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Literary festival directors have warned it is “crucial” some physical events can be safely rolled out this year, though others have already confirmed completely digital programmes.
Directors have told The Bookseller they are keen to reassure audiences, with most offering hybrid events of both digital activities alongside tentatively planned physical events in keeping with current Covid-19 precautions.
Patrick Gale, artistic director of the North Cornwall Book Festival in October, was forced to cancel last year and replaced the event with a season of short films. This year, however, he is “determined to have some kind of live festival for north Cornwall”.
“What we can’t yet know is whether both authors and audiences will be ready for it,” he said. The team are “double-planning” for either a “new normal” festival with normal audience sizes admitted and Covid-19 precautions like Perspex screens in place for signing sessions, or for a reduced live festival, with much the same line-up but smaller audiences and no cafe.
“Obviously we’re hoping the former will be possible because it will be very hard to cover our costs with reduced audience numbers,” he said. “I think having some kind of live festival is crucial, though, after a year’s absence. Festivals don’t just rely on audiences but on an army of local volunteers and a groundswell of local support and these both need the sustenance of a live festival buzz to keep them going. We’re hoping to know one way or the other what we’ll be doing by mid-April."
Adrian Turpin, director of the autumn's Wigtown Book Festival, has a contingency plan for a fully digital festival but has also strategised various hybrid layouts, which would allow a mix of physical, digital live and pre-recorded events. He expects to be finalising plans in spring, with the festival due to take place in the autumn.
Speaking to The Bookseller, he said: “We're very much hoping that we will still have a physical festival in some form, though even for events in the autumn the clock is ticking and decisions have to be made about infrastructure. It's a brave organiser who is booking tents at the moment.”
In the future, Turpin thinks a digital aspect will always be retained at Wigtown. “[Digital events are] a tool in our toolkit that we've begun to learn how to use properly, the hard way, over the past 11 months. At the moment the conversation about hybrids tends, understandably, to be mainly about ‘hybrids of necessity’. Putting on a hybrid is essentially a defensive move or a holding position. As things change, it will be fascinating to see 'hybrids of opportunity' and see how festivals use digital to enhance and support what they’ve always done best, bringing people together.”
Nicola Tuxworth, head of programming for the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October, said this year's format would mirror 2020's hybrid version, but hopes to see large audiences in attendance. “Last year the Times and the Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival led the way in presenting a hybrid festival. We held 120 events in front of live, socially-distanced audiences and streamed online, alongside a digital offering of 30 events for schools and families. This year we are hoping to welcome full capacity audiences to all our venues during our usual 10 days in October (running from the 8th to17th). We will continue to stream events and highlights of the programme, as through the success of our CheltLitPlayer the festival had nearly half a million views.”
Michelle Hodgson, director of the Huddersfield Literature Festival in March, has planned an ambitious 10-day programme for this year, including creative writing workshops, author talks and performances from Alexander McCall Smith, Johny Pitts, Kei Miller, Saima Mir and Ching He Huang among others. In terms of physical events, an outdoor book trail competition and a lockdown lantern installation, are set to feature. The lantern was commissioned to commemorate the anniversary of the first lockdown, and will be lit up for the first time on 23rd March.
Hodgson remains optimistic about the forthcoming festival: “We believe we may be the first annual book festival to deliver a second festival under lockdown conditions. So we’re getting used to being flexible and adapting to circumstance." She intends to run a programme of indoor and outdoor events, including a talk with Val McDermid and an outdoor treasure hunt, as soon as it is safe to do so.
“Our festival now has Covid safer events accreditation and we are offering additional Covid safety training to our volunteers in preparation for a return to live events,” she said. “Initially, it was a disappointment to have to limit our events to online, but bookings have been very strong so far and we can reach a wider audience online, as well as including authors such as crime writer Peter Robinson, who lives in Canada. At the same time, we can’t wait to get back to the excitement and immediacy of live performances in indoor venues.”
Lancaster Litfest (12th to 21st March 2021) is among those to have confirmed entirely digital programmes. “Litfest 2020 had just got under way in early March last year when Covid struck, so we did the only thing possible and cancelled, but that experience got us thinking about how to turn that grim experience into something positive,” Bill Swainson, festival trustee, told The Bookseller.
With the help of an Arts Council England project recovery grant, the festival has unrolled a programme for 2021, featuring the Litfest Big Read, a region-wide reading challenge led by A M Dassu and Matt Haig; workshops for emerging writers in fiction, poetry, nature and translation; six short documentary films on “How We Live Now”, with local film-maker Kyle McKenzie; and a series of talks looking to the future addressing “How We Live Next”.
Birmingham Festival and Hay festival announced earlier this month that 2021’s festivals would be entirely online, while others, including Bath, are waiting for the government’s announcement, expected today (22nd February) to confirm their itineraries.
Hay Festival publicity director Christopher Bone said: “Our digital events have brought some of the most exciting writers and thinkers of our time to millions worldwide and we will continue to meet this need for conversation and connection, safely and responsibly, with an innovative spring programme to offer hope, inspiration and entertainment. While it won’t be possible to do this with the usual crowds of book lovers joining us in person, we will once more reimagine the world together online."