An Explosion of Northern Literature Festivals
Regular readers will have been disappointed at the lack of post last weekend (so I tell myself). It was either because I was so busy dancing through my wildflower meadow after Corbyn's leadership success, or because I went on holiday and forgot to schedule anything. I'll leave you to decide which. However, now that I'm back at my computer, refreshed and mildly pinkened by the elements, I realise with a lurch of dismay that the Ilkley Literature Festival is less than two weeks away.
Dismay? (I hear you cry) What's to be dismayed about? Well on the one hand, nothing at all - it's a packed two weeks of wildly varied events, many of which are free to attend, on my own doorstep. I've got tickets to see Stuart Maconie, Mark Thomas and Paul Mason, as well as Jami Attenberg (whose novel Saint Mazie I've just got out of the library along with a novel I didn't get round to reading for last year's festival) and a few other events less organised round a Name. On the other hand, of course, it means there's not much time left for me to rehearse and polish the reading of my specially-written story Down to the River (sort of a Springsteen reference, largely due to it featuring a river and an older brother, Big Brother having got me into Springsteen many years ago). This year we're in the 'proper' theatre upstairs, with a curtained-off backstage, and separation from the audience. An exhilarating prospect (I think it's exhilaration. Dry mouth, sweaty palms, thumping heart - you know the one I mean).
Artwork by Alex van Zomerplaag, with lots of references to the stories - I think the bridge is from mine
It also means it's not long till the Morley Arts Festival or the Durham Book Festival, and Wakefield Lit Fest has already begun. I wish I could make the comic art festival in Kendal but it clashes with the final weekend of the Ilkley litfest and I'm booked up. I was in Kendal last Saturday (damn, that's given you a big clue to the first question) and it felt like such a good place to hold it. No more holidays for me for a while though, I've got too many books to read.