Sounds like it was really good and you're quite right about that sense community and ownership from a fringe. They probably thought they could achieve 80% of the same box office/results etc with 20% of the work, packing it all into a weekend. That's clearly not the way to go. But you're right about 'non-authors with books out' - twas ever thus. It always feels like a new thing, but it isn't. Also worth bearing in mind that these non-authors do at least have something to write about, even if it's themselves. Sometimes writers just want to 'be writers', which is another problem. Anyway, thanks for writing this. Enjoyed.
This was really, really interesting to read. It’s made me think about the role of lit festivals, and which communities they serve, and also how much I take the one I usually go to for granted. It does have a sort of main/fringe component, but only in the sense that the bigger names are on the larger 3 of the 4 stages, and get more time, while smaller or up-and-coming names are on the smallest stage. But all of it’s free, other than the regular daily admission fee to the art museum where it’s held.
I don’t think that I would bother going if one had to pay by individual event, and if there wasn’t that sense of wandering around, choosing at the last minute what to listen to.
This sounds like the fringe element was the part that I’d have gone for. It’s sad to hear that it once existed, and what it was like. It must have been fantastic.
That one sounds amazing. I have often wondered about the aim of a litfest - is it something like a gig or night at the theatre, is it to draw new readers in, is it to engage people with ideas, is it to boost a career or sell books? All legitimate but not necessarily all achieved at once, or by the same tactics.
I always assumed, without thinking too much about it, that for readers they are mainly a chance to be in the same physical space as writers whose work they admire (and maybe even an opportunity to engage briefly) and the same with writers whose work they only discover through the festival. For writers, I assumed that they were about promoting their work and meeting people. But reading your account (and your comment!) has me thinking about them in much more interesting ways.
I've been to Ilkley Book Festival and even done events there, including for schools which is another part of literary festivals which is so important but kind of overlooked (usually hidden away at the back of the programme). Not being truly local (Leeds!) I never twigged about the importance of the fringe in bringing a range of people in though, this was really thought-provoking.
It’s a different vibe when you’re based in the town I guess. I lived in Edinburgh many years ago and I remember hanging around Charlotte Square reading in the area round the pop up bookshop, there was a buzz around that too. Whereas when I did an event at the Hexham book festival a couple of years ago I was only in town a few hours so I didn’t really get a feel for the festival as a whole. Ilkley still has a schools programme, and a young writers group I think.
Sounds like it was really good and you're quite right about that sense community and ownership from a fringe. They probably thought they could achieve 80% of the same box office/results etc with 20% of the work, packing it all into a weekend. That's clearly not the way to go. But you're right about 'non-authors with books out' - twas ever thus. It always feels like a new thing, but it isn't. Also worth bearing in mind that these non-authors do at least have something to write about, even if it's themselves. Sometimes writers just want to 'be writers', which is another problem. Anyway, thanks for writing this. Enjoyed.
Arguably the likes of Julian Clary and Gyles Brandreth are as much writers as they are anything else these days, too. Glad you enjoyed it anyway.
This was really, really interesting to read. It’s made me think about the role of lit festivals, and which communities they serve, and also how much I take the one I usually go to for granted. It does have a sort of main/fringe component, but only in the sense that the bigger names are on the larger 3 of the 4 stages, and get more time, while smaller or up-and-coming names are on the smallest stage. But all of it’s free, other than the regular daily admission fee to the art museum where it’s held.
I don’t think that I would bother going if one had to pay by individual event, and if there wasn’t that sense of wandering around, choosing at the last minute what to listen to.
This sounds like the fringe element was the part that I’d have gone for. It’s sad to hear that it once existed, and what it was like. It must have been fantastic.
That one sounds amazing. I have often wondered about the aim of a litfest - is it something like a gig or night at the theatre, is it to draw new readers in, is it to engage people with ideas, is it to boost a career or sell books? All legitimate but not necessarily all achieved at once, or by the same tactics.
I always assumed, without thinking too much about it, that for readers they are mainly a chance to be in the same physical space as writers whose work they admire (and maybe even an opportunity to engage briefly) and the same with writers whose work they only discover through the festival. For writers, I assumed that they were about promoting their work and meeting people. But reading your account (and your comment!) has me thinking about them in much more interesting ways.
I've been to Ilkley Book Festival and even done events there, including for schools which is another part of literary festivals which is so important but kind of overlooked (usually hidden away at the back of the programme). Not being truly local (Leeds!) I never twigged about the importance of the fringe in bringing a range of people in though, this was really thought-provoking.
It’s a different vibe when you’re based in the town I guess. I lived in Edinburgh many years ago and I remember hanging around Charlotte Square reading in the area round the pop up bookshop, there was a buzz around that too. Whereas when I did an event at the Hexham book festival a couple of years ago I was only in town a few hours so I didn’t really get a feel for the festival as a whole. Ilkley still has a schools programme, and a young writers group I think.