The Start-up: Stoke Newington Literary Festival

Now in its second year, the Stoke Newington Literary Festival has been a very big project for its director, Liz Vater. As a resident of the area for 22 years, Vater got to know its rich literary tradition and saw a gap in the market. “Local literary heroes like Daniel Defoe and Edgar Allan Poe were not being celebrated. I went around other literary festivals and it dawned on me that prominence should be given to Stoke Newington.”

This was one of the initial aims of the project, but Vater also hoped to give back to the community. “Stoke Newington may be very affluent, but Hackney has one of the lowest literacy levels in Europe. I hope to raise literacy funding and to make people proud of their literary heritage,” says Vater.

June 2010 saw the first edition of the festival, with events held over three days, spread across seven venues, throughout the London district. “It exceeded my expectations,” Vater says about turnout. “Events sold out and we actually broke even, which is quite rare for a first-time festival.”

Drumming up word-of-mouth ticket sales was all-important for the festival, as Vater was adamant that it would not depend on external funding. “I wanted it to be a festival that relies on ticket sales. We had a very small grant from Hackney council, but this year we will be getting development grants to help the festival grow.”

Vater has a background in PR and used her experience to boost ticket sales. “We aimed for 60% of our budget to be covered by ticket sales. Promotion was a key part of this being a success. If you don’t understand PR and promotion then you’ll struggle,” Vater warns.

The festival used Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media to spread the word, as well as building a strong relationship with the local press, gaining extensive coverage from media partner N16 Magazine, as well as other local papers such as the Stoke Newington Gazette and Hackney Gazette.

Working on a tight budget, Vater used voluntary workers in the festival’s first year, but hopes to pay key employees for 2011.

Collaborations are also vital to the festival, which is now branching out with literary cinema group Flicker Club, and the Spare Room Society, which is helping spearhead children’s literature.

Having a process in place for booking writers who will guarantee crowds is essential, Vater says. “We start with a wish list based on the area, customer interests, themes for the festival, and who is touring at the time. There will be ‘no-brainer’ artists, but you also need to be quite open-minded.”

The Retailer: Blackwell at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival

As the official bookseller for the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival for the past eight years, Blackwell has seen its presence at the event expand. The festival attracts tens of thousands of visitors to Oxford each year, and holds around 550 author events over the course of nine days in April.

“We’ve been lucky enough to grow with the festival,” says Zool Verjee, Blackwell event manager. “We used to run mini book stalls in Oxford University’s Student Union, but now we occupy the marquee space where we have our main festival book shop. It takes two days to set up and another two to take down.”

The partnership with the festival began when the festival approached Blackwell. “It’s recognised as one of the big literary festivals to take place in the UK and it’s a real cachet to be involved with such a cultural calendar landmark.

“We pay a pre-arranged sponsorship fee to be the official bookseller for the festival each year,” he says, although he cannot reveal the terms. Within this role, Blackwell organises official book signings, sells in its onsite bookshop, and stocks the official programme in its Oxford shops in advance and at the event. This also gains more custom at the flagship store on Broad Street. “There’s a real presence for our shop before and during the festival. People want to order signed copies in advance.”

Signings are really important for Blackwell and are a huge strategic operation. “In order to run a professional and friendly signing that caters for both the author and the public, there’s a lot of organisation to get right first. The project kicks off in earnest at the start of the new year, and we have to speak to between 120 and 140 publishers to place enough orders.

“Getting stock right is the hardest part and there are lots of spreadsheets involved,” says Verjee. To select the right books, Verjee and his team have many factors to consider—sales track records of authors, venue and audience sizes, if it’s a new novel being discussed or a past work, and the subject matter up for discussion.

Blackwell hires a team of 35 to 40 staff specifically for the festival, so as to not affect the running of the Broad Street flagship. His advice for booksellers is simple: “A festival is just an extensive string of single events. If you stick to the principles of running an event, you can’t go wrong.”

The Pioneer: The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival

Being the oldest literary festival in the world is something the Times Cheltenham Literature Festival is extremely proud of. Living up to this reputation year on year is a full-time job for interim festival executive producer Christin Stein. “We now plan each festival 18 months in advance because the scale of it grows every year,” she says.

