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Sevenoaks Literary Celebration |
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See this month's edition for full coverage of the Sevenoaks Literary Celebration
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Jill Webster, chair of the Sevenoaks Literary Celebration, tells VINE how the annual event got started
Literary festivals have grown like mushrooms around the country over the past ten years, but there are still only two in Kent, of which Sevenoaks is one. Jill Webster chairs a small committee of local booklovers which begins planning each annual event as soon as the last one is over.
‘The actual beginning was in 2002 when Denise Sims telephoned the late John Smedley, the organiser of Sevenoaks Summer Festival, to complain of the lack of literary events. John Smedley asked Denise why she didn’t do something about it. So Denise with one or two other friends organised four or five events. I remember we had Edna Healey and Nigel Nicolson.’ The following year there were 14 literary events during the Summer Festival. ‘I was the coordinator and John Smedley was very formative in supporting us and giving us lots of encouragement.’ Most events were held at Sevenoaks Library and the emphasis was very much on local writers and local groups.
In 2004 the committee decided to become independent of the Summer Festival and launched the Sevenoaks Literary Celebration, with a grant from the Town Council and its own brochure. ‘But we realised we were not getting the audiences that we could, because there were too many conflicting events. So in 2005 we switched the date to September.’
Jill recalls some ‘terrible publicity’ when Jeffrey Archer was invited, provoking headlines about the ‘ex-jailbird peer.’ ‘Since 2004 we’ve managed to have a series of really good novelists such as Hilary Mantel, Penelope Lively, Lionel Shriver and Sarah Waters.’ Penelope Lively is coming back this year for the second time. Jill, who describes herself as a lifelong reading fanatic, says she has learned that literary tastes in Sevenoaks are very diverse. So the committee always tries to find a historian and a biographer, and to put on some kind of event for young people. ‘We have learned that we are fishing in a relatively small pool, though we do get interested people who come from further afield. Most people will come to three or four events.’
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 September 2008 )
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