What is the purpose of literary festivals?
One reason is that they bring people together face to face. Catching up on the latest episode of your favorite Danish crime drama on a commuter train is great, but it’s a one-way exchange between voyeur and viewer. At a literary event, you can meet your heroes, learn something new about them, discover writers you didn’t know about before, and enjoy chance encounters with people who share your passion for books.
Another reason is that many festivals offer much more than traditional author events, offering writing workshops, debates, literary lunches, walks, and more.
Sometimes literary festivals bring together academia and the public in new and unexpected ways. The unique Norwich Festival of World Literature, for example, includes a writers’ conference where scholars and writers discuss contemporary literary issues during the day, while evening events are open to the public and expert writers offer daytime workshops to round out the mix.
Literary festivals bring people together, enrich literature, and open up more and more cities to the world, so they are essential for anyone who is not indifferent not only to literature but also to current social events.