The festival has considerably increased in size since the inaugural programme in 1949. From a 10-event affair it has expanded to a 10-day festival, hosting 450 events across 10 different venues. This means that a team of four people work all year round, with the number of staff growing as the event draws closer. “By the time of the festival we have about 100 people working as production staff. A lot of them are volunteers who come back each year. We have a real festival family here,” Stein says.

A key member of this family is the dedicated fundraiser. Cheltenham Literature Festival is a registered charity and so relies on donations, sponsorship and grants. Stein estimates that the festival receives twice as much money from sponsors as grants. Despite this reliance on financial support, she insists that every author is paid an appearance fee.

Programming these authors is a large-scale effort. “We work very closely with publishers. A lot of bookings will be based on who is touring at the time,” says Stein. “Our artistic director is responsible for this. It’s a very creative planning process and we’re always considering how to take the festival forward and make it a success.”

The team at Cheltenham has a further recipe for success. “We embrace trends in bookselling and we encourage ­innovative ways to include authors and customers in the ­festivities. There is always something going on, which adds a real buzz and energy to the event. That’s something we’re very proud of.”

For Stein, this buzz is created from customer satisfaction. “We make sure our audience feels welcome. We want to break down the barriers of literature. They can come to the events, browse bookshops, or indulge in cream teas.”

Cheltenham Literature Festival has had the Times as its media partner for the last six years. “It’s been fantastic to have their knowledge and contacts as well as the editorial coverage. It’s been a real collaborative effort.” The literary festival also partners three other festivals in Cheltenham that cover science, music and jazz. “Being a part of a cross-festival partnership gives us strength in programming and marketing,” Stein adds.

See the full Bookseller feature HERE

Read the full View London review HERE

Read the full View London review HERE

You can read the full View London review HERE

You can read the full View London review HERE

You can read the full View London review HERE

Often associated with self-reflective doom and gloom, Antony and the Johnsons may surprise a few with their fourth album, Swanlights, a more optimistic offering on the whole. The album opener, ‘Everything Is New’, suggests a change in tone, with the repetition of its sole lyric “everything is new” set to the building intensity of an instrumental landscape created by The Johnsons.

From this starting point, Swanlights broaches many of the themes that have often been confronted by Antony Hegarty – death, human relationships and identity – but from a very different emotional stance. Flourishes of piano, strings and vocals on ‘Ghost’ announce a certain abandonment of negative thoughts and feelings, heralding a fresh start. ‘Thank You for Your Love’ is a rare moment of celebration filled with major chords, a brass chorus line and an increasing tempo.

However, not all is optimism and light; the title track of the album, ‘Swanlights’, is a sombre and shady moment filled with shadowy guitar reverberations and the characteristic warbling sounds of Antony as he repeats the line, “I’ve seen faces in my dreams”. In recreating the intensity and depth of the dream world, ‘Swanlights’ becomes the pinnacle point of the album. ‘Flétta’ is the bringing together of two idiosyncratic voices that are almost too unique to be present at once, so much so that it feels like a competition where Bjork easily dominates with her Icelandic tones. Nonetheless, it’s an exciting collaboration that demonstrates the power that vocals can have upon emotions; a quality that should thankfully never shift in Antony and the Johnsons’ work.

Refreshingly, Swanlights makes a break from the overbearing melancholy of past records while maintaining all the emotional pull of Antony Hegarty’s exceptionally affecting vocal talents.

Soundblab: Antony and the Johnsons album review

Into The Great Wide Yonder marks a departure for Danish producer Anders Trentemøller from dark, digital vibes to optimistic, analogue sounds, losing a lot of his individuality and intrigue along the way.

Trentemøller dominated the techno scene in 2006 with the release of his fantastically dark debut, The Last Resort, an album that intricately weaved inspired and menacing electronica with melancholy-laden vocals, making it a nocturnal affair. However, Into The Great Wide Yonder is the dawn of a new day; an optimistic sea change that sees the Danish producer experimenting with more uplifting sounds, much to his detriment.

The album may be a distinctive new direction and possibly even a letdown after such a mood-drenched debut, but there are still moments of top-class production that remind you just how good Trentemøller is at capturing a feeling. Album opener ‘Mash and the Furry’ is an epic and ceremonial triumph. Meanwhile, delicious female vocals on ‘…Even Though You’re With Another Girl’ and ‘Sycamore Feeling’ reek of a haunting obsession that has featured heavily in Trentemøller’s previous work. ‘Shades of Marble’ is a carefully-crafted combination of strings, synths and pulsating electronica that is somehow simultaneously euphoric and ever-haunting.

