Category Archives: News

HULF IS CHANGING

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As you’ll probably have noticed, during the Covid pandemic we’ve had to cancel the 2020 and 2021 HULFs, which were meant to take place in April.

We had hoped that by the time the next Festival was due to take place, we’d be living in a world free of hand sanitiser, face masks and social distancing, but currently we’re not convinced that by April 2022, we’ll feel comfortable holding crowded book talks and workshops in the relatively small spaces of our village venues. We’re also not keen to bring vast crowds of strangers into the community.

Back to our Community Roots

Rather than cancel the Festival for a third time, we’ve decided to take HULF back to its roots as a small event designed to serve our community. We’ll do this by holding just one event at a time, in a single venue, for an afternoon, rather than what feels like taking over the whole village for the day and bringing in authors and visitors from far and wide. (For the cancelled 2020 event, We had authors willing to fly at their own expense from Sweden and France to take part, and a visitor from the US planning her whole holiday around HULF.)

We’re not quite ready for a return to packed venues yet (Photo of HULF 2019 by Angela Fitch)

Smaller Events at Greater Frequency

To offset the reduction in the size of the event, we will increase frequency to roughly quarterly. Where possible the events will be held on the last Saturday of the month to make it easier to remember when they are. We will of course avoid the last Saturday in August as that is always the day of the Hawkesbury Horticultural Show, at which we always have a stall.

The first HULF Talk, as we’re calling the new style event series, will be on Saturday 27th November on the theme of Travel and Adventure in the beautiful setting of the Bethesda Chapel. (Limited number of tickets still available here – admission is by advance booking only to help us control numbers.)

We would like to thank rare book dealer Peter Harrington of London (www.peterharrington.co.uk) for their kind sponsorship of this event. Their short film, One Hundred Seconds to Midnight (www.onehundredsecondstomidnight.co.uk), about a remarkable collection of rare books related to climate change, will be part of the programme.

Click image to book your tickets via Eventbrite (PhotoL Mark Horrell on the summit of Everest)

The second HULF Talk will be on Saturday 29th January, and as we’ll be in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, the theme will be the Romantic Novel. Speakers will include Katharine E Smith and Kate Frost, who write bestselling romantic novels set in Cornwall, Greece, Africa, and other alluring destinations. The full speaker line-up will be announced on the Festival website in December.

We look forward to welcoming you to the new-look HULF.

Photo of Edmund Weiner, Katharine E Smith and Rachel Amphlett at HULF 2019
by Angela Fitch

Ali Bacon Reminisces about the First HULF

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Ali Bacon with two authors

Ali Bacon, calmly controlling the packed programme of readings atht every first HULF in 2015 . To her far left is John Holland, organiser of Stroud Short Stories and also of HULF’s short stories programme.

As we gear up for HULF 2020 this April, Ali Bacon, prize-winning Scottish author of novels and short-stories and a regular fixture in the HULF speakers’ list, shares her delight in watching the event develop since its inception back in 2015.

Times past and times to come, or, Ask not what HULF can do for you…!

I’m one of those lucky people who through a variety of circumstances (bumping into Debbie Young at the right time and not having much in my diary!) became involved in HULF at the very beginning.

What an impact that first evening made and what a joy it has been to see it grow and develop from year to year.

Remembering the First Ever HULF

On that very first day I remember sitting outside the back door of the pub issuing directions.

It’s great to think how many of the acquaintances I made on that day have been have been renewed from year to year and how some have become real friends in the real or virtual world.

What was my role that night?

I remember moving a few seats (which Debbie moved back because she knows best!) and being part of a reading in a tent. The most challenging part was helping chair a short story session where there was very stiff competition from the non-literary revellers in the bar!

From One Night in the Pub to a Whole-Day Event

From there we quickly progressed to a whole day event, with panel discussions as well as readings, still based in the pub, but with a slightly calmer ambience during daylight hours!

A children’s book tent was added and the ‘young people’ strand has grown alongside poetry workshops and advice on publishing.

Subsequently HULF expanded into extra spaces – Methodist Chapel, Bethesda Chapel, the primary school and the village hall.  Last year we had a ‘proper’ book shop as well as the luxury of the village hall for auditorium-style presentations.

Wow. And all of this is free!

Yes, it’s free in terms of ticketing, but it’s not exactly something for nothing. There is simply no charge for the vast amount of work undertaken by Debbie. And of course we writers (some of whom come considerable distances) understand our services are provided on the same basis –we bring something to the show in exchange for the chance to meet people, network and sell a few books.

Since 2018 this has also been put on a more formal footing (and quite right too). It’s not enough to wait for an email from Debbie, we must apply to be there and ‘set out our stall’.

