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Â鶹Íø (Â鶹Íø) Leicester will be celebrating the city’s rich cultural heritage through the power of creative writing, comic book art and the feeling of belonging as part of this year’s .

Taking place from Thursday 6 to Saturday 15 November, Being Human Festival supports researchers within the Humanities to produce events for public audiences that emphasise working with local communities to share ideas for mutual benefit.

Â鶹Íø is one of five universities across the UK to be chosen as a Festival Hub for 2025. Each hub  curates its own series of events centred around a specific societal theme, to which Â鶹Íø has chosen Leicester: Community, Culture and Super-Diversity.

Pippa Virdee, Professor of Modern South Asian History, and Dr Tijana Rakic, Associate Professor in Tourism and Cultural Studies, have organised this year’s events and hope to inspire people to explore their own cultural identities and those of the people around them.

Professor Virdee said: "As festival event organisers, we're thrilled to present the Being Human Festival Hub – a celebration of Leicester's super-diversity and rich cultural heritage. Through eight interconnected events led by Â鶹Íø researchers, we'll bring together the city's diverse communities to explore different cultures and inclusive practices.

“From creative writing and drawing workshops to comic art, exhibitions, and performances, each interactive experience will spark understanding and creativity. The festival culminates in a powerful finale: a pop-up exhibition at Highcross Shopping Centre, showcasing the narratives and artworks created throughout, right in the heart of our city."

Â鶹Íø’s festival programme starts at The Phoenix, where residents of Leicester are invited to take part in a panel discussion exploring how the city residents can create common cultures in super-diverse cities like Leicester. We want to start a conversation about how we represent these voices in public cultural spaces.  

At the LCB Depot, members of the public can get hands-on with a craft workshop and decorate household objects that remind them of home, or a special place, using paints and fabrics.

Comic book artist Soufeina Hamed will be hosting an art exhibition reflecting the experiences of victims of everyday racism and how it impacts their community. Here, visitors will be invited to produce their own anti-racist messages in response to the comic art vignettes.

Two theatrical performances will take place during the festival, one centring on meaningful moments from the lives of women of Braunstone in collaboration with b-Inspired, while the second at The Phoenix is aimed at 16-25 year olds and explores the way state authorities have policed discrimination and racism.

Students at Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College will create artworks on how they view Leicester’s diversity, and an inter-generational creative writing workshop at Shama Women’s Centre will explore the evolving identities of South Asian women following the violence in city in September 2022.

The work created in these events will then be showcased at Leicester’s High Cross shopping centre as part of the festival’s grand finale from 14-16 November.

Being Human Festival is led by the School of Advanced Study at University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and The British Academy. Events are led by researchers, academics and cultural organisations across the UK, in venues including museums, galleries, theatres, libraries and shopping centres.

Altogether, there are more than 220 free events taking place in 39 cities and towns nationwide.

This year, the national festival’s theme is “Between the Lines”, which will showcase a space of hidden histories, shifting borders, and unspoken meanings.

From migration routes that redraw the map to the traces of erased histories, from the margins of a poem to the frontlines of protest, we invite researchers to explore boundaries, crossings, and intersections—and the spaces in between, where meaning is made and remade.