A lifetime of proving that Swindon was never a cultural wasteland
The Ink talks to Swindon Festival of Literature Organiser Matt Holland
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Festival is a three-decade Swindon success story
There was widespread concern last year when Matt Holland announced that there would be no 2024 festival - and equally widespread joy when the decision was reversed.
By Barrie Hudson
"One of the reasons why I wasn't going to do a festival this year,” said Matt Holland, “was that on the back of the Swindon Festival of Literature we've created a project called Artswords, which ministers to the needs of reading groups, writing groups and mentoring for writers.
"As a result we've had Swindon writers win prizes; we've had a Swindon writer get a two-book deal from HarperCollins, and it's really exciting. People are coming out of the woodwork who want to write.
"For example, we have a writer group called Mum's the Word - wonderful women who from the age of 18 to 38 have been preoccupied as parents, the unacknowledged heroines of our time, doing the donkey work of bringing children into the world and ministering to their needs.
"But then suddenly, in their forties and fifties, their children have grown up, they feel this urge that they had when they were younger but couldn't fulfil, to be creative in writing.
"And so we have a Mum's the Word writing group, and to me that's incredibly exciting."
The group has produced a well-received anthology of poetry, prose and art.
"Not everybody can be a writer, but a minority can, and they're on my home patch, and I'm not having to chase them from Timbuktu or New York, and it's really exciting
"That was the reason for taking a break and focusing on the work in Swindon - but what I hadn't reckoned with was that the people who come to the writing workshops also love the festival! Nobody told me that!
"You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, and they too came out of the woodwork and said, 'Matt, we want the writing groups and the mentoring, but we also are inspired by the festival because it's a celebration.’
"I'm easily persuaded - and the council were also very encouraging."
This year's Swindon Festival of Literature runs from 5-12 May, with festivalgoers promised that its main focus will be on Swindon itself - writers, readers and performers. Full details can be found at www.swindonfestivalofliterature.co.uk
"We're doing something timeless and universal," says Matt when asked about the success of the festival.
"Cavemen and women did what we're doing. Effectively we're sitting around a figurative fire, scratching our heads, looking at one another and saying, 'What's the meaning of life? Where can I find love? What shall we do tomorrow? How are you? Tell me a story about yourself and I'll know you.'
"That's all that we're doing, really.
"'Festival of Literature' sounds fancy but actually it's men and women talking and listening to one another in this day and age of flashing lights, digital communication and so on.
"This is live men and women sitting, talking, communicating and it's timeless, it's universal, and I'm so pleased that the people of Swindon love it as I do."
This year’s is very much a Swindon-focused festival.
"It is Swindon-centric! In other words, instead of chasing around the country and the world for the famous people you've seen on telly, I have looked for topics of interest.
"The theme is interesting topics rather than great novelists - no disrespect to them, but just by way of a change we're taking a break from the 'great novelists' so-called, and we're doing what Glastonbury does every now and then, take a break from a certain thing and reassess and re-evaluate, and have interesting topics and more events in which Swindonians can take part.
"So instead of sitting quietly and listening to Ian McEwan talking about his latest Booker Prize-winning book, there are more events where Swindonians can participate, whether in a flash fiction, a writing workshop or have direct contact with an author on why they have written a book on paintings, or on cancer and so on.
"It's a topic-based festival rather than a fiction-based festival.”
Matt is originally from Purton.
"I went to Malmesbury Grammar School in the Sixties and I then left this area to earn money in London and be educated in Oxford.
"I used to go home to see my parents and my mother told me, 'There are some interesting things going on at one of the farms you used to work on.' I used to help haymaking here when I was a schoolboy.
"The council bought by compulsory purchase five farms on the West side of Swindon. There was Toothill Farm and Eastbrook Farm and so on.
"Lower Shaw Farm was one of them, and our forebears, our predecessors here, had a project called the Foundation for Alternatives in Urban Development.
"They were using Lower Shaw Farm. One of their members was a member of the borough council who had got a six month lease to use Lower Shaw Farm for alternative activities - organic gardening, Yoga, things that were new then, and I came and joined them in 1980.
"It ticked many of my boxes; I knew farm work, I wanted to have a go at community living, I wanted to make the world a better place, etcetera etcetera, and Lower Shaw Farm looked like an opportunity to do that."
Matt remains at the farm to this day, and it has become one of Swindon's most prominent centres for the arts.
