As the years passed and the Ripper’s tally of victims edged upwards and began to embrace women other than sex workers – and with the police seemingly at sea – David lost his initial excitement and began to fear for his mother’s life, begging her not to leave the house. “My sister used to say her prayers out loud every night, and she would always say, ‘Dear God, please don’t let the Ripper kill my mum,’” Peace told the Guardian in 2001. “Because of the way she was, she’d have to say it 10 times. If she lost count, she’d have to start again. It did my head in.” Yorkshire has been inspirational to a number of world famous playwrights. We find out more about the people who bring northern grit to the big stage… Alan Bennett (1934 – )

On January 5 1981 his father woke him with the words: “They’ve caught him.” David, then aged 13, bunked off school to join the “baying crowd” that assembled for Sutcliffe’s first appearance in court in Dewsbury. Peace’s readers will note that the television series has an infinitesimally happier ending than the books do. The scriptwriter Tony Grisoni explained: “It was an emotional reaction … to two and a half years of being in this inferno that David Peace had constructed. David doesn’t save anyone. Whereas I needed to.” From Leeds, ten of her books have been made into mini series and television movies. The No. 1 best-selling author of women’s fiction over the last 30 years. Highlights of her long career include:Simon Armitage was born in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, and grew up in the village of Marsden, where his family still live. Armitage was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds and succeeded Geoffrey Hill as Oxford Professor of Poetry when he was elected to the four-year part-time appointment from 2015 to 2019. Our adopted poets… Philip Larkin (1922 – 1985)

Born to a farming family in Rudston, East Yorkshire, Holtby was a prolific journalist. Holtby’s most important book was South Riding, published posthumously in 1936. The book is set in the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire. Born in Barnsley and now living in Huddersfield, Joanne was a teacher for 15 years, during which time she published novels including… From Winstead, near Hull, Andrew Marvell is said to be one of the 17th century’s great metaphysical poets. His best known piece of work being the poem, To His Coy Mistress. Ted Hughes (1930 – 1998) Anne was the youngest of the sisters, she died while on holiday to Scarborough where she is buried. She published under the name Acton Bell, her works include… With his keen ear for the absurd and sharp eye for the ludicrous, Phinn has delighted audiences with tales of his experiences as a school inspector and is probably best known for his autobiographical novels: The Dales Series, which includes:

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DI Nathaniel Caslin is in conflict with his inner demons. His career is resurgent, but the greater battle, that with his addiction, is still raging...and he is losing. Sometimes the world feels like a fierce, uncomfortable place. We're bombarded with stories of political unrest, constant technological change, and unpleasant scandals. The temptation to retreat from all this, to look for a better world is strong. Space exploration is one option. Burying your head in a good book is infinitely easier. The first English poet was a Yorkshire local. The now ruined Whitby Abbey was established in 657 by Abbess Hilda. From about 670AD it was the home of Caedmon, an Anglo-Saxon herdsman and the first English poet. Caedmon put into English passages from the Scriptures, and wrote the devotional Hymn to Creation. Andrew Marvell (1621 – 1678) So it's wonderful to be able to bring you some excellent news. Books and bookshops are flourishing! The melodramatic events are underpinned by Peace’s eerie evocation of the psychogeography of West Yorkshire, his characters being haunted with a sense of the area’s violent past, conjured up in his incantatory, mesmerically repetitious prose: he is a novelist who is perhaps best read out loud. Are these books modernist fiction disguised as crime thrillers, or vice versa? They are certainly unlike anything else in crime fiction.

The American born poet, novelist and short story writer, described Heptonstall as ‘wild and lonely and a perfect place to work’, and at least one of her poems (November Graveyard) seems to refer to it. Sylvia responded to Haworth and the Brontë legacy in several poems written after walking the area. Yorkshire playwrightsHaunted by the ghosts of the past, Caslin is pushed to his limits. Will this case break him or be his path to redemption? The Yorkshire Dales are peaceful and fairly crime-free and yet the area has somehow inspired a myriad of crime-writers. Susan Parry lives in Swaledale which she uses as her setting for her series of mysteries, peppered with local details such as details of lead-mining in the past. Born in Mytholmroyd, near Hebden Bridge, he lived in Yorkshire until 1937. He wrote a number of poems about his early life in the area. Hughes, consistently described as one of the 20th century’s greatest English poets, was also a prolific children’s author and translator. He was married to the poet Sylvia Plath and became Poet Laureate in 1984. W H Auden (1907 – 1973) a large collection relating to the Yorkshire Dales and other parts of North Yorkshire, and the East Riding. We also have a collection of Yorkshire Parish Registers. Gissing Collection DI Nathaniel Caslin’s life is a mess. He works the minimum, abuses substances to survive the day, and drinks his nights away. A once-promising career is in freefall.