Big On Books

Festival director JASON ROSE sets the scene for the second Inverness Book Festival

THE SECOND FESTIVAL is looming large. It feels like only yesterday I was running around at the first one – in fact, I’ve only just calmed down.

That inaugural event went very well, even though it didn’t break even financially. There were some wonderful events that didn’t generate the audiences I expected, which was baffling. But we also had huge crowds for some events and I was glad we had the main Eden Court auditorium to contain them.

Overall, we had about 1,500 bums on seats over the 4 days, which is pretty good going for a first effort. It would be tempting to expect even more this time round as people are now more aware of the festival.

However, we don’t have the luxury of Eden Court. The Royal Highland Hotel is a great venue but can only seat 200 folk at the most. As I type, tickets are selling particularly well for Richard Holloway, Michel Faber, Don Paterson and Jeremy Strong.

As long as the authors and the audience have a good time, though, I’m not too concerned about numbers. I just hope people don’t think that they have to have read the authors’ books before they’re allowed to come along. Some of my best experiences at other book festivals have been when I’ve turned up on a recommendation. It’s how I discovered John Irving.

This year’s line-up is completely different from last year’s. I did that on purpose. I wanted to emphasise how much variety there is out there and that the literary world is Inverness’s oyster; we can ask anyone to come here.

I’d like to think that it will inspire more Highlanders to have a go at writing and put Inverness on the literary circuit, giving us a chance to compete with other UK cities for visits from the greatest writers on earth.

Last year we began with a bang with big names like Banks and Brookmyre. This year I have mostly gone for writers whose works are of outstanding quality but who don’t seem to get the limelight they deserve.

Michel Faber is the greatest living writer in the Highlands and we should be reading his stories out loud from the rooftops. His new collection is brilliant, in particular the erotic ‘Explaining Coconuts’, which doesn’t actually contain any sex.

Zoe Strachan and Louise Welsh are two fine Glasgow-based authors whose novels have ‘wowed the critics’, as the saying goes. Louise also has a twisted sense of humour and will have them rolling in the aisles even though her stories are about murders and mysteries.

Jenny Colgan writes chick-lit but good chick-lit. Dan Rhodes is warped and destined for greatness. Then there’s local lass Emma Maree Urquhart, who has had plenty of limelight, but at such a tender age it’ll be interesting to hear how she’s coped.

Alex ‘Lads from the Ferry’ Mabon has also generated a lot of interest for a first time novelist but he is – how shall I put this – slightly older than Emma, ahem. Richard Holloway is one of Scotland’s greatest thinkers, Don Paterson is one of our greatest poets, and Richard Jobson seems to be single-handedly reviving the film industry.

Then there’s James Meek. I knew him as a brilliant reporter for the Guardian, but I had never read any of his fiction. I skimmed through an advance excerpt from ‘The People’s Act of Love’ and was hooked. I invited him on a hunch and now he has been long-listed for the Booker Prize. Boy, do I feel smug!

In the event James didn’t make the short-list, but Inverness-born Ali Smith has, and for a second time. ‘Hotel World’ should have scooped the prize and I’m crossing my fingers and toes for ‘The Accidental’. Inverness’s brightest literary talent read from it at last year’s festival.

Technical aspects of the festival have been changed in an effort to make it even better. We’ve lowered ticket prices and have a special offer: buy 3 and get a 4th free. I’ve spaced out the events a bit more so there’s plenty of time for questions from the audience (and maybe also time to nip to the bar).

We put the brochure out a bit earlier and have persuaded the bookshops to promote the festival even more. They all have stickers for books to show which ones are by festival authors, and they have ‘shelftalkers’, which are those little cards sticking out of the shelf with a wee recommendation from me to go see the author in question.

We’ve even had some tasteful t-shirts made up for the booksellers to wear. Hopefully, by now, you can’t fail to notice that there’s something going on! I’m very grateful to Borders, Charles Leakey, Ottakar’s and Waterstone’s for their continued involvement.

I think it could take another few years before the Inverness Book Festival becomes as big and popular as I’d like. We’ve stuck to the Thursday to Sunday format and I’ve tried to keep costs down by only having one or two authors on stage during each event. This also gives the authors and their fans more time together.

We’re probably always going to suffer from a lack of ‘presence’. What I mean by that is that in Edinburgh you know the festival is on when big white tents start appearing in Charlotte Square. From the outside, a theatre or a hotel always looks the same. We do have plans to hang a large banner across Academy Street and place small billboards outside the Royal Highland Hotel to catch people’s attention.

I’m really looking forward to the festival. I’d like to think that it will inspire more Highlanders to have a go at writing and put Inverness on the literary circuit, giving us a chance to compete with other UK cities for visits from the greatest writers on earth. But I’m also interested to see how the public respond to it and whether they, like me, feel that it should become an annual event.

Jason Rose is the Director of Inverness Book Festival

© Jason Rose, 2005