HARBINGER

Just for the record. There are around 400 so-called “Lit.Fests” staged annually throughout the UK. 400.That’s one per day and some to spare. Apart from a very few well known internationally ranked events such as those staged at Cheltenham and Cardiff and Ilkley, most of the rest vary in popularity and standing. Most of the 400 follow a general template that basically is off- the -shelf and with only the prefix of the geographic location to distinguish and differentiate one litfest from any other litfest. Their programme of events, the Arts Council funding,the roster of invited named performers et al are pretty much bog standard. Locally based authors and poets as a rule get the crumbs left over once the named names -the culturally elite privileged performers -have pocketed the bulk of the arts council funding which the Anonymous litfest had applied for. And so once the central funding gets cut, once the metropolitan cultural elitist establishment cronies fail to schmooze...