An array of events at city’s first festival of literature (From Worcester News)

An array of events at city’s first festival of literature

12:20pm Tuesday 25th May 2010 in News By Lauren Rogers, @laurenrogersWN #WENews

FESTIVAL: From left to right: Dean Awford, proprietor of the AiR cafe, Lisa Ventura, organiser and Sarah Finn, organiser and fund-raiser.

WORDSMITHS and bookworms will be pleased to hear that Worcester is to have its own literature festival.

The city’s first ever literature festival will take place in 2011 and organisers hope it will feature an array of events from creative writing workshops, seminars, poetry sessions, talks by local and well-known authors, book signings, open mic nights and a book stall event.

Exact dates are yet to be confirmed, but a public meeting is being held at AiR cafe at the Deanwasy end of Broad Street, Worcester, on Thursday, June 3, for anyone interested in taking part or helping out.

The event is the brainchild of local PR consultant Lisa Ventura, who co-founded the Worcester Music Festival in 2008, and organised the recent Help for Haiti music tour.

“For years I have toyed with the idea of putting on a literature festival in Worcester,” said Miss Ventura. “We have the Hay-on-Wye Festival and literature festivals in Birmingham and Cheltenham, but nothing that is solely for literature in Worcester.

“I was involved with the Three Choirs Festival Fringe in 1999 and even then I had a vision of putting on an event dedicated to literature and writing.

“To test the water and gauge interest I created a group on Facebook and within less than 24 hours of it going live the group had nearly 100 members with numerous posts on the group wall, offers of help and ideas for events.”

The group now has more than 160 members.

“It shows the level of interest in holding an event of this nature in Worcester,” said Miss Ventura, who has begun meeting with individuals and organisations keen to be involved. The informal public meeting will be a chance to meet the organisers and brainstorm ideas for events, seminars and workshops.

Anyone interested in being involved is invited to attend.

For more information call Lisa Ventura on 0845 652 0621, e-mail info@worcesterliteraturefestival.co.uk or visit worcesterliteraturefestival.co.uk.