Way with Words

Know your tater trap from your sniffle herring. Join wordsmith Adam Sharp as he journeys around the world in idioms, proverbs and general nonsense.

Discover the literary, historical and cultural richness of the Apennine region of Italy as author Nick Havely explores the power of mountains on the imaginations of writers.

Historian Laura Beers reveals how revisiting George Orwell’s own age of rapid change and urgent crossroads can shed unique light on our recent past and current upheavals.

Join us for an exploration of WH Auden in words and music as York musicians, poets and performers present works written and inspired by the 'Picasso of modern poetry'.

Join the artists and scholars behind a re-imagination of the satirical musical, The Bedridden Prince, originally created by Czech-Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Ghetto in 1943.

Like her much-loved heroine Emma Woodhouse, Jane Austen 'played and sang'. Join writer Gillian Dooley as she explores the central role of music in Austen’s life and fiction.

Coaching psychologists Paula Louise Dixon and Kate Pearlman Shaw reveal how conversations become catalysts for growth, understanding and shared success at this online workshop.

Join medievalist Professor William Chester Jordan of Princeton University, USA and discover what the lives of three saints reveal about the moral universe of the medieval aristocracy.

Join Adam James Smith of York St John University on a tour through the worlds of Gulliver’s Travels as he explores the novel’s satire.

Join BBC Security Correspondent and bestselling author Frank Gardner as he discusses his life, career and latest book with Elly Fiorentini of BBC Radio York.

Join us for some family-friendly fun and discover the amazing power of language at this interactive session.

Accusatory, libellous or just bizarre, historian Emily Cockayne unveils the history of anonymous letter-writing from 1760-1939.

Find out how the gendered nature of language shapes societal associations about the character of leadership, particularly who is and what it means to be a ‘good’ leader.

Join Lauren Working of the University of York on a voyage to Shakespeare's mysterious island, where everything is enchanting and strange.

Enjoy a special screening of Lost in the Middle, a short documentary featuring a group of bilinguals/bidialectals discussing their language journeys after migration, followed by a Q&A.

Join us for an interactive role-playing game session set in 17th and 18th-century York, featuring women printers operating in the city.

Enjoy printing a one-of-a-kind poster and learn about York's fascinating history of print at a hands-on workshop at Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print.

Enjoy printing a one-of-a-kind poster and learn about York's fascinating history of print at a hands-on workshop at Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print.

Enjoy printing a one-of-a-kind poster and learn about York's fascinating history of print at a hands-on workshop at Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print.

Enjoy printing a one-of-a-kind poster and learn about York's fascinating history of print at a hands-on workshop at Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print.

Join us for a linguistic odyssey, a journey through five different perspectives on how we use language without even thinking about it.

Join us for a powerful performance of War Horse, one of the most beloved books by renowned children’s author Michael Morpurgo.

Alicia Maddalena and Matt Townend of the University of York explore Viking Age skaldskapr or poetry, combining an account of its power with a sample of readings.

Join filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth: The Golden Age; Mr India) and author Vikas Swarup (whose book was filmed as Slumdog Millionaire) as we explore the power of creativity.

Join us for a talk with performance extracts designed to open doors to the remarkable and evocative dramatic world of Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse.