An Author's view on ... Literary Festivals

They are, from limited experience, great fun!

Although some literary festivals, in the UK, are held in January and February, the main festival season is about to explode over us. I suppose one of the most famous festivals is that at Hay-on-Wye. This is the mother of all literary festivals and has spawned Hay Festivals around the world. This year the UK Hay-on-Wye Festival runs from the 26 May to 5 June 2016. But Hay is, of course, not the only one!

The website, Literaryfestivals.co.uk lists over 350 literary festivals in the UK and Ireland, with forty or so listed for March and April. There will be many old hacks that have been regular literary festival goers for many years. This is not an accolade to which I can lay claim, nowhere near – I attended my first one only last year. In fact I attended two; the Chipping Norton Literary Festival (ChipLitFest) and the Thame Arts & Literature Festival and was instantly hooked.

The ChipLitFest is a modest, very well organised festival set in the beautiful English Cotwolds, that punches well about its weight, having attracted a wide range of luminaries to partake in its events, including, in 2016, the likes of; Mark Billingham, Brian Blessed, Joanne Harris, Ben Miller and Fay Weldon. It is well worth a visit and runs from 21-24 April. Last year, there was a real buzz about Chipping Norton when the festival was on, with the independent Jaffe and Neale Book Shop at the very heart of it.

Last year I focussed on interviews with established authors and joined the audiences to see Lee Child, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. This year my focus is different. I am attending an audience with three new authors to get their perspective on entering the world of writing and also an audience with literary agent, Carole Blake. As a new author myself, I am looking forward to getting further insight into the publishing world. And this is the wonder of literary festivals. There is something for everyone interested in anything to do with books. In Thame, last year, for example, I attended a workshop on playwright skills! This year the Thame festival runs from 14 to 16 October.

If you have not been to a literary festival before I can thoroughly recommend you give it a try. Have a look at Literaryfestivals.co.uk to find the one nearest to you.