This is my third year as Director of the Winchester Writers’ Festival. I’m still finding my way, of course, but I am beginning to recognise certain patterns in the yearly cycle: that first bubble of excitement mixed with nerves when the programme goes ‘live’; the anticipation that builds as the third weekend in June approaches; the occasional nightmare about ‘leaves on the line’ that prevent everyone from arriving…
These days, people talk about ‘curating’ an event, but I don’t think I’m that precise. How do you pull together a series of all-day courses and workshops, talks, readings and over 700 one-to-one appointments in a way that allows each individual attendee – writers, all – to have a fulfilling experience? My approach is more instinctive than curatorial. We need to cater for a broad range of genres, forms, levels of expertise, but above all else I look for literary agents, commissioning editors, authors, poets, scriptwriters and teachers who will support, guide and nurture each emerging writer.
This doesn’t mean massaging peoples’ egos and saying their work is wonderful when clearly they need to re-think. Our speakers are there to challenge, critique, encourage, stimulate and inspire. This is the stuff that sustains writers. It is also why I am particularly excited about our Keynote Speaker this year.
Meg Rosoff is, of course, an outstanding and critically acclaimed author of books for young people (including my personal favourite – Just In Case – in which she confronts, brilliantly, just about every so-called writing ‘rule’ and laughs in its face). But being a uniquely gifted novelist is merely one reason why I invited her. I have been lucky enough to hear her speak before, at the University, to a small group of our own MA creative writing students. She threw away my plan for the evening and instead spoke about voice – the writer’s voice. I think we all ended the session a little bit changed.
I am not going to presume to pre-empt her Keynote address. However, I can tell you it is titled ‘What it means to have a voice and where to get one’. And I can’t wait.
The University of Winchester Writers’ Festival takes place on 17-19 June at the University of Winchester. Attendees can book to come for one, two or three days and devise their own itinerary from a selection of 17 all-day workshops and 28 talks. They may also book up to four one-to-one appointments with literary agents, commissioning editors and other writing professionals.
For full details, visit www.writersfestival.co.uk Follow us @winwritersfest
Post by Judith Heneghan
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Litmus 2016 