What is the post-Covid future for the literary festival?

Book festivals have been hit hard by Covid-19. 2020 festivals and fairs which were not cancelled were forced to move online, and 2021 is already shaping up to be similarly disruptive. The London Book Fair and Bologna Children’s Book Fair have both been rescheduled, and some publishers and literary agencies are resorting to holding “digital rights fairs” in order to improve business and maintain international relationships (Chandler and Cowdrey, 2021). World Book Day is also moving online for 2021, with numerous events from authors and illustrator tutorials to ‘Share a Story’ readings being rolled out on digital platforms in the lead up to March’s World Book Day (Comerford, 2021). Covid restrictions have forced a reliance on digital platforms to allow book festivals to continue, so as the book industry continues to adapt to global uncertainty, what is the future of the book festival?

Some have previously speculated that as digital books began to dominate over print, live literary festivals would provide additional value for readers, and thus would become increasingly important for the publishing industry to maintain its audience (Horne, 2012). While this presumed domination of digital over print has not come, live events do undoubtedly provide a valued experience for many readers. The book festival provides a social and educational space for attendees and “engages the public in literary and political discussions”, which further promotes readership and festival attendance (Weber, 2015). Festivals are community spaces, which cannot easily be replicated in a digital forum.

However, it has long been recognised that literary festivals can also be inaccessible and elitist in nature. The limited space of live events can mean that numbers of attendees are restricted, and costs involved in travel and attendance can act as a further barrier. Those who do not fit the expected image of a festival’s attendee may also feel isolated, which will only increase in festivals with a greater sense of community and reader connection (Weber, 2015).

The rise of digital festivals could be the way to overcome these issues: while they cannot accommodate community connection in the same way as a live event, digital book festivals increase accessibility and allow a comfortable anonymity to those who may otherwise feel out of place. The Edinburgh Book Festival adapted well to its digital presence in 2020, managing to hold 140 events over 17 days with over 200 authors and illustrators contributing their work. The Hay-on-Wye festival did better than simply adapt, as the number of virtual attendees doubled in comparison to 2019’s live festival, to around half a million (B.C., 2020). The Hay’s director acknowledged that “Many of the people who electronically visited this year said they could never have afforded to travel to Wales”, which highlights the significance of the digital event in opening literary festivals up to a wider audience.

So, what is the future of the book festival? While 2021 begins with the continued need for festivals to move online, as restrictions change through the year organisers will need to decide on what form they want their book festivals and fairs to take. Previous experience of literary festivals including limited digital aspects has proved successful in facilitating “more deliberate and considered involvement” in the festival experience (Miriam and Weber, 2017). Moving forwards, an increasing combination of live and digital events at book festivals appears likely, to take advantage of the digital developments that were achieved through 2020. As the wider publishing industry increasingly embraces the combination of online and offline content, literary festivals appear to be moving in the same direction.

B.C. (2020) How British literary festivals have reckoned with covid-19; Turning the page. The Economist. [Online] Available at: https://www.economist.com/prospero/2020/08/18/how-british-literary-festivals-have-reckoned-with-covid-19 [Accessed 29/01/2021].

Chandler, M. and Cowdrey, K. (2021) Publishers join literary agencies in running sprint ‘rights fairs’. The Bookseller. [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/publishers-join-agencies-run-own-sprint-rights-fairs-lieu-lbf-1234615 [Accessed 28/01/2021].

Comerford, R. (2021) Online readings rolled out for World Book Day. The Bookseller. [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller/com/news/online-readings-rolled-out-world-book-day-1234620 [Accessed 28/01/2021].

Horne, A. (2012) The Future’s Live, The Future’s Digital. Logos 23(2).

Murray, S. and Webber, M. (2017) ‘Live and local’?: The significance of digital media for writers’ festivals. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 23 (1), pp.61–78.

Weber, M. (2015). Conceptualising audience experience at the literary festival. Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 29(1), pp.84–96.