Tomorrow sees the start of the Smalltown Literary Festival taking place at the White Elephant Enclosure from Friday to Sunday.
A full programme of 19 events are scheduled to take place with talks, workshops and a chance for women of a certain age to fawn over local writer Nicholas Voyd, the author of a series of bodice-ripping novels.
Several authors will also be hosting workshops to help budding writers hone their skills and discover how to write a bestseller.
(Ed – Steve, are you hosting one of the lectures? Sharing details of how ‘Love in a Smalltown’ topped the Sunday Grimes list of top selling books for an hour?
Mr Editor, Sir, I did offer my services, but the organisers declined. Apparently they wanted people with proper experience.)
Smalltown Literary Festival kicks off at 12.30pm tomorrow, with three authors who have written books taking to the stage to talk about their work.
Nicholas Voyd is headlining the Festival on Friday night with tickets selling fast for his appearance.
Saturday events start at 10.00 am with a workshop to encourage attendees to write out a shopping list. Further workshops and talks from published authors take place throughout the day culminating in a screening of the film ‘Parallel Smalltown’.
Organiser Louis Gasman explained “Parallel Smalltown was filmed ten years ago, when a theatre group came to Smalltown to film the local area and detail what it could be like to live here if Smalltown was somewhere else. The end result was ‘Parallel Smalltown – Portrait of a Small Town’.
After viewing the film the audience will be invited to take part in a discussion to see how things changed in the ten years. Has anything changed in those ten years? (Ed – No.) The results will be recorded for a new film – ‘Stationary Smalltown – A Small Town Stuck in the Past’.”
Sunday will see a screening of an old Charlie Chipolata film, which has been remastered in 6D. Attendees are warned that this event will last for two hours, so people may want to bring cushions with them if they want to avoid a numb bottom.
The event finishes with the Smalltown Literary Awards ceremony, which will see prizes awarded to the best entries (except for the one from SomersetClive’s own Steve Gull, which didn’t make it onto the short list.)
Committee member, Former-Councillor Fencesitter said “The Smalltown Literary Festival is a highbrow event, intended to appeal to residents who like to read and write, so it is unlikely that people who live in Dullbridge will attend. Which is great, because most of them can’t drive anyway, so won’t be able to get to the WEE.”