinkers to venues across the city centre, including the Birmingham Rep, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Birmingham and Midland Institute, Birmingham Cathedral and the Priory Rooms. It is run by a regional literature development charity and supported by Arts Council England, and ticket holders can register for free bus travel to festival events.

The university's Department of English and Media teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in English literature, creative writing, journalism and media, and many of its staff are published writers.