A Festival of Festivals - Musings From The Bookface

With the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2014 upon us again, my thoughts have been turning to the phenomenon of the Literature Festival. As well as being the longest running literature festival in the world, The Times and the Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival was one of the first, being formed in 1949, and from this rather humble beginning Literature festivals in its style have spread throughout the world.

I’m interested in what the authors get out of attending these events.  Ideas and characters that have already been painstakingly translated from their imagination to the page must now be re-incarnated when answering the questions of their interviewers and the crowds- and fans can ask some strange questions, (as well as some repetitive questions- ‘when is your next book released’ might  get you a fairly harsh response from George RR Martin) keeping even the most experienced authors on their toes. This is a chance for them to promote their work, meet their fans and engage with their readers , perhaps even engage in a little behind the scenes hero-worship of their own with the other authors present?

But do they still need to attend a festival for these reasons in our modern, digitally propelled socially mediated era? When authors such as Anne Rice can communicate with her fans on a daily (possibly hourly) basis using Facebook, when authors can promote their work on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Youtube without the need to travel hundreds of miles, are festivals still relevant? For publishers these events require co-ordination and funds and I imagine they must feel they need to get a satisfactory return on this investment.  Do authors feel compelled to take part ? wouldn’t they rather be writing? Perhaps this is why literature festivals are increasingly becoming cultural festivals with talks from actors, singers, and performances by stand-up comedians taking the headlines, rather than the literary novelists and poets that once garnered the most attention. Should these festivals try and stick to their roots or should we sit back and enjoy the fruits of them branching out, even If this means seeing less of the authors we love visiting our tiny part of the world?

- The Muser