WoWFEST 2021

Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor

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WoWFEST 2021

1-31 May 2021

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Salena Godden. Photo © Olivia Rutherford
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WoWFEST, Liverpool’s longest-running writing and literary festival, is back for 2021, running throughout May with a packed programme of online events, some free.

Author of international bestseller My Name Is Leon Kit de Waal steps up as the first of the “in conversation” series… The last In Conversations features Salena Godden.

Run by Liverpool-based Writing On The Wall, a literary organisation that celebrates and inspires creativity and writing in all its forms through inquiry, debate, performance and publishing, the annual WoWFest brings together local audiences with the best local, national and international writers, artists and social commentators.

This year, guest speakers include poet Clare Shaw, writer and editor Nikesh Shukla, local poetry face Roger McGough, children’s author Michael Rosen and Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri, and other big names include filmmaker Ken Loach, broadcaster Jon Snow and musician Tracey Thorn. There’s an open mic as part of Light Night on 21 May, hosted by award-winning poet Ciarán Hodgers, and the ever-popular Pulp Idol event, finding the novelists of the future, on 25 May, with guest judges Kevin Duffy (Bluemoose Books), Laura Jones (Dead Ink), Genevieve Pegg (Harper North) and author Yvonne Battle-Felton.

On 4 May, author of international bestseller My Name Is Leon Kit de Waal steps up as the first of the “in conversation” series, reading from and chatting about Supporting Cast, her latest collection of short stories, which came out with Penguin last year. The last In Conversations features Salena Godden, on 28 May. An activist, broadcaster, essayist and performer, her work is widely anthologised. She has published several volumes of poetry, the latest of which is Pessimism Is For Lightweights, which came out with Rough Trade Books last year, and a literary childhood memoir, Springfield Road. At WoWFest, she’ll be talking to Jordan Stephens, one half of Rizzle Kicks, about these different kinds of writing and about publishing her debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death, which came out in January with Canongate.

In the panel discussion strand, Liverpool-based Pulp Idol finalist 2016 Matt Cook, Peepal Tree Press associate fiction editor and editor of Closure, Contemporary Black British short stories Jacob Ross, and author, journalist and sports writer James Corbett join Rachel Genn and Rónán Hession on 17 May for Working Class Writers & Voices From The Indies. They will talk about whether working-class writing is a genre, how working-class writers might break into a seemingly exclusive industry and whether working-class writers should only write about issues affecting the working class. Rónán Hession is an award-winning musician and writer, whose first book, Leonard And Hungry Paul, came out with Hebden Bridge’s Bluemoose Books in 2019, and was chosen for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club and as as a summer read in The Irish Times and The Observer. Former neuroscientist Rachel Genn‘s second novel, What You Could Have Won, came out with And Other Stories last year, and she is working on Hurtling, a collection of essays, and Blessed, a collection of non-fiction. She works at Manchester Writing School and has written for Granta, 3:AM Magazine, Aeon and Hotel.

Writing On The Wall are also involved in Liverpool’s 2021 Year of Writing, a celebration of writing in all its forms designed to discover new voices and publish new writing through a partnership of arts and cultural organisations, writers, artists, educators and businesses as part of an inclusive drive to improve literacy in the city. As part of this, Writing On The Wall has set up a new online writing centre, The Writer’s Bloc: Community and Creativity, featuring mini-residencies – Writers on the Bloc so far have included Yvonne Battle-Felton, Anthony Anaxagorou, Cash Carraway, Ailsa Cox, Lowkey, Ytasha L Womack, Winnie M Li, Joelle Taylor, Patrice Lawrence, Kevin Dyer and Bidisha.

Mrs Death Misses Death
Mrs Death Misses Death

Where to go near WoWFEST 2021

Manchester
Food hall
Kargo MKT

Mighty food hall in Salford Quays, with around twenty street food vendors, serving a huge range of cuisines.

Asap Coffee Interior/ Counter
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
ASAP Coffee

If you’re looking for quality coffee and a decadent brunch in a setting that nails the Northern Quarter brief, you’d struggle to do better than ASAP Coffee.

Interior of George St Chapel
Manchester
Event venue
George Street Chapel

This beautifully restored former Independent Methodist Chapel in the heart of Oldham is as much a creative hub as a heritage landmark.

Chinatown
Restaurant
Pho Cue

Family-run Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. Prepare to queue for Pho Cue.

Come to Swithens Farm for a great family day out in Leeds. Our farm has plenty to offer whatever age you are!Swithens Farm is a working farm. For many years now Ian and his wife Angela have built a following that they welcome in all year around. We now have a farm shop, café, playbarn and petting farm. When we first opened we only had the usual farm animals – cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and it was free entry. We now have llamas, alpacas, meerkats, rabbits, guinea pigs, donkeys and a pony.On the working farm, we breed our own cows, pigs and sheep and we sell the meat through the farm shop and the café. If you buy a sausage sandwich from the café the sausage will be from the butcher who has made the sausage by hand using our own pork. We also produce our own free-range eggs.
Leeds
Swithens Farm

Swithens Farm is a working farm. For many years now Ian and his wife Angela have built a following that they welcome in all year around.

Peak District
Restaurant
The Chequers Inn

The Chequers Inn is a 16th century, family-run, traditional country inn with an impressive dining space. The Peak District at its best.

Testbed Main Space
Leeds
Event venue
TESTBED

TESTBED is a newly renovated 10,000 sq foot event venue in Leeds that offers endless possibilities for creating unique and inspiring experiences.

Manchester
Restaurant
Salt & Pepper

Chinese inspired British food in the centre of Manchester, backed up by plenty of well-deserved local hype.

Morning Glory - Coffee Cup
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Morning Glory

Morning Glory positions itself as a grab-and-go spot, with just 12 seats inside serving coffee, bagels and sweet treats.

What's on: Literature

Deryn Rees-Jones. Credit Alison Dodd Photography
LiteratureLiverpool
Deryn Rees-Jones at Open Eye Gallery

For the seventh Matt Simpson Memorial Reading, hosted by Liverpool Poetry Space (LiPS), Deryn Rees-Jones will be reading from her new collection, Hôtel Amour.

Free entry

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