What can I bring? It’s a very good question – I’ve read short stories and from novels, I’ve discussed being a writer with many different hats – contemporary fiction, historical fiction, and as a writer inspired by art. So ‘what next’ for HULF is also what next for me…

We’re pleased to announce that Ali Bacon will be taking part in the HULF2020 event “Around the World in 8ish Books”, chaired by Caroline Sanderson at 4pm, in which she’ll be putting Scotland on the map with a reading from her masterful novel, In the Blink of an Eye, about early photography pioneers in Edinburgh.

image of Ali Bacon headshot with the cover of In the Blink of an EyeAli Bacon writes novels and short stories and is lucky enough to live in South Gloucestershire just down the road from Hawkesbury Upton. She has been at every festival so far and manned the Festival tent at Hawkesbury Show a few times too. Find out more at alibacon.com or on Twitter @AliBacon

HULF’s Children’s Events Director Founds Storytale – a New Festival for Young Readers in Bristol

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We’re thrilled to share the news of a new litfest being launched this autumn in Bristol by Kate Frost, Director of HULF’s Children’s & Teen Events. Here’s Kate to tell you all about it…

banner ad for Storytale Festival

When Debbie Young appointed me the Director of Children’s and Teen Events for the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival at the start of 2019, little did I know that by the end of the year I’d also be the Co-founder of the Storytale Festival, a new city-wide children’s book festival for Bristol.

As well as writing fiction for adults, I have a time travel adventure trilogy for 9-12 year olds published called Time Shifters.

arragy of book covers

Kate Frost writes for both adults and young adults

I’m passionate about giving children the opportunity to read, write and be creative, and being involved in the Storytale Festival, I hope, is the perfect way to achieve that.

Off to a Flying Start

I had intended to do one creative writing workshop for children as part of the 2019 Bristol Festival of Literature, but when they put me in touch with Ellie Freeman, a Bristol community activist, mum and passionate book lover who’d been thinking about starting a book festival for children, things began to go in a different direction.

We had talked about starting small, with twelve events over the October half-term week, but the festival took on a life of its own with authors and illustrators coming to us and asking to be a part of the inaugural festival. In the end we had turn people down with the suggestion they contact us about next year’s festival – and that’s before we even knew if the first festival would be a success! (Ask me on the 4th November!)

Vital Statistics

Storytale Festival will run from Saturday 26th October to Sunday 3rd November 2019 in venues throughout Bristol. Rather than having twelve events scheduled, we now have more than 40, including prequel events running up to the main festival.

Generous Support

We have no funding, our Arts Council England application was turned down, and so we’ve relied on the huge amount of generous support from people, venues and companies to make the festival a reality.

Events List

Storytale’s flagship event, Wild Writing with Anna Wilson, Chris Vick and Mimi Thebo will open the main festival on Saturday 26th October with a wildly fun session featuring huge cardboard animals!

More wild and wonderful creatures can be discovered during BBC producer Justin Anderson’s Secrets of Snow Leopards event at Stanfords, while children will love being immersed in stories and creating their own characters with illustrators Paula Bowles and Nicola Colton during their events, Superkitty at the Elephant House, and Smart Kitties and Mucky Pups at Storysmith.

Festival highlights will include a Writing for Children panel at The Watershed, co-hosted by the Bristol Festival of Literature, along with a spookily good alternative to trick or treating on Halloween, a battle between Thriller vs. Horror at Foyles with YA authors Tracy Darnton and Gabriel Dylan.

Children can get creative and write their own stories in three very different creative writing workshops based on climate change, fantastic ideas, and time travel, led by authors Damaris Young, Emma Read, and of course myself!

Arnos Vale will be the wonderfully atmospheric woodland setting for storytelling for youngsters in the events, Winter Sleep and “Uh-Oh” Said Flo.

Immersing children in the joy of storytelling will continue with popular YouTuber Jenny the Story Lady at The Southville Centre, and with Pridie Tiernan from The Wild of the Words at Windmill Hill City Farm.

We have storytellers, illustrators and authors giving their time for free to engage with and inspire children of all ages, and we hope that October half-term in Bristol will be filled with exciting, affordable (lots are free) and memorable events that will capture children’s and adult’s imagination.

And once it’s over, we’ll turn our attention to next year and how we can build on the huge learning curve we’ve had this year, starting a city-wide festival from scratch. Oh, and I’d better start thinking about HULF 2020 as well!

For full details of Storytale Festival 2019, visit its website: www.storytalefestival.com.

You can also follow the Festival on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @StorytaleFest.

