The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Spreading the word about uni’ s diverse literary festival
Aberdeen University’s literary festival WayWORD promises to champion diversity and inclusion when it returns next week with events including queer horror, fan fiction panels and talks on social media identities.
“We represent the diverse reality that’s in the arts,” said Dr Helen Lynch, WayWORD’s creative director, who worked with a team of students to explore many unconventional forms of expression at the September festival.
“We tried to have a really diverse line-up and we did that deliberately because we found that if you’re not careful, it reverts and defaults to being not as diverse and inclusive as you’d want it to be.
“We’ll talk about the kind of literature that isn’t normally included (at literary festivals) and we’ll also talk about the kind of literature that is included – but in a different way.”
ABERDEEN WAYWORD FESTIVAL TO RETURN
WayWORD – which was launched in 2020 to celebrate Aberdeen University’s 525th anniversary – will be back from Tuesday September 20 to Sunday September 25.
Returning for its third outing, this will be the first time the festival will be a mostly in-person event.
Helen, who’s also a director of Aberdeen University’s WORD Centre for Creative Writing, said:
“This year we’ve got six online events but everything else is in-person.
“It’s going to be a really nice mix of events for people to choose from. We hope lots of people will feel like they can come out and spend the whole day at the festival.
“We’ll have food, tea and coffees, music, dance... The plan is to really get people back enjoying the arts faceto-face – how it really should be.”
KING’S PAVILION TO BECOME ‘PROPER PERFORMANCE SPACE’
And Helen’s thrilled that almost all of the in-person events will take place at the King’s Pavilion on the university campus.
She said: “It’s quite exciting as that’ll be the first time the building will be used in its entirety – green room, bookshop, and workshops all in one place.”
If everything goes well, Helen revealed that Aberdeen University has plans for King’s Pavilion to become “a proper performance space for all kinds of events”.
“We’re pioneering it. It’s something the university really needs. We’ve got so much going on and there are so many things that could be happening in that lovely space.”
AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR DOUGLAS STUART
But there is one online event she knows many people will be looking forward to – an interview with Booker Prize-winner Douglas Stuart, who penned Shuggie Bain.
“It’s pre-recorded but we asked people to send in questions so you can listen to it online and we will also screen it at the King’s Pavilion,” said Helen.
Monica Ali, Raymond Antrobus, Christopher Brookmyre, Jenny Colgan, C.J. Cooke and many more authors will also take part in the Aberdeen University festival.
This year’s line-up also features public workshops in song-writing, street art, Gaelic song, and creative writing about mental health and landscape.
Other performers include international visual artists, horror writers, theatre directors, besides weelkent local voices Sheena Blackhall, Shane Strachan and Jo Gilbert.
COMMUNITY PROGRAMME
In addition, the festival also boasts a great community programme: comic workshops in the city and shire, and two mini-festivals co-organised by 14-15-year-olds, with mentoring from staff and university and college students.
WayWORD Community Festival features events at Riverbank Primary School, Tillydrone, and Hazlehead Academy Art for Life mini-fest – programmed by S3/4 pupils at the school, featuring Young Adult author Maya MacGregor.
There will also be book launches of new work by David Wheatley and Timothy C Baker and creative writing alumna Rachelle Atalla, whose debut novel The Pharmacist was published this year.
With more than 30 events covering topics such as nature, video art, poetry, music, photography, mental health, contemporary drama, and TikTok and Instagram identities, the organisers believe WayWORD offers something for everyone.
“This year’s youth committee have been wonderful in coming up with great event ideas and learning loads of new skills to be able to be involved in every aspect of WayWORD,” said Helen.
“They really give the festival its unique flavour each year and keep it fresh and exciting, as well as putting in a huge amount of work and creativity to deliver such a wide variety of events.”
≤ WayWORD festival begins across Aberdeen from Tuesday September 20. Visit www. waywordfestival.com for more information.