The Lit Fest Newsletter
Car Park Culture
Near my home in Sussex, two new drive-in movie operations have launced in the last couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Fane Productions have put on a number drive-in literary events and the five day Appledore Book Festival in Devon announced it’s switching to a completely drive-in format this September; ‘Authors and interviewers will sit, socially distanced, on stage and more than 100 cars will be able to attend each event, listening to interviews through a dedicated in-car FM radio station, or via the PA system. Food and drink will be available to order in advance, served directly to the car once parked, and as guests leave, there will be a drive-through book stall selling signed copies’.
In America, the bestselling author of the Wimpy Kid books Jeff Kinney has organised a drive-through book tour. He is visiting eight indie bookshops, fans will pull-up in their cars and be handed a signed book. He also runs his own bookshop, An Unlikley Story in Plainville, Massachusetts where he successfully tested a ‘drive through signed event’ on June 24 with Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s who were promoting their picture book Grandma’s Garden. Less smoothly, a drive-in charity concert in the Hamptons by the band The Chainsmokers has drawn criticsm when a VIP area was opened near the stage where socially distancing wasn’t practisced. A DJ set by the Goldman Sachs MD aka DJ D-Sol opened the gig and the most expensive tickets was $25,000 which gave you access to a Winnebago for ten people.
Alongside these outdoor events, people are also starting to think about getting people back inside. There was a great summary of how the theatre world is reacting to Covid by Oliver Wainwright in Guardian highlighting the way architects can help redesign theatres to accomodate social distancing. The image at the top of the newsletter is from a flatbed truck performance by the Holbeck community theatre Slung Low. Each family had a little blue tent and a pair of chairs, roped off in a safely distanced grid with festive bunting.
‘The Grid’ was also in evidence in a bold experiment by Deer Shed festival who put on Base Camp - three nights of socially distanced family camping - last weekend. As you can see from the photo above each family got its own 15m x 15m plot complete with toilet. There were no stages or organised group activities instead campers were encouraged to tune into Base Camp FM that broadcast live music, comedy and spoken word. There were coffee, crêpes, pizza and hotdog vendors but no bars. The site at Baldersby Park is 35 acres, half was devoted to camping and half for everyone to use how they fancy to play cricket, picnicing etc. Three usual festival no-no’s; BBQ, dogs and bicycles were allowed. The event was sold out.
Last Days of Summer
The Wimbledon Book Fest announced it is putting on live events 12-13th September. The 'Last Days of Summer' Weekend Festival will take place on Wimbledon Common in a covered marquee - but with open sides to maximise air flow. They said, ‘Events will have reduced capacities, ticketed entry and social distanced fixed seating to ensure that the festival experience is a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. 'Last Days of Summer' will provide a much needed opportunity for the community to engage and connect with culture in a live format’. Events will also be streamed digitally and tickets released in late August, priotity going to the Friends of Wimbledon Festival.
Mantel goes to Budleigh Salterton
Back in Devon, Anne Ashworth and the team at Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival are trying out a hybrid format, she explained, ‘Whilst most of the festival will be digital, we have decided to film and record at least two of them (Hilary Mantel and James Naughtie) as face-to-face events. They will take place in a church, where congregation serevices are already taking place. We can have 110 people present and are having a max ‘bubble' of four sitting together, and having appropriate distance between groups, and screens which allow people to sit on side aisles and watch the event. We will have time between events to wipe down pews etc, there will be a one way in, one way out system, no face to face signings, and audiences will wear masks. Not ideal but at least they are live events with all the brilliant advantages that brings. We will film the events and put them online for people from everywhere and anywhere to watch a couple of days later. I’m excited about it and hope that guidelines don’t mean we have to change things, but we will obviously put our team and audience safety as a priority’.
New Festival Alert! Publicate
Taking place online 5th-9th August, Publicate is a brand new digital festival celebrating independent publishing.
Solo Perforamance
I loved Idiot Prayer, the recent livestreamed show by Nick Cave, where he performed on his own in the middle of a completely empty Alexandra Palace. With so many iconic venues used by literary festival it struck me this was a format that festivals could easily copy.
More Online Learning
Forgive me for my current obsession with online learning and its possible relation to literary festivals! I really enjoyed this piece in the New Yorker, How Harvard’s Star Computer-Science Professor Built a Distance-Learning Empire. I would love to take some classess from my local university brought to me by my local literary festival.
That’s it for this newsletter. Please follow us on twitter, add us to your press release list. We are always looking for people to interview so please get in touch mathew@bookamp.co.uk if you would like your festival to be featured. And if you know anyone that would enjoy reading this missive please get them to sign up here.