NEW FESTIVAL VISION: WITH A TARGET AUDIENCE OF NON-READERS, SELINA BROWN LEFT HAS PLANS FOR A UK TOUR LATER THIS YEAR THAT WILL SEE EVENTS STAGED IN PLACES SUCH AS CHICKEN SHOPS
lot of literature festivals out there that for years and years and years have been devoted to literary fans. That space has already been taken. But what about festivals for people that want to experiment? We really see the festival as a sample day, in that you come in and you can sample as many events as you want across all our zones. We want people to be overwhelmed in a positive way—with choice. We entice them with a very low entry point in terms of cost.” Last year, tickets were £10 for an all-day, all-events pass for adults, £7 for concessions and £2 for children. There are also a number of free tickets available, which people can request with no questions asked. “When we conducted our research, 80% of the people that atended our festival had never been to a literature festival before. That’s what we are trying to do,” Brown explains. Later this year, the festival will be reaching even more new readers by touring the UK, with approximately 60 Black authors touring seven cities, and book events in unconventional, untradi- tional setings, such as chicken shops. Places, Brown says, where new readers wouldn’t ordinarily be reached. Ultimately, the goal for Brown is to “create an economic shiſt within the ecosystem of Black publishing” and a landscape in which the books of Black British authors are “flying off the shelves”. She says: “The 2023 festival is going to be massive, the biggest event we have ever done. We’re doing it because we want to create more reach and visibilit for Black authors. That’s our main drive. And it goes beyond profit. We’re driven by purpose. “Our ultimate vision is to have, to be within, a land- scape that is completely inclusive, completely diverse, completely representative of the whole of the UK, from the publishing boardrooms to the bookshelves. My hope is that within a couple of years, a young person in a school will go to a library and there will be a Black book, a book that represents Islam, there will be a book that represents travellers, Asian people, neurodiverse people, disabled people and there will be such a diverse bookshelf, so that everybody is authentically spoken to.” The dates for the 2023 edition of The Black British Book Festival are due to be released shortly.
TheBookseller.com
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