It’s the most wonderful time of the year: October for me is the time of the Birmingham Literature Festival. This year, it was celebrating its 25^th anniversary with an even bigger range of authors, topics and locations – from the location at the Rep in the Birmingham city center, the Legacy Centre of Excellence (“Europe’s largest Black Business & Arts Centre”) to local libraries and online zoom rooms.

As Festival Director Shantel Edwards writes in the programme, the festival strives to be “a consistent, independent champion of literature and writing, of our city and for our city”, not only, but particularly in times of tough conditions in the creative sector (the cuts and closures of Birmingham’s libraries would be worth their own article…). I have seen, visited and analysed one literary festival or two, but I haven’t come across another literature festival where the organisers consider the needs of their local audiences as much as the team at Writing West Midlands – and also imagine them as the diverse crowd they are. The result was a varied and intriguing programme that can still be accessed online: https://www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/

Jackie Kay: Joy, Loss and Change

Jackie Kay (center) in conversation with Jonathan Davidson (left), translated to BSL by Rachel Tipping (right)

My first highlight at the festival was the evening with Jackie Kay on National Poetry Day (3 October this year). She was reading from her poetry collection “May Day” (Pan Macmillan, 2024) – translated and performed in British and Scottish Sign Language by Rachel Tipping on stage – which brought the audience to tears, laughter and everything in between. At first sight, many of the poems were stories about (her) parents and “the turn when you become your parents’ parent”, as she said herself. But they were also poems about the history of leftist protest in the UK, connecting the activists and their causes, artistically acknowledging those who came before and/or fought along the way through artistic. And it resonated with the audience – on the (dare I say) universal level of changing dynamics between parents and children as well as regarding the events. Many started sharing stories of having been at the same protests and activist groups, sharing their joy (or relief) of being remembered.

Kay’s humour and passion as well as her fascination with “people’s capacity to change” will stay with me. And also her kindness in the conversation with the audience. She even sprinkled some ‘fairy godmother dust’ onto the upcoming generation of writers (embodied that night by Iona Mandal, the Young Birmingham Poet Laureate of 2022-2024). I found her reading and the conversation absolutely contagious and her voice will be in my ears now forever when I read her books.

Forward!

In order to celebrate 25 years of the Birmingham Literature Festival and to continue promoting writing from the West Midlands, five writers from Birmingham were commissioned to write a short piece set in Brum for a special publication. As the foreword says, “in a true Brummie fashion, the result is an eccentric, funny, self-deprecating, tender collection of pieces that explore the landmarks, history and people of our city.” The collection (published by The Emma Press, 2024; cover design by the artist Cold War Steve) is called “Forward” – after the city of Birmingham’s motto and possibly also to emphasize the creatives’ drive to continue to create. The five writers were Mave Clarke, Liam Brown, Kathryn Lupin, Kavita Bhanot and Thomas Glave (in order of appearance in the book). Their biographies and writing journeys vary widely and are at the same time all tightly connected to Birmingham. Kathryn Lupin shared, for example, that she was born and bred in the Black Country, completed the “Room 204” Writer Development Programme from Writing West Midlands and wrote her story “Something Old, Something Sweet” as her first commission.

To counteract the self-deprecation (and, if I may add, snobbery or disinterest by a number of agents in the literary field), everyone was invited to share authors from Birmingham and the area and authors who wrote about Birmingham. So we talked about Roy Fisher (“Birmingham is what I think with”), Anthony Cartwright (who also wrote in Black Country dialect), Alan Beard, Sharon Duggal (“Handsworth Times”), Jonathan Coe, David Lodge the collection “Night Time Economy” from Floodgate Press (“Championing new, essential writing from Birmingham and the West Midlands”) and, of course, Benjamin Zephaniah, Kit de Waal any many others.

I enjoyed the collection’s variety – from a tour guide battle to childhood memories to a dream sequence connecting Jamaica and Birmingham – and the panel’s and audience’s excitement about the stories they shared. Also, I remember being blown away by the writing of the not-yet-established writers and very young writers when I visited the National Writers Conference in Birmingham in the past. This gives me hope for the future, hope for stories that are interesting artistically and content-wise, stories that differ from what usually receives most of the industry’s attention. Agents and publishers, please visit Birmingham, it’s lovely in October (but not only)…

Indie bookshop Voce Books

Another highlight of my stay this time was visiting the indie bookshop Voce Books, run by Clive Judd and Maria Lomunno Judd (less than 5 min off Birmingham’s Moor Street Station). If I’m not mistaken, it’s the only indie bookshop in Birmingham (and one of two in the wider area) – and I came across them because they were the festival’s resident bookseller and I bought some books after an event. When I visited the shop in the city, I met Maria, one of the owners, who was charming, welcoming and who offered help and guidance, but not in a way that made me feel under surveillance, if you know what I mean.

Maria is a lovely person who can tell you a captivating story about every book in the shop – and there are so many special authors, publishers and stories who lured me in. The books are grouped by publishers because, as Maria explained, they wanted to direct some of the visitors’ attention to the publisher and their part in the work, their profile in design and topics, rather than ‘only’ showcasing the individual books. I liked how it felt when looking at the shelves. And there was so much to discover: the shop has a special section for Midlands’ authors, there are zines and poetry collections, intriguing non-fiction books and lots of translations. I’ll let them close in their own words: “We focus on the vibrant and boundary-breaking independent publishing scene, the site of some of the most eclectic and future-focused writing. We stock fiction, translations, poetry, the most interesting titles on culture and politics, magazines, zines & a little bit of art. We also host a year-round programme of events with a keen focus on West Midlands writing and world fiction.” If you’re ever in Birmingham, drop by Voce Books.

Birmingham Literature Festival

There were many more events at the festival which stretched over a period of three weeks in its 25^th year. From narratives about “Love at the end of the world” to project and stories dealing with Empire, trauma and healing as well as the British justice system – there were lots of great writers and topics to choose from. Some readings and discussions were offered free of charge and online. This way, I got to listen to Catalán writer Eva Baltasar and her translator Eva Estrany reading from their (peculiar) ‘pastoral’ novel “Mammoth”. In case it hadn’t come across yet, I am a huge fan of the Birmingham Literature Festival and the city where the Albert Memorial is a garden in memory of the last harbour master of the city. I look forward to what the festival director Shantel Edwards and the team of Writing West Midlands have in store for us in the future, so I will keep coming back – here’s to the next 25 years.

Full disclosure: I was invited to act as a trustee on the Board of Writing West Midlands, but our task is rather to oversee their processes and reporting, not interfere with their work. Also, I was a fan of the festival first!