Dominic Wong, director of the Bournemouth Writing Festival, reveals how this event helps both aspiring and established writers to network and gain valuable skills.
The Bournemouth Writing Festival returns this April after its hugely successful inaugural launch last year. Set to be bigger, better and more inclusive, over 80 events and activities are due to take place over the three-day weekend (April 26-28) with the aim to improve and progress people’s writing – and help them to get published!
A mix of free and ticketed events, involving nearly 100 experienced writers and professionals, have been curated by the Bournemouth Writing Festival team to foster inspiration, networking and stimulate creativity. New for 2024 will be 1-2-1 sessions with literary agents and writing professionals, a free Poetry Hub and a photography studio to get those all-important headshots for book covers and publicity.
The main Festival Hub will be in the Pavilion Dance South West on Westover Road in the heart of Bournemouth’s town centre. In addition, The Avenue Shopping Centre on Commercial Road. and the bandstand in the Lower Gardens will be hosting free activities including one which will get you clacking away on old-school typewriters.
As well as talks, workshops and panels, there will be guided beach walks, the return of the popular Genre Breakfasts (informal meetups for people writing in similar genres) and a high-energy live music and spoken word improvisation show on the Saturday evening.
This year's event includes writing workshops for both adults with additional needs and international students. And the Sunday evening event will showcase local writers from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds. There are also creative writing events designed for children, with author readings and activities.
We were overwhelmed with the response to our first festival last year, 26% of attendees lived outside Dorset and came to Bournemouth to experience our creative community.
For more details and to book tickets visit BournemouthWritingFestival.co.uk
Unleash Your Inner Poet
New for 2024 is our Poetry Hub, full of free activities many of which are family friendly.
On Saturday 27 April, The Avenue Shopping Centre will host drop-in poetry activities and performances. Curated by the Winchester Poetry Festival, a range of poets will be available to inspire you to write - whether you are a complete beginner, did something like this at school in the last century, or want to be challenged into writing something else - these activities will inspire wordplay and expression. Special guests include Write Beyond Borders (a transnational writing development and mentoring scheme), Yasmin Inkersole and Kaycee Hill.
From 10am on Saturday and Sunday at the bandstand in the Lower Gardens is our free typewriter activities. Have a go on old-fashioned typewriters by clacking out your own poems in ‘The Stanza Room’. Beth Calverley will be also joining us with her magical Poetry Machine (pictured) to write you your own personal poem.
Beth will ask you some gentle questions and then weave the words from your answers into a typewritten poem to take away with you. Just follow the clatter of her vintage typewriter and look out for the Poetry Machine's distinctive bright yellow umbrella, flagpole and bubble engine.
Inspiring Writers to Write
Bournemouth Writing Festival is all about inspiring writer to write and to help with this we offer a wide variety of talks and workshops to get writers writing. This ranges from first steps such as starting out and finding the time to write, to plotting a novel and teasing out interesting descriptions through smells. The latter is a talk by author, illustrator and smells expert Liam R Findlay (pictured) who creates historically correct aromas for visitor attractions.
Have a manuscript complete and ready to share? There are talks on the different options to get your words into the world – from self-publishing to the traditional route or a mixture of the two. And media lawyer, Luke English, explains what you can and can’t include in your book, from a legal perspective.
Writing, by definition, is a lonely business, so there are lots of networking opportunities, inspiring walks and ways to meet other writers. This includes informal networking lunches and dinners as well as our popular Genre Breakfasts at independent cafes within Bournemouth Town Centre.
Want to know who will be at this year’s event? Then watch interviews of our speakers to get a taster of what they will be talking about on the Bournemouth Writing Festival’s YouTube channel.
Word Wizards Beach Walk
Jane Labous leads this walk aimed at children (7-10 years old) showing them how to cast spells with words and crafting beautiful stories. Sunday April 28th 10am from Pavilion Dance, runs until 11.30am Book via website.
Genre Breakfasts
These bring together writers of similar genres, this year’s line-up includes Young Adult Fiction; Playwriting/Screen Writing; Poetry; Fantasy; Crime; Historical Fiction; Creative Non-Fiction; Children’s Fiction; Women’s Fiction; Horror. See the full list and book via the website.