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HULF Author Trevor Stubbs Sets Up YA Events at Bristol Lit Fest 2019

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headshot of Trevor Stubbs

Trevor Stubbs writes Young Adult novels

We are delighted to share news of one of our HULF regulars starting up an exciting new project in nearby Bristol targeting young adults. Trevor Stubbs writes:

The Bristol Festival of Literature is coming up next month (17th-27th October 2019). Last spring, I was challenged by a fellow author to make a pitch for an event for young adults as part of the Lit Fest and, as a writer of young adult fiction, I saw the need for such an event immediately.

It would not be about promoting my own work but encouraging teenagers in Bristol to be part of the city’s culture and impact – both regionally and internationally.

Four New Events for Young Adults

The pitch was taken up by Bristol libraries, and we now have not one but four events on the card:

  •  Fishponds (Wednesday 23rd),
  • Bishopston (Thursday 24th)
  • Horfield (Saturday 26th)
  • on Monday  21st there will be a similar event for schools at Junction 3 library in Easton

The first three events are free of charge and open to all. We have a team of six authors, including myself, who will be answering the questions of young people about reading and writing:

  • Adrianne Fitzpatrick
  • Kate Frost
  • Wendy H Jones
  • Stella Wilkinson
  • Willow Woods

All of the authors are coming at their own expense and will receive no fee. Of course, they will bring their books to sell, but all they really want to do is be sources of inspiration for the young people.

Young People of Influence

Young people are becoming ever bolder in addressing the burning issues of our times straight on.

  • Greta Thunberg, aged 16, has taken on the leaders of the world without fear and restraint in leading the fight against climate change. “How dare you!” she says to all – both the advocates of fossil fuels and the rest of us for sitting around and not getting on with what needs to be done.
  • Mulala Yousafzai is campaigning for girl’s education – a message she directs not just at her native Pakistan but to all of us.

Trevor’s Perspective

A few years ago, I was criticised by a young woman for being too male, middle-class and white. At the time I didn’t know what I could do about any of that, but thinking about it since, I think I know what she meant. I was too establishment, too ponderous, too content with the world as it was. We can’t help being some of the things that go with being comparatively rich, well-feed and looked up to – as a retired vicar, I know what that means – but we can make sure we are not content with a world that is falling apart.

The science of global warming, the horrific statistics on world poverty and the impact of violence (to call it ‘war’ is to be too polite) on people and our environment is tearing our planet and human society apart; it is not sustainable.

Our young people want to be heard. We need to give them a voice and this is where encouraging them to read critically and write effectively comes in.

The aim of the Young Adults events in four of our Bristol libraries is to help our teenagers to discover their voices, their talents for writing and other forms of self-expression so that they can make their own contributions to the debate that will change our world for the better. The times are critical; it will be the younger generations that will suffer the full implications of the things we do, or fail to do, now.

Let our young people learn, let them speak, let them write and let us all listen.

HULF Author Barry Faulkner in “The Times” Diary

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Barry Faulkner’s cutting from The Times newspaper, Tuesday 6th August 2019

HULF author Barry Faulkner made the national press earlier this month – and he didn’t even know about it until another Festival regular, David Penny, pointed it out to him.

The reason? It was an anonymous entry in The Times’ diary section, sharing one of the many anecdotes that feature in Barry’s talks. Barry is a popular guest speaker for WIs and other social groups, and he presumes that, unknown to him, one of the diary’s columnists or informants must have been in the audience at one of his talks.

Barry’s popular DCIS Palmer police procedurals are inspired by his own background – not as a policeman, but as a member of a London family actively involved in petty crime. To make it easier to read than the photo, here’s a transcript of the topical anecdote shared in The Times:

LAG TAKES A DIG AT POLICE

As the ground grows ever harder, a gardening tip comes from the criminal underworld. The writer Barry Faulkner’s family were petty criminals and, after a local theft, his father knew CID were watching. For five nights he took a shoebox to his ill-kept allotment, stayed for half and hour, then departed. On the sixth night the fuzz swoopd in, dug the place up and found nothing. On the seventh day Faulkner’s father went back, finally able to plant his potatoes.

Barry, pictured on the far left below speaking on a panel at this year’s CrimeFest, the leading international crimewriting convention, will be sharing more insights and anecdotes like this at HULF 2020, when he will be giving a talk about celebrated London criminals and his family’s own involvement.

 

In case you’re wondering, Barry’s own past is blameless. Instead of following in the family tradition, he went into advertising, before breaking into writing and editing comedy scripts for major television series. No wonder his novels are so entertaining!

In the meantime, if you’d like to read more about the “Diamond Geezers” featured in Barry’s talks, visit his blog here: www.geezers2016.wordpress.com/.

And if you’d like to read his novels, you’ll find them on Amazon, available in paperback and ebook. All of his books are also available via Kindle Unlimited, so if you’re a subscriber, you can download all his books as part of your monthly subscription plan.