Tag Archives: literature festival

Your Festival Needs You

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festivalIf you weren’t aware that February 2013 saw the first city-wide literature festival in Nottingham since the 70s then you’re a complete numpty who needs to be thrashed with a copy of Philip James Bailey’s Festus. If you’ve never heard of Festus, or this prolific Nottingham poet, then you need to make sure you come to the Festival of Words next year. Of course the reason you might not have heard of the festival is because the slabs of Market Square are so beautiful you never considered looking up at the Council House where a 21m banner advertised the event, or you forgot to pick up a copy of LeftLion which ran with a double page feature, or perhaps the emails from our two universities, the City Council and WEM simply slipped down your inbox and out of sight. Whatever the reason, all is forgiven and forgotten.

Plans are currently underway for the second festival and for this to happen we need your help. This could mean pitching an idea for a performance or it could be something more pragmatic like offering help with marketing so that everybody knows when and where it’s happening this time around (note to self: advertise the festival on the slabs of Market Square).

The Festival of Words is not owned by anyone in particular, despite being underwritten by the Nottingham Writers’ Studio. Instead it’s a collaboration of various local organisations who simply think that Nottnum town should celebrate its rich literary history and offer up various cultural distractions to help us get through the year. And because a £1.70 bus ticket into town is a lot cheaper than a train down to London, where, apparently, everything happens.

If you’re not one of the current partner organisations then here’s your chance to become one. If you think the event last year was too expensive, too diverse, or too ambitious, now’s your chance to get involved and help shape, plan, and run the next festival. We need people to join the steering group, we need fundraisers, we need local venues to show a bit of civic pride and put themselves forward to host events. We also need a lot of volunteers who will be rewarded with a big red T-Shirt, some free sarnies and a credit to go on that CV. We basically need you, whatever that may mean.

On 8 May at 6pm there will be an open meeting at the Nottingham Writers’ Studio to discuss such issues. So don’t sit on your arse at home moaning that we should have done this or we should have done that. Come down and share your ideas. We don’t bite. That only happens in football matches…

Nottingham Writers’ Studio, 3rd floor, Broadway Business Centre, 32a Stoney Street, Nottingham NG1 1LL. Tel. 0115 959 7947 Email: admin@nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk

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NOT the Hay Festival (7 April)

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Barton Bus By Dave Root at Wikipedia.

Every year in Hay-on-Wye, arty farty folk meet in a tented village on the edge of the glorious Brecon Beacons National Park and quaff champagne while discussing books. So esteemed are these debates that Bill Clinton once described it as the ‘woodstock of the mind’. Now, thanks to New Writers UK, Nottingham is going to host its very own version in the luscious surroundings of Bartons bus depot, Chilwell.

The six hour literary marathon starts at 10am with a strong focus on local history. First up is Maureen Rushton whose talk ‘Canary Girls of Chilwell’ tells the story of those who worked at the National Shell Filling Factory during WWI. Then later on you can catch Alan Oxley’s fascinating talk ‘Gasbags and Gliders’, which explores the history of Bartons Transport from 1908 up to 1989. To get you in the mood there will be a selection of old buses on display, so bring your camera along but make sure Blakey doesn’t catch you.

For those looking for technical tips on the writing process, make sure you arrive at 11.20am for Gloria Morgan’s discussion on the role of character in fiction. This is followed at 12 noon by Philip Baker’s talk on the creative process and where ideas come from. The headline act is crime author Stephen Booth who will be discussing a sense of place and the use of location in his novels, though as far as we are aware, he’s yet to set any of his Cooper and Fry novels in a disused bus depot.

Bartons has hosted film, music and comedy festivals in the past so it’s great to see literature finally getting a turn. But if books and buses aren’t your thing, don’t worry. Running concurrently is the monthly ‘NOT the Camden Market’ with over 50 stalls from local crafters and foodie folk with a bit of music thrown in. You won’t even need your wellies.

Barton House, 61 High Road, Chilwell, Nottingham, NG9 4AJ For more details on this and other NOT events, please see the Bartons website

Published in Issue 52 Leftlion