Sunday, 5 June 2016

The Season of Festivals...

Where has the time gone?

I know book festivals take place throughout the year, but the summer months are particularly popular.

For me, June means  it's Lowdham Book Festival, 17th-25th. So I'll be doing my usual stint at the writers' club stall on the 25th.

 I need to dig out the bag with the see-through acrylic stands and leaflet holders ready for this year's display material.

Every year is a learning experience, seeing what works and what is an absolute failure in display terms.

This year 's Lowdham Book Festival is in its 17th year, and I've attended the free Saturday events day for at least eleven of the last twelve years.

Of course events develop and change over time, but I've always found the Saturday a good indicator of how the local and even national economy is affecting people.

 Do people buy one or two new books, or will they buy half a dozen? Modern second-hand books always seem to weather the ups and downs...

Buying books...
The last couple of years have been good, and it's reassuring to all writers to see a healthy trade in books, whether new, very old, or second-hand.

I scour the attending antiquarian type book stalls every year, but set myself a budget, otherwise I'd need a suitcase- and a lottery win... :D

This year's free Saturday events will be taking place the day after the results of the EU referendum have been announced, plus it's also a busy day for assorted events around the immediate region so fingers crossed for sunshine, or at least a dry day.

Besides Lowdham, Derby Book Festival is now running until the 11th June; and hopefully there will be another Books at the Castle in Newark (held for the first time August 2015).

If you're in the area then do look at the Lowdham festival programme; you can download it from The Bookcase website, here.

Do you have a local book festival that you attend? Or do you prefer the bigger festivals like Hay, or
Edinburgh?



image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti & www.freedigitalphotos.net

6 comments:

Teresa Ashby said...

Ashamed to say I've never been to a book festival, but it is definitely something I want to do one of these days. Good luck with your stall at the Lowdham - taking part must be even better than attending :-) xx

Carolb said...

Thanks, Teresa. It doesn't seem hard work at the time, but by the end of the day you realise how tiring it has been- even with a large flask of coffee. :-)

Hope you get to visit a book festival sometime too.

wannabe a writer said...

Hi Carol, two of the ones that are held near me in Chester and Manchester are always in the October half term when I go away on holiday! I did see a talk by Faye Weldon at the Malpas festival a few years ago which was brilliant but most of the other authors I've seen advertised are rather obscure! Hope you enjoy your day on the stand - hard work but fun!

Rosemary Gemmell said...

I only get to Edinburgh occasionally - sounds like you'll have fun over summer, Carol!

Carolb said...

Yes, it can be difficult to fit everything in, and it's annoying when you're otherwise booked just when there's a festival you could get to.

Faye Weldon is very interesting to listen to, I'm envious wannabe a writer. Hopefully some of those obscure writers will have become better known. :)

Carolb said...

The summer months are always busy, Rosemary. :)

Edinburgh is one of those festivals I'd like to attend, but it's just not possible.