Oh to be in Hay Now that Summer's Here

I am reading the Guardian's coverage of the Hay Literary Festival with a great deal of envy, not only because they have a formidable line-up of authors (including no less than four Nobel prize winners) but because ... well, if there is one spot on earth where the mystical ley lines of bibliomagic converge, it is in this tiny town on the border between England and Wales which has ... wait for it ... thirty-nine second hand bookshops! (The population is 80,000 so that makes it one bookshop for every 37 residents.)

Bookseller Richard Booth, whose empire quickly spread across all the empty shops in the town, as well as the former firestation and 17th Century Jacobean mansion, declared independence from both England and Wales in a bloodless coup on 1st April, 1977. No-one actually took him seriously, but it certainly put Hay on the map.

Our family once visited the town back in the early 1970's when were on holiday on a Herefordshire farm (yes, British people do such strange things!) and I remember spending a whole afternoon in just one section of one shop, utterly mesmerized by the choice of antiquarian books. I had glimpsed paradise, and one day, I have promised myself, I will return.

But has the festival, now in its 20th year (with150,000 ticket sales for 435 events) got too big, too impersonal and too concerned with commericialisation and celebrity glitz? Some critics think so, writes Andrew Johnson in the Guardian.

Another much smaller UK festival I read about with much envy is the Way With Words festival in Dartington, Devon.

A well-run literary festival should be something like a convivial garden fête - lots of strangers milling around in the sunshine and striking up conversations over a coffee, at the bar, waiting in the queue for the next event.

says author Penelope Lively in the Telegraph, who reckons that she's found bookish heaven in Dartington.

I know the venue well from my days living just down the road in Plymouth or visiting my friend Helen in Totnes and have happy memories of chamber concerts in this beautiful old hall, scones and clotted cream in the tea shop, and long walks in the beautiful gardens.

The trouble is perhaps that when I think of England I always see it on a perfect Summer's day and am just swallowed up by waves of nostalgia ...

*Sigh*
(Top picture from Guardian blog, bottom picture form the Telegraph)

KLILF - Some Thoughts

So some thoughts about this litfest - known gulpily as KLILF.

Any event that brings together a bunch of excellent writers to inspire us is mighty welcome. I really do thank all the organizers for their hard work. I know from the inside just how draining getting a festival together can be.

Some comments though which might be helpful for next time.

The timing wasn't great. Many of my friends were heartsick that they had to miss the events because they were working. There were no evening events except on the last night. Surely a festival like this should be as accessible to as many people as possible?

Events over the weekend would work best. The last Singapore Writers' Festival I seem to remember, took place over a couple of weekends with a few events on weekday evenings.

I liked that the venues were easily accessible. Parking wasn't a problem. Everything was in easy walking distance. There were plenty of good places to eat.

I liked Alexis best as a venue: it was comfortable and intimate.

Marmalade was a very nice space but distractingly noisy as only one section of the restaurant was closed off. Writers had to compete with the noise of the coffee grinder and the ice pick and the chat of other diners.

Cafe 1920 was a very public space as it is just next to the ramp which connects the two parts of Bangsar Village. New Zealand poet Elizabeth Smithers decided that her words would be lost here and asked for a change of venue. Performance poet Chris Mooney-Singh was unhappy with the acoustics.

Which all brings me to another point - folks who hadn't registered and paid could (and did) wander into events unchecked. There was one very loud and distracting German lady who was talking loudly during one of Benjamin Zephaniah's sessions when she shouldn't have been anywhere near it!

I was surprised that other very accessible venues in Bangsar weren't used though - Actor's Studio would have been an obvious choice. La Bodega are very keen to sponsor the arts and I'm sure would have lent a space. Seksan might have been happy to lend his inspiring space for an event or two, his place just a short walk away. And MPH - why was Bangsar's biggest bookstore sidelined when they have a very nice meeting area in their Bangsar Village store?

It wasn't possible to see many writers in a day. There were just 3 sessions, of one and a half hours, a day with long gaps between them, most of them featuring just a single writer. I liked the way the Ubud Readers and Writers festival worked, where the sessions ran in just two venues from 9-5 without a single break, and most featured at least a couple of writers. And of course there was a good programme of evening events at Ubud too.

To their credit the organisers had made sure most writers appeared twice so that readers weren't too torn as to who to go and see.

KLILF felt oddly without centre. There was no opening event or closure (except for Cecil Rajendran's party at Ronnie Q's which I couldn't make it to.) I had wanted to meet up with people and socialise, but everyone was so spread out that I didn't seem to bump into many folks.

There was zero buzz about the events outside the venues. Surely at the very least there should have been lots of banners around? Surely a festival should feel ... well, festive? I'm sure the vast majority of people who came to Bangsar village to shop during the festival had no idea that this event was on.

Our first KL Litfest by comparison was over ambitious and messy, spread out over too many venues and the organisers were right to scale it back to something more intimate and manageable. Overall, KLILF broadly succeeded in what it set out to do, but felt ... minimalist and half-hearted.

So ... what did you think?