The festival had its genesis some 31 years ago when Matt was approached by book auctioneer Dominic Winter, who died in 2014. He was a member of Swindon Chamber of Commerce, which was looking for suggestions as to how to advertise its centenary.
Rather than have a single celebration it was decided that a series of monthly ones - ranging from hot air ballooning to ballroom dancing - should take place.
Dominic Winter wanted something 'bookish' and approached Matt, who had been writing reviews of other literature festivals and believed there was room for one in Swindon.
Mr Winter donated £3,000 toward that first festival, whose invited authors included former Labour leader Michael Foot and - promoting his book reappraising Sir Winston Churchill - Clive Ponting, a former civil servant sensationally cleared of a security breach after revealing information about the sinking of an Argentine vessel during the Falklands conflict.
"The result was that Swindonians liked it but the Chamber of Commerce was less than happy because, they said, 'It doesn't quite fit the profile of most of our members, these left-wing authors talking about sex and having a go at Churchill.'
"They wouldn't fund it for a second year, but Dominic did and Lower Shaw Farm did and a scrap metal merchants' did - Holland Handling, they happened to be my brothers!"
Three years on, the Arts Council offered support, although the borough council of the day took five years to come on board.
Matt recalls one councillor of the period telling him: "We admire your enthusiasm, young man, but it won't work. I think you'll find that 'literature' is too long a word for Swindon."
Generations of delighted festivalgoers have proved otherwise.
"I always believed that running Lower Shaw Farm and running a literature festival and running writing groups was possible in Swindon. Some people doubted it but I'm really pleased that I've been proved right by the people of Swindon. That's what so reassuring.”
The Ink News Briefing
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Swindon Students given advice on a law career - Bower Bailey discussed the different routes to a Career in Law with Year 11 Students at Dorcan Academy. The legal experts showcased three different routes to qualification as a solicitor and the various job roles available within a law firm. Read More
The Ink Piece
Culture Vulture
Bert’s Books tells us what we should look out for in the world of page-turners. Bert’s Books can be found in Godwin Court, Old Town.
By Alex from Bert’s Books
In April we’ve been lucky enough to have several author events in the shop, which means I’ve been reading books I wouldn’t normally have read in preparation for their visits.
First up is The Household by Stacey Halls which is the story of ‘fallen’ women being re-housed into a household with other women where they can learn new skills before being shipped off to the colonies to work in service.
The story is inspired by Charles Dickens and Angela Burdett-Coutts, real life figures who actually did this in the 19th century. Dickens only briefly appears as a character in the novel, but Burdett-Coutts is one of the lead characters and it’s the story her real-life stalker which propels the plot of this novel forward.
I massively enjoyed this book, despite it not being something I would normally read. The character were richly drawn and the historical detail wasn’t heavy-handed, but detailed enough to provoke a sense of atmosphere.
https://bertsbooks.co.uk/product/the-household/
We were also recently joined by Sarah Hillary – author of Black Thorn.
Black Thorn is set in a paradise-like new housing estate in Cornwall, but it’s told in a dual timeline so we know straight from the beginning that there’s been an incident which has led to the deaths of six of the residents.
Agnes has recently returned to live with her parents, and before the forced abandonment of the properties she is convinced that there’s something wrong, but no one is listening to her.
Afterwards, living in a small caravan with her parents and sharing a bedroom with her thirteen-year-old brother Christie, Agnes is drawn to investigate when she realises things still don’t quite add up.
This is a good mystery that doesn’t quite go where you think it’s going to go, and so is all the better for its unpredictability.
https://bertsbooks.co.uk/product/black-thorn/
Sarah Hillary was joined by Harriet Tyce – who I’ve been a big fan of since her debut novel Blood Orange.
Harriet was talking to us about her latest novel A Lesson In Cruelty – which for me was a great read.
It follows the story of Anna who on the eve of her release from prison believes she has nothing to live for. When her new cellmate dies overnight and Anna is initially suspected of her murder, she discovers a new impetus to live. Find out the truth about Kelly Green.
A Lesson in Cruelty is told in the third person from multiple perspectives – which is a new way of writing for Tyce and it makes it feel fresher than some of her previous novels.
It was pacy and an easy read and one I highly recommend.
https://bertsbooks.co.uk/product/a-lesson-in-cruelty/
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