Features

Lee Taylor

Phew!

And now it’s all over. So much effort and energy has been put into this year’s festival by so many people and it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. The feedback from audiences has been tremendous. Lots of praise for the line up and for the organisation… thankfully not too many people seemed to notice my haunted expression… and for the fantastic job done by James Nash hosting some of the events. One or two technical hitches along the way and we do need to have another look at the sound for the concert hall but I have to say, overall it all went remarkably smoothly and the whole team are on a high that it went so well.

Highlights

All of us on the team have different highlights. The crime panel was fascinating and it was chaired wonderfully by Natasha Cooper. Carol Drinkwater has tremendous stage presence and for many people was the star of the show. Ian Rankin was a favourite and Marina Lewycka and Sarah Dunant made the literary lunches memorable for those lucky enough to get tickets.

The local day put the talent here in Scarborough in the spot light. The Antonius Players were a surprise for us all and ended the festival on a real high. If really pushed to name my own highlight I would probably go for Simon Armitage who was mesmerising when performing his poetry but really, all the authors brought something special to the festival and were a delight to meet.

Author Joanne Harris

Praise from the participants

The best thing for me though was to hear the authors themselves praise the festival. They were appreciative of the welcome they received, the response from the audiences, the way they were looked after, the venues and the town itself. They were all so enthusiastic about their work and meeting their readers that really we couldn't have failed.

Looking forward

After the hectic preparations and the exhilaration and hard work of the Festival itself I needed a couple of days to try to catch up on sleep... and then it's time to start thinking about next year!

Looking back

“And of course there’s the Literature Festival to run”. Back in August when I was being interviewed by North Yorkshire County Council for my post at Scarborough the significance of this comment didn’t quite sink in. I mean, how difficult could it be?

Scarborough Library

In my innocence I imagined it was just a case of contacting a few authors, persuading them they want to come to Scarborough and then everyone having a lovely time. This fanciful idea was stubbed out about 30 seconds into my first planning meeting.

What I’d conveniently forgotten was all the sorting of accommodation, replacing the hot water heater in the gents, organising sound and lighting, finding additional sponsors and supporters (and a big thank you all of our supporters - listed in our brochure).

Plus organising competitions, liaising with potential partners, begging freebies from publishers, commissioning a designer for the publicity material, risk assessments, proof reading, meetings with lots of different people, much chasing around and a little too much waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat convinced that something crucial has been forgotten.

Team work

Fortunately I inherited a team at Scarborough Library that is completely committed and because they cut their teeth on last year's first Literature Festival, they know what they are doing.

Inside Scarborough Library

They have pointed me in the right directions, gently reminded me when I haven’t ordered the extra microphones and to be honest, done all the hard work. They have been the ones that found the authors (and it really is a fantastic line up).

As things have progressed I have really come to appreciate the enthusiasm and the different strengths of everyone involved and all the hard work they have put in to make this successful. And at the same time they are keeping the library running!

A last minute hitch!

Getting the right publicity material has kept me awake at night but when I saw the art work I was so relieved. Electric Angel has opened my eyes to what’s possible and has been a great source of advice and encouragement.

I’m really impressed with the brochure. I think it looks great and I’m sure people will be drawn to pick it up when they see it. You can’t miss it, it's bright orange with a deck chair on the front.

NOT a Ukrainian tractor!

A last minute crisis as illness hit one of our star attractions with less than two weeks to go! How to find a replacement for Susan Hill? A huge draw in Scarborough and all tickets gone within hours of going on sale! It was heads together to come up with a suitably big name alternative at short notice. 

After much debate we all decided that Marina Lewycka, prize winning author of the hugely successful “A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian” would be ideal.  The call was made and then it was a tense weekend’s wait  for the answer. Marina’s generous ‘yes’ was greeted was a collective sigh of relief …and then the task publicising the change. One crisis averted!

Despite the hitch, the whole thing has been a fantastic experience and I’ve definitely caught the festival fever from my colleagues.