Acclaimed writers Irvine Welsh and Owen Jones are coming to Liverpool this May to take part in the annual Writing on the Wall festival.
Welsh, the author of the iconic novel ‘Trainspotting’, will be heading to the festival as part of the launch of his new book ‘Sex Lives of Siamese Twins’.
This year’s festival is entitled ‘ShellShock’ and it will help commemorate the centenary of World War I, running for the entire month of May. Writers from all over the country and from all different backgrounds have been invited to take part.
In addition, a ‘Pulp Idol’ competition, described as ‘X-Factor for writers’, gives new authors the chance to have their work published. Writing on the Wall has helped three writers get published in recent years.
One of the festival’s signature events is the Rebel Rants, which in the past has attracted the likes of Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and Labour peer Joan Bakewell. This year’s ‘ranter’ is writer and social commentator Owen Jones, author of ‘Chavs – The Demonization of the Working Class’.
Madelina Heneghan, festival director, told JMU Journalism: “We get more successful year on year. We have big names featured this year, as well as Irvine Welsh, we have comedian Phil Jupitus, actress Liz Carr and Ronan Bennett who wrote ‘Top Boy’.
“I think we get such big names because we have such a good reputation, we are known for examining very relevant and topic issues. Irvine Welsh came here a few years back and he said there ‘was no other festival like Writing on the Wall.'”