The idea to set up a Salisbury Literary Festival came from the growth and development of the Salisbury Writing Circle. This was set up in Spring 2015 and meets monthly at Sarum College for a mixture of workshopping, guest authors and networking with fellow local writers. A real community of authors has developed within Salisbury as a result, with a real spread from absolute beginners to internationally published novelists.
Building on this base, we decided to launch the inaugural Salisbury Literary Festival in October 2017. The aims of the festival are as follows:
Firstly, one with a strong local content that supports and celebrates writing in Salisbury. There are many great writers, past and present, from the Salisbury area.
Secondly, one that is predominantly fiction based. We want a festival that focuses on creative writing, rather than non-fiction memoirs and celebrity-led books.
Thirdly, a festival that is focused on both readers and writers. There is a strong creative writing element to the Writing Circle and we want this festival to have a practical element.
Fourthly, a festival that celebrates all sorts of fiction. Rather than the narrower feel of many literary festivals, we want our festival to look at writing across all genres, and be one that celebrates both published and self-published authors.
TOM BROMLEY – Director, Salisbury Literary Festival
Who we are –
Patrons – Mark Dawson, Barney Norris, Kristina Stephenson
The Salisbury Literary Festival Team – Tom Bromley, Russell Mardell, Christine Nielsen-Craig, Marion Dundee, Jo Boyles, Gina Gough, Jenny Monds