Celebrating literary Llandeilo
This year’s Llandeilo Lit Fest is a hybrid event taking place at the new Hengwrt venue in the heart of Llandeilo, writes Jenny White
RUNNING from Friday, April 22, until Sunday, April 24, this year’s Llandeilo Lit Fest promises to be the best yet. It started life in 2016 as a book fair with readings and talks by local authors, and became a full-blown festival in 2017. The 2020 event was cancelled, but the organisers rallied with an online event in 2021 – and this year’s festival will be a hybrid event with 50% of talks being accessible via Zoom as well as at the venue.
“I’m so pleased with the programme the team came up with this year,” says festival chair Christoph Fischer. “Llandeilo is a town of high standard festivals, and we want to match the success of previous events.”
Fischer, who is himself a writer, has been involved since the beginning.
“When I moved to Llandeilo, many of my online writers’ forums friends mentioned how close they lived to me,” he says. “Some of them had organised book fairs. I am a self-published author and wanted to create a similar platform for independent and local authors in the area so that we could connect with an audience in times where online sales boom and bookshops are closing.”
The festival is a bilingual event featuring Welsh and local authors; it aims to give local talent a platform and also to bring in authors and artists from further afield.
“Welsh culture and language are important parts of our mission but we try to be inclusive and provide a colourful programme that covers a wide range of genres and subjects – something for everyone,” says Fischer.
This year’s festival will all be held in one place – the new Hengwrt venue (formerly known as Shire Hall).
“This means there is more of a sense of location and an opportunity for festival goers to meet,” says Fischer. “Before, someone who only visited one or two sessions may have been unaware of the popularity of other sessions. This year the bookshop will be in the foyer. There is more time between sessions, meaning that people can pop out to the many open food and drink venues. Hengwrt is a state of the art modern building with disability access, a lift and technical equipment that enables us to run the event on a more professional level.”
Highlights this year include Owen Hurcum, who
Welsh culture and language are important parts of our mission but we try to be inclusive and provide a colourful programme that covers a wide range of genres and subjects
has not only been Bangor’s youngest mayor but the first openly non-binary one; the archdruid of Wales, Myrddin ap Dafydd; Catrin Kean, winner of the Wales Book of the Year 2021; Welsh celebrities Carys Eleri and Non Parry; and a storytelling walk through Dinefwr Park with the winners of the Young Story Teller Of the Year Cymru.
As always, the festival features local authors such as Kate Glanville, Helen Adam, Sian Collins, Ken Day and Geoff Brooks, and covers themes, including historical novels, queer writing and its future, music, lyrics, landscape photography, poetry, yoga and mindfulness.
Some Welsh sessions will have simultaneous translation available, and fringe events in the Foyer and in Flows café bar next door on Sunday will combine poetry and music.
“I hope people enjoy coming out of the isolation and meeting up again in a live event,” says Fischer. “I hope they enjoy the variety of events we put on and take away a piece of our lovely Welsh culture.”
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https://llandeilolitfest.org/