clevedon literary festival
more than words
Find out about us and our team...
The idea for a festival of ‘More Than Words’ came about in mid-2019. Local cultural and arts groups were invited to a meeting that autumn and began planning a series of literary-related events to take place over a weekend the following summer. This would embrace all art forms – dance, poetry, music, literature and art. From the outset we wanted to be diverse, inclusive and welcoming to everyone who had something to offer and to be about so much more than authors promoting their latest books.
It was early 2020, with Arts Council funding in place, venues booked and a varied programme ready to go, when out of the blue…Covid shut us and the world down. A small team continued to work on and curated an online taster programme of what might have been. We regrouped in the summer and planning began in earnest, ready for a second lockdown or release from the pandemic which everyone hoped would be over by summer 2021.
We put together a programme, the Arts Council offered us a second grant, and we prepared for a masked and socially distanced open air event. With joy and relief, in June 2021 we finally presented a combination of what might have been the year before along with some new ideas!
The team then got together again in early autumn and started planning for 2022 – new team members had brought with them much needed expertise and ambition and we challenged ourselves to be better and bolder.
Our third event in June 2022 was supported by the Arts Council, local bookshops, and sponsored by local businesses. It shone out across the town – it was hard