Since my last blog I've been busy recovering from the excesses of Christmas and New Year and am now focussing all of my attentions on the organisation of the Kempsford Literary Festival.

As I mentioned in my last blog this is the first time that the village has held such an event and there are a lot of complexities involved!  Perhaps we'll make it a biennial rather than annual event moving forward!

Unlike the large festivals, such as Cheltenham, this event is being run entirely by volunteers from within the community.  What surprises me most about what's happening is the fact that we've been able to achieve so much in such a relatively short period of time - the initial meeting to discuss the festival didn't take place until November 2009.  Although the festival is in no way looking to compete with the larger events that take place around the country, we are hoping to show that smaller communities have something to offer too.

Due to the fact that I live in the village, and love books, I volunteered my time and seem to have inadvertently taken on the role of main co-ordinator.  While this is great experience in a field that I would not normally have expsoure to, it has turned into an all consuming task.  My days are now incredibly varied with tasks including, but not limited to; gathering information for the programme, liaising with the necessary authorities for licences, dealing with first aid requirements, ensuring that the authors have all of the information that they require, as well as organising travel and signage.  I also came up with the brilliant idea of having a Skype line for bookings, so much cheaper than a BT line and every penny counts in a venture such as this, however this does mean that I've also turned into the booking line.  22 speakers and 150 tickets per speaker - it's going to be a busy February!

Thankfully I have a supportive husband, although he does confess to being somewhat baffled by the number of envelopes that are increasingly dropping through the door marked for my attention - we're not equipped to take credit card bookings so have reverted to the trusty cheque process!

The final list of authors is, I think you'd agree, very impressive for a small village located somewhere near the M4. 
For full details it's worth having a look at our website - www.kempsfordliteraryfestival.co.uk 

And don't forget if you'd like to book any tickets then I'm just a phone call and cheque payment away!

Alexis