Day Trip: Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival

Summer is well and truly over, but that doesn’t mean festival season is. The good people of Rochdale have organised a nice indoorsy celebration befitting October. The town’s three-day Literature and Ideas Festival will feature over 40 events, including writing workshops, film screenings, concerts and a comic book show (Sat 25 & Sun 26 Oct, Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre, 11am – 4pm, FREE). The jovial wordsmith Ian MacMillan (pictured) will open the event with an afternoon of poems and stories (Fri 24 Oct, Number One Riverside, 2pm £8, www.eventbrite.co.uk). Willy Russell, the writer of Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita, will be giving a Q&A about his life and work (sold out) while local girl made good Liz Kershaw will be giving a reading from her new memoir The Bird and the Beeb (Sun 26 Oct, Number One Riverside, 3pm, £5). Comedian Dave Spikey, meanwhile, kicks off his new comedy tour with a show at the Middleton Arena on Friday night. For families and teens, there are free puppet making and circus skills workshops to get involved with – and a whole lot more including free clog dancing sessions at The Butts on Sunday. Rochdale is half an hour from Manchester city centre by car or tram.

Fri 24 – Sun 26 Oct, Various venues throughout Rochdale Borough, Costs and times vary, rochdaleliteraturefestival.co.uk