March sees the literary masses descend upon Headingley for a month long celebration of all things bookish. Sean Hayes caught up with committee member Sally Bavage to talk about what we can look forward to in the coming weeks
Amongst the many undiscovered gems that Leeds has to offer, the annual Headingley LitFest is surely one of the most prominent. Since it first began in early 2008, the festival has been growing exponentially, with big-name bookings from areas right across the arts. Taking place annually throughout March, the festival heralds a range of events right across Headingley. When asked why Headingley is such a great location to host LitFest, committee member Sally Bavage says; “It’s a very mixed cosmopolitan community. We’ve got lots of students, as well as young professionals who’ve stayed on from studying, right through to pensioners. It’s a vibrant community, and we’ve got a lovely mix of cultures. There’s an international vibe in the area, and LitFest is a fantastic opportunity to get different areas of our community to come together.” Indeed, as well as having so many different cultures to offer, Headingley also boasts a heritage of key literary figures, with previous residents including J.R.R. Tolkien, Geoffrey Hill, Arthur Ransome, Alan Bennett and George Orwell.
Sally Bavage first became involved with LitFest through the Poetry Slams held in local schools; “As a retired teacher, I’ve always been interested in Literacy. Reading changes the world”. Since becoming involved with the festival, Sally has seen it progress steadily in profile and status. “We’ve brought some big names into a small suburb in Leeds.” she says. Indeed, the list of previous guests includes such names as Alan Bennett, Ben Oakley and David Peace. “Dame Beryl Bainbridge performed at LitFest less than a year before she died, and told the audience about her unfinished novel, asking them for advice about what she should do.” This level of audience interaction is unsurprising when you consider how much festivals like LitFest are valued by artists; “Authors see LitFest as an important stepping stone; it’s about exploring the power of words, and no audience is too small.”
This year’s festival, titled Lives and Loves and running from the 7th March to 1st April, will add a few more names to LitFest’s impressive roster, including Roger McGough, Blake Morrison and Hilary Spurling. “Roger McGough goes back to my youth!” says Sally, referring to McGough’s involvement with comedy music band The Scaffold. “On the surface some of his poetry looks very simple, but it is very perceptive. You could call his poems flash-fiction; they are self-contained short stories. He’s very down-to-earth, and he sees life as it is.”
Lives and Loves will also see LitFest expand into several new areas which it hasn’t previously covered, including a larger film presence (thanks to a partnership with the Leeds Young Film Festival) and an event centred around screenwriter Kay Mellor, who was most recently behind the BBC’s The Syndicate. “It’s a departure for us” says Sally, who says that LitFest embraced the idea of exploring the multitude of different forms of literature; “We’re asking: What’s the difference between writing a story and writing a script to be performed?”
The main aims of LitFest, as attested on their website, are to engage with the local community in Headingley, highlight Headingley’s contributions to literature both past and present and encourage writing and performance amongst Headingley’s residents. Sally elaborates upon these values, saying; “There are two main aspects to LitFest. The first is our social programme, which is our work with children in schools and physically disabled writing groups.” The work being done by LitFest in the Headingley community is a testament to the applicable value of the arts in providing a creative outlet which people otherwise wouldn’t receive. “That’s one aspect of what we do and it’s very important to us.”
The other side of LitFest is the month-long run of special performances, talks, live readings, music, drama and film. Some choice picks amongst the programme include Biking With Che, which explores the motorcycle diaries of Che Guevara, and George Szirtes’ Bad Machine. In addition to these events, Dr. Jill Liddington of the University of Leeds will be conducting a talk on her book Rebel Girls, to mark the centenary of the Suffrage movement. Dr. Liddington’s talk will be augmented by a piece of original drama, focussing on the life of Suffragette Mary Gawthorpe, one half of the famous ‘Headingley Two’, who set fire to Elland Road stadium. “We’ve commissioned original drama that’s going to look at some of those very local events which are important on a national stage.”
The festival and the work in the community represent the two different sides of LitFest, although on closer inspection it’s easy to see them both as one unified whole; not only does the work in the local community act to bring different groups together, so too does the performance side of the festival. The goal of LitFest is not just to put Headingley on the map as a hub of arts and cultures, but also to bring together a multitude of different groups by showcasing their diverse and unique cultural heritages. This is exemplified by events such as ‘Dwellers on the Threshold’, a celebration of second-generation Irish musicians in England, and the Leeds Combined Arts Cultural Poetry & Music Evening, which spotlights a variety of different cultural heritages. Sally Bavage attests that this wide range of events is a part of LitFest’s identity as a festival; “We have a tick-list; ‘Have we got something for young people? Have we got something for schoolchildren? Have we got something with an international flavour?’ We’ve got a whole series of target audiences from particular sections of our community”.
Students are one of the key groups the festival is aimed toward, not only as spectators but as potential performers; “If students want an audience for their piece, then it can be what we call a partnership event. They can book a venue at the University, and then we market it to 3,000 people.” The working title for next year’s festival is ‘Conflict’, and in addition to the usual range of events will see several projects marking the centenary of the First World War, including a research project on Beckett’s Park Hospital and a new piece of original drama. Prior to that, the Youth Fringe festival will be taking place in July, with events currently being scheduled. “I’m so proud of the fact that we’re piloting the Youth Fringe” says Sally, “The idea is to get young people to set up their own events. We set up the venue and funding, and then they create the performance”. Indeed, LitFest is very much a festival which belongs to the community, and continues to encourage people to get involved in shaping the events in years to come. “We want people to write to us. If you come to an event, make yourself known to us. I’m keen to see people involved not just as audience members, but telling us what you want from LitFest”.
Headingley Literary Festival runs from March 8 to April 1
More information and links to ticket outlets at:
www.headingleylitfest.org.uk