Column: Sharon Canavar, Chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals - ​It’s certainly been a busy few weeks

​Blossoms equal deadlines in my head!

This was how we worked for years and despite the fact we are now a year-round organisation our biggest events still take place in the summer and so the blossoms still give me the fear.

It’s certainly been a busy few weeks here at HIF Towers.

A fantastic launch in London to announce the 20th anniversary programme of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, our Spring Series enjoyed a grand finale and we announced our highlights programme for the Music Festival this year featuring Chineke! Orchestra, Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, the Mike Lovatt Brass Pack and a new artists residency with Harrogate hosting 12 musicians for a week for a range of unique concerts and events.

Whilst we’re busy announcing and fixing concerts for the summer, Berwins Salon North continues apace with tickets flying off the shelves for Harrogate’s very own TED style talks.

Voted by GQ at no. 6 as ‘one of the world’s top 100 things to do’, this week’s event is focused on simple pleasures as we find out how complicated the business of making and keeping friends actually is, why music plays such an important role in the soundtrack of our lives and how what nutrients we eat make a difference to our personalities.

So, perhaps there is a science to being hangry after all.

If you can’t make this Thursday, take a look at our upcoming Berwins Salon North across the year which include how to make best use of our four thousand weeks on earth and learn how Westminster works… and why it doesn’t.

Looking ahead to the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

What started as a small specialised literary festival is now a behemoth hosting the giants of the genre and launching the bestsellers of the future.

This year we welcome Vaseem Khan, Jeffery Deaver, Ann Cleeves, Lee and Andrew Child along with Val McDermid and a host of very special celebrity crime authors including Rev Richard Coles, Judge Rob Rinder and an actor from Netflix’s latest hit; Richard Armitage.

It’s safe to say the phones have been ringing non-stop with those announcements but the clamour to get close to Mr Armitage is something we haven’t seen before here in the office!

So whilst the blossoms are blooming on the Stray, pick up a brochure for this summer and see what the Harrogate International Festival’s have in store for our wonderful town this year!