Birmingham Literature Festival 2020
In October, we went to some of the events offered by Birmingham Literature Festival (BLF). The festival was devised by Writing West Midlands, an organisation that promotes developing literature and writers in the region. The festival is usually very well attended by book enthusiasts and writers in the community, as well as cultural figures, so the challenge of adapting interactive events proved very difficult. Part of the wonder of these events, particularly poetry readings from local poets, comes from being in the room with the writer and hearing the passion for their work. Moving these events online, then, is not an easy task.
One of the first events of the festival was a reading by local poets published by Nine Arches Press - a partner of the event. I was completely struck by how effective the event still was. The guests were still able to engage with the work that was being read, ask questions and get a sense of who the authors were.
One of the last events of the festival was also put on in partnership with Nine Arches Press, and this was a poetry workshop entitled ‘Poetry Spa’. This event saw a whole afternoon of poetry readings, discussion and reflection, including what the publishing scene for poetry is like in Birmingham. Nationally, poetry has not enjoyed the same popularity as novels in the past few decades, but Birmingham has a vibrant poetry scene and this event captured that amazingly well. It was great to see a local press and local businesses taking the lead on a lot of these events and gaining exposure for local arts and heritage organisations. However, it wasn’t just local talent getting involved - this year, BLF hosted a number of events on the national stage.
As well as Nine Arches Press, Birmingham Literature festival also partnered with Durham Book Festival to share some of their events. We loved this collaboration between different regional festivals because they celebrate local talent and ideas, which is something that we are very passionate about. National and local writers spreading their work and ideas has really helped to build up local cultures throughout history by spreading stories that unite people, so it was great to see such a variety of names speaking at this event. It is also hugely important at this time to support local artists whose livelihoods are affected by COVID-19 by providing exposure for their work.
We attended an event by Alastair Campbell, writer and former communications director and press secretary for Tony Blair. His new book, Living Better, formed the focus of his talk, where he spoke openly about his experiences with mental health. Also present was Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism project. Her new book also provided the basis for her talk, and provoked some interesting discussion despite the event being online - the chat function really is a wonderful thing!
Literature festival events have proven themselves to be a staple of regional cultural industries for many years now and we in Birmingham are fortunate to have had ours continue this year. Having seen just a slice of the writers that are producing amazing work in the West Midlands, I am struck by how resilient the industry has been this year, adapting to online events. I hope the festival will be able to grow even larger next year - and perhaps even be in-person!