This month sees the rebranded Woking Literary Festival at The Lightbox. Jane McGowan delves into an exciting new chapter...
This corner of Surrey is steadily making a name for itself among the local (and not so local) literati. Guildford Book Festival, with its magnificent mix of bestselling authors, showbiz royalty and the like, may constitute the flagship event, but in recent times a flotilla of smaller literary vessels has also sailed into view.
Prominent among these is the Woking Literary Festival. Now in its third year, the 12-day event is held at The Lightbox – indeed it started life as the Lightbox Literary Festival – and is keen to cultivate a very different feel to that of its star-studded neighbour.
“We are not competing with Guildford in any way,” says Louise Musgrove, festival director and commercial manager of the popular gallery and museum. “We chose April partly to ensure a sizeable gap between the two events, as well as because of the literary associations – Shakespeare’s birthday, World Book Night and so on. Ours is a fledgeling festival and we are not trying to be too big for our boots. Having said that, Alison Weir [the historical fiction author] is one of our guest speakers again, and she could sell out the building twice over.”
The Lightbox consciously brands itself as ‘more than just a gallery’, and the festival has been designed to reflect the distinctive ethos of the Chobham Road arts space, which offers multiple cultural opportunities and an array of activities – from painting sessions for toddlers to dementia-friendly crafting.
“It’s important that, as well as attracting a new audience, the festival fits in with what we try to do here,” says Louise. “You might be surprised to learn that, beneath the surface, Woking has a lot of really good literary stuff going on. There is a big community of writers here, as well as others with a great interest in books.”
No surprise, therefore, that the festival has grown substantially this year. Among the highlights is the ‘Best-Selling Women of Crime’ panel, featuring stellar authors such as Mel Sherratt and Amanda Robson, while the programme also includes performance poetry, a comedy evening and a literary quiz. And don’t miss Lightbox Director Marilyn Scott in conversation with AJ Pearce, whose novel about a would-be war correspondent turned agony aunt, Dear Mrs Bird, was published to great acclaim last year.
“We are also organising a standalone exhibition of the artefacts that AJ amassed during her research,” explains Louise. “And members of our Lightbox Book Group are reading Dear Mrs Bird this month, so that all ties in.”
For children, there are interactive poetry workshops and a storytelling session with David Litchfield, author of children’s favourite The Bear and the Piano.
“David does actually dress as a bear and play the piano,” says Louise. “Why would you miss that?”
Why indeed. Fun aside, however, the festival raises vital funds for the gallery’s Art and Wellbeing Programme, which supports community projects across the area.
“Our education team designed something called Art in Mind, that supports adults in early dementia and their carers. It runs once a month and is available to people for as long as they feel able to come. They can work on a piece of art or sculpture, and it’s absolutely amazing. We desperately want to keep funding this, as it gets no money from elsewhere.
“We also work with young carers, as well as people with mental health problems who need a space to feel creative again. And we put on exhibitions for a charity that works with women struggling with the criminal justice system.
“Our charity work has lots of strands to it and we really want to further that. In the past, we’ve been shy about what we do, but we have decided that if we tell more people, we may be able to do a great deal more.”
Woking Literary Festival 2019 runs from Apr 18-29. For a full programme of events, plus further details and tickets, visit: thelightbox.org.uk