Why create a literary festival?
“Create a literary festival? A non-profit effort merely for the benefit of Eastbourne? Just to encourage everyone to be a writer? To help them realise they can be writers? Please, for the love of all that is sane, why???”
— Our good friends when we announced our plans.
It’s a very fair question. Why go to all the time and effort — completely voluntarily of course — of trying to create a new literary festival?
Firstly, let me introduce myself. Hi! I’m Russ Miles, instigator-in-chief of Eastbourne Literary Festival. I’d like to say something dramatic like "“I had a dream…”, but in fact it’s more like “I had a shower…”.
Photo: Russ and his dog, Sophie.
A little while back I had an idea. I wanted to create a warm and welcoming community of writers and lovers of literature in my home town of Eastbourne. I got this idea as I stepped into the shower and, by the time I stepped out, Eastbourne Literary Festival was born (in my head at least).
Why did I want to create this community? The answer lies many years ago when I was a mere graduate studying for a Masters at Oxford…
It all began in Oxford…
I had become a writer because it felt totally normal to be one.
At Oxford I was a workaholic. This is not a rare condition for students at the university. Whether you’re reading ancient languages and literature, or software engineering (my MSc), you’re definitely developing working habits that are both a boon and a recipe for bust (burnout-wise) later on in life.
And I took that work focus a little further than most. While pushing for a distinction I also decided to approach a publisher about writing a book. This was an absolutely insane amount of work, but the whole vibe at Oxford was typified by an empowering feeling of “why not me?”. You want to do an MSc while working full time? Why not? You want to also write your first technical book? Also, why the heck not??
So that’s what I did. I took a topic that didn’t quite qualify for my Masters thesis and turned it into an outline for a book. I then got a contract to write it with an excellent publisher, received an advance and then completed the book not long before I completed my degree. I was a writer. Of course I was. That confident feeling I’d experienced at Oxford led me to believe that it was all expected and inevitable.
I had become a writer because it felt totally normal to be one. It was an obvious outcome, not exceptional or out of the ordinary in any way. Normal and empowering, a feeling I wasn’t to experience enough in the years that followed. It was a message and a feeling that that I carried with me as I gradually wound my way back to my home: Eastbourne.
“You’re a Writer, Harry.”
Believing you can write, supported by a festival and a community that believes you are one too.
That’s the message, the heart, the very soul of the Eastbourne Literary Festival. You are a writer. It’s the feeling and message that was born in Oxford, and now our goal is to embed it in the very culture of our beautiful town.
You might not have written much yet, but it all starts with believing you are one. Believing you can write, supported by a festival and a community that believes you are one too.
Through a celebration of books, through approachable and welcoming contact with local and globally renowned authors, through panel discussions, activities, competitions, we want every single person who takes part in this festival to feel that they are a writer. They can be that next best-selling writer. They can be that next performing poet. They can be the next hip hop artist whose words and lyrical concoctions entrance the world.
I want that same feeling of “Of course you’re a writer!” to be wrapped, delivered and to excite everyone in Eastbourne through this new festival, because I firmly believe it is absolutely the truth.
Not just a one-off
We want to establish a set of activities that keeps that sense of “you are a writer” and “you are a creator” for all age groups, all backgrounds, all abilities, all experience levels, across all of the year.
While we are planning our festival for a set of dates in 2026, we don’t see this as a one-off event. We see this as a year-round initiative. We want to establish a set of activities that keeps that sense of “you are a writer” and “you are a creator” for all age groups, all backgrounds, all abilities, all experience levels, across all of the year.
Those events began this month with our regular “Writing by Candlelight” evenings. Our first is limited to just 12 people and is hosted by the wonderful All Things Analogue on Grove Road. Every month we will head to a location supporting as many people as we can to provide a space where new and experienced writers can meet, share stories and experience, and then spend some time quietly writing together.
Watch this space; hit subscribe
And this is just the start. Soon we will be announcing lots of other activities around the festival, including details of the festival itself.
More events, dates and announcements, podcast interviews, and so much more as we build up momentum around our new festival.
We cannot wait to meet and get to know everyone who supports and wants to visit Eastbourne Literary Festival. To say things are exciting would be an understatement and this newsletter will be the best place to get the latest news first.
Hi Russ, I attended the meeting for teachers last Summer. You mentioned Podcasts for schools, and I was wondering whether our school could take part?