LEEDS Lit Fest will return for a second year and promises to be unlike any other literature festival in the country from March 4-8.

The core programme features local, regional and national writers including Leeds’ own Helen Fielding alongside AC Grayling, Jenny Éclair, Helen Taylor, Gavin Esler and Marie Le Conte.

There will be talks, discussions, panel events, question and answer sessions, and an all-day roadshow from the Northern Fiction Alliance.

A non-traditional literary-inspired programme, funded by the Arts Council, will build upon the quirkiness that organisers say defined last year’s festival.

Leeds poet Joe Williams has been commissioned to bring his award-nominated verse novella, An Otley Run, to life in an immersive walk which will see audience members doing part of the famous Otley Run.

Other artists and performers for 2020 include IOU Theatre, international artist Ant Hampton, Scary Little Girls, Nunkie Theatre and Visible Fictions, which will feature sound installations, theatre performance, immersive experiences, more themed walks, music, multi-genre spoken word and film events.

An ‘Inspiring the City’ community programme will see more than 40 events including writing workshops in outlying areas.

American author Diane Cook will be International Writer in Residence for the festival, delivering a number of events and activities.

At the close of the festival she will set out a challenge for the festival team, in the form of a manifesto to take up for the next festival. This writer manifesto is anticipated to be a common theme of the festival for future years.

Organisers promise more than 100 literature-based events in five days. Visit leedslitfest.co.uk for further information on all the events.