I’ve just returned from speaking at the Swindon Festival of Literature. No, don’t laugh – that’s the point of this post.
Why is it places like Swindon get so much stick? I’ve commented before on the similar attitude to two of the places I’ve lived (Swindon and Slough).
Speaking afterwards to the organizer of the very successful festival (and a jolly good event it was too), he said that when he first proposed the idea of a Swindon Festival of Literature, he was told by the Arts Council that ‘literature’ was too long a word for Swindon. How about ‘Swindon Book Week’?
I’m also reminded of an Al Stewart concert I once attended in Swindon. (See, we’ve got culture.) All the way through it, Mr Stewart kept saying ‘Swindon’ with a quizical tone and a shake of the head, as if to say ‘what have I done to deserve this?’
In the end, it’s very condescending. Anyone ‘provincial’ in the UK suffers from London-based stereotyping.
But at least here on Nature Network there’s no such problem. Let’s see, now, what’s the choice up at the top? Global, London or Boston. Hmm…
I was brought up in Scunthorpe, so I know what you mean. Except that Scunthorpe deserves its reputation.
Somewhat to my embarrassment, my brother now lives in Slough.
It’s an interesting post, Brian. However, it looks like the organizers of the festival attracted quite a lot of A-list talent, apart from your good self, of course – and good for them!
It’s very hard to get a new festival going, and can take quite a few years before it gets established on the festival map. A few years ago I talked at the Brighton Science Festival – it might have been its second year. I did a double-header with Jack Cohen. To say that the audience was ‘bijou’ would be to put it kindly. Even Jack – with his Terry Pratchett connections – managed only a few more than I did. And yet, the year before, I’d filled a theater at the well-established Cambridge Science Festival. And this was cool, trendy, happening Brighton, which, unlike Swindon or Slough, is Islington-on-Sea. The organizers told me how hard it was to get local interest, even from local institutions of higher learning, and sponsorship is always an issue.
But take heart. For a few hours, a place as remote as Cromer was the centre of the science blogosphere.
Bob – I grew up in Grimsby. We’re almost neighbours.
Henry – the Swindon festival is in its 15th year now.
Technically I ought to berate you for falling for the cult of celebrity and feeling a festival has only made it when it can attract ‘A-list talent’, but I am all too aware my pulling power isn’t that of a Steven Berkoff (nore yet does it compare with that literary wizard Katie Price, who wasn’t represented at this event).
To be fair, though, my talk on Infinity has sold out in the past at both the Royal Institution and the Cheltenham Festival of Science, so sometimes the topic can be so intriguing you can overcome the resistance of people to coming to hear some oik speak.