However, ‘Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider Go!!’, an homage to Pulp Fiction’s ‘Miserlou’, could not be more misplaced; a bold, brazen and fast-paced track that lacks the understated magic that Trentemøller creates when at his best. And optimistic ‘Tide’ would not be out of place on a Café Del Mar compilation.

Unfortunately, by experimenting with a more commercial and optimistic sound, Trentemøller loses some of his characteristically edgy appeal.

Soundblab: Trentemoller album review

Record label Full Time Hobby showcases the talents that have been taken under its wings on Hobbyism, a compilation that hopes to comprise the best of the latest releases from the label and includes new tracks from Fujiya & Miyagi and School of Seven Bells whilst stepping back to 2009 releases from the likes of Malcolm Middleton and White Denim.

Simon Tong’s latest band Erland & The Carnival kick things off with a folk track heavily doused in tropical psychedelia. Hobbyism returns to a similar note at the end of the compilation with psychedelic-rock from White Denim who sound like a modern-day Led Zeppelin on track ‘Mirrored and Reversed’.

Fujiya & Miyagi continue to break boundaries on ‘Taiwanese Boots’, a bizarre yet refreshing blend of funk guitar and slick rhythm drums accompanied by scat singing and peculiar lyrics about foodstuffs and footwear. School of Seven Bells’ ‘Babelonia’ blends folk and electronica to produce glossy, fem pop that goes a great way towards highlighting Full Time Hobby’s current relevance as a record label, as does ‘It Breaks’ by Tunng, a rousing and chanty folk anthem from the experimental sextet.

Another dimension to the record label is revealed by Malcolm Middleton, the once member of Arab Strap, whose ‘Carry Me’ is a trademark haunting lullaby where Malcolm’s Scottish lilt poses questions on youth and mortality. ‘2s and 3s’ by Micah P. Hinson feels like a sonic journey through the Wild West, whilst The Leisure Society generate the most beautiful moody, moon-lit folk on ‘We Were Wasted’.

As a whole, Hobbyism boasts the success of Full Time Hobby as an independent label that, although unafraid of delving into the more experimental offshoots of indie, folk and neo-psychedelic music, carefully considers the sounds it produces, making this compilation a progressive labour of love as opposed to a mere hobby.

Soundblab: Hobbyism album review

A sumptuous summer cocktail of indie vocals, tropical percussion, funk basslines and guitar-driven riffs, Friendly Fires’ self-titled debut album is effortlessly cool. With a passion for classic house music – citing Carl Cox as one of their biggest influences – the trio from St Albans set themselves apart from other indie new kids on the block in 2008 and achieved both popular and critical success, with nominations for both the Brit Awards and the Mercury Music Prize.

Sweeping vocals delicately ease you into first track, ‘Jump in the Pool’, an album-opener with an aura of placid, beach cool built upon by percussion, guitars, synths and the continuation of gentle vocal hums. Tracks like ‘In the Hospital’ and ‘White Diamonds’ help demonstrate the instant indie freshness of Friendly Fires whilst on ‘Skeleton Boy’ trickling beeps and bleeps pepper the chorus and the verse’s electro riff is not far from those of old-skool 8-bit videogames, making it an obvious teenage dance floor anthem. Later on in ‘Photobooth’, the band pastiches this very generation: “You and me in the photobooth/ giving it panache and posing like we’re this year’s models.”

‘Paris’is the soundtrack to a holiday romance; it’s slick, sophisticated and sensual, just like the eponymous city, and lush female vocals make it all the more exotic. ‘Strobe’ is an intimate song that highlights not only their dance influences but also their more romantic qualities. Leadsinger Ed Macfarlane’s voice sounds naked and vulnerable making ‘Strobe’ a genuinely beautiful stand-out track.

At times, there are heart-rending lyrics on Friendly Fires that could indeed reveal it as a break-up record about an ex-love, but the building pressure in sexy harmonies and guitar riffs does well to create an immense pace and momentum to each track that is maintained throughout the album. This pace may hide the rawer qualities of Friendly Fires, but it makes their debut all the more contemporary.

Soundblab: Friendly Fires album review