Wordfest 2010
Wordfest 2010 was the fourth literary festival organised by the library service in Trafford. It ran from Thursday 10th June to Friday July 9th 2010, and was Access Trafford's contribution to Trafford's 'Four Weeks of Culture'.
Events:
Thursday 10th June - Woodsend Library - Andy Mitten:
Sports Journalist and football Fanzine writer Andy talked about his writing, including his books and interviews with players past and present. This was extremely fascinating, even to those who knew little about the subject, and there were so many questions we could have gone on for several hours if Andy hadn't had to leave!
Wednesday 16th June - Coppice Avenue Library - Chris Tutton: Crime Writing Workshop:
After last year's enjoyable poetry workshop, Chris returned for a workshop on crime fiction writing, which was very well received and enjoyed, demonstrating that there is a strong audience for this type of event.
Monday 21st - June Hale Library - Anne Caldwell and Suzanne Batty:
A creative writing workshop on the theme of mothers and daughters based on the anthology 'Some Girls' Mothers'. Participants found it moving and inspirational.
Thursday 24th June - Urmston Library - Andrew Davies:
A senior lecturer in history from the University of Liverpool gave a talk about his book 'The Gangs of Manchester' - the 'Scuttlers' who terrorized the nineteenth century city. The talk enthralled the audience, and led to lots of questions and discussion.
Monday 28th June - Urmston and Hale Libraries:
A behind the scenes talk about the making of audio books, with Sean Melvin from Clipper/WF Howes and Maggie Mash, one of their most experienced narrators. Not only was this extremely interesting, it also helped us promote our Audio books, including MP3 audio books ('Playaways')
Thursday 1st July - Timperley Library - Anne O'Brien:
'Virgin Widow - England's Forgotten Queen' - this was a talk by the author of a new novel about Anne Neville, daughter of Warwick 'the Kingmaker', who lived through the drama of the Wars of the Roses and became to wife of the future Richard III. Anne O'Brien also discussed her career in writing.
Thursday 8th July - Urmston Library - Kate Williams:
A talk by the historian about her book 'Becoming Queen - the Young Queen Victoria' gave an intriguing insight into the unseemly scramble among the sons of George III to produce an heir, not to mention the bitter relationship between the young Victoria and her mother.
Friday 9th July - Waterside Arts Centre - Prose Formation Team Summer Soiree:
A summery evening of songs and stories featuring Emma Unworthy, Nicola Musty, Maria Roberts and guest musicians. Thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended.
Some Feedback and comments:
What did attendees get from Wordfest?
'really felt like I learnt something'; 'enjoyable, interesting and stimulating' 'definitely feel like I've learnt something'
'I have written a couple of crime stories; today gave me the opportunity to improve'; 'very enjoyable, clear, concise advice'
As regards enjoyment of the events, 89% of those who replied gave the events 5 stars for enjoyment on the feedback forms. ' Brilliant and so great that a local library should put on such an informative and interesting subject' 'Urmston Library you hide your light under a bushel.'
Pages Ago:
Three of the events were of a historical theme: 'Gangs of Manchester'; 'Becoming Queen - the young Queen Victoria'; and 'Virgin Widow - Anne Neville'. These events all attracted a good attendance, and were used to promote the generic 'Pages Ago' project as well as the writing competition associated with it. (Pages Ago was mentioned at all the events and in the Wordfest brochure). The comments indicated a very high level of enjoyment from the events, and show that there is a great deal of interest in historical subjects in the community.
Some statistics:
46% of those attending and completing feedback forms rarely or never use Trafford libraries. Some said they were not aware of all the things libraries offer these days before coming. 20% of those attending do not live in Trafford anyway and so would not use the libraries there. A number of respondents said that they use libraries in their own authorities.
The feedback shows that there is an appreciation for and interest in, good quality talks and workshops by published and experienced authors. People have said they would like more talks on a range of subjects, from history to crafts. The venues and events were given a very high level of satisfaction in the feedback forms, which indicates that the libraries offer attractive spaces for these types of events.
This report was contributed to the Time To Read Website by Liz McKay. Sadly (for us), Liz has now left Access Trafford at the end of August and now works for a school library in Crewe.
For any more information about this report or services in Trafford, please contact
Carole Stuart
Tel: 0161 912 2929
Librarians in the North West have pioneered partnership working to encourage new readers into libraries. Time To Read is a partnership of librarians engaged in reader development activity in public library authorities in the North West Region. All 23 public library authorities in the region currently support Time To Read.