All you need to know to romp in The Letters Festival this weekend
Busking at the Seams loves indie authors/books/presses. The idea of going a different route and forgoing the usual standard and expectation is what we thrive on and support. Luckily, Atlanta is going full-fledge into their love with the indie literary world and hosting, for the first time (and hopefully not the last), The Letters Festival this weekend, Nov. 14 – 16. For a full list of events, readings, and who is involved, visit thelettersfestival.org. But for all the questions you really want answered, check out my interview with Scott Daughtridge, one of the co-organizers for the festival.
Q. The Letters Festival website takes care of all of the who, what, when, and where questions. But Busking wants to know how this festival came to fruition, and please say that it will take place annually. What prompted The Letters Festival?
A. I came up with the idea last December and sat down with Laura Relyea—vicerine at Vouched Books (www.vouchedbooks.com) and Stephanie Dowda and we started mapping everything out. Then Alex came on board and we started digging and digging and digging until we hit bedrock. Atlanta has festivals that celebrate a lot of different kinds of art, but not one for small press, independent literature. We decided to fill that gap. By creating the festival we were hoping to give literature fans in Atlanta a chance to engage with some of the best independent authors around. We also wanted to play a role in bringing a spotlight to the awesome literary culture that exists in Atlanta.
Q. Atlanta’s writing community is massive and there are constantly events to help promote the less mainstream and commercial writers. This festival has brought in some Atlanta favorites but is also introducing Atlanta to authors from other locales. What was the selection process like when choosing who to have speaking and reading at the festival?
A. Alex Gallo-Brown (one of the co-organizers) has his finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the publishing world. I read a lot as well and together we created a long list of writers that we wanted to participate in the festival. We feel like we have a good, diverse group of writers. From an American Book Award winner to a graduate student to a straight up DIY publisher. Their diverse in their backgrounds, their locations, their styles and the phases of their careers. One of the great things about independent literature is the variety of voices and writing techniques that can be found. We wanted to amass a list of writers that represent some of those voices and styles and let them speak to the city of Atlanta.
Q. Some of the events are free with a RSVP, while others are ticketed. What is the best way to guarantee that participants take part in as much as possible and don’t miss out?
A. Everyone should plan to come to everything (seriously)! We are excited that these amazing, celebrated writers are open to engaging with the audience in so many different ways. We feel this is a rare opportunity that shouldn’t be missed by anyone. The programming, we hope, will appeal to people that are simply interested, or curious about literature to established writers and everyone in between. People can work on their craft at the writing seminars, learn about the approach and philosophy behind the authors’ words at the author talk and the discussion panel and experience the work of the writers as the stories and poems will be read and delivered straight from their mouths!
Q. Along with discussion panels and readings there will be workshops. How will these be set up and will writers receive one on one feedback from the instructors?
A. The two authors leading the workshops, Jacob Scheier (poetry) and Kim Henderson (fiction) are award winning writers. They will be discussing some key elements of writing and will give the attendees time to work on and share their own writing pieces. People that have pieces of writing that they’ve already written, but want to sharpen them up a bit, can bring those, or people can bring nothing but the willingness to write something new. The workshops will be great for writers of all experience and skill levels.
Q. And now for a little opinion: Why indie? Why now? And why do you think there has been such growth in this section of the publishing world?
A. I think people want to read/hear/absorb genuine, creative voices. There is too much media that is created for the sole purpose of turning a profit. That kind of stuff has no soul and it is widely distributed and forced upon consumers. We want to expose as many people as possible to this small group of writers that create art for arts sake, who are committed to digging deep within themselves to create something that is unique in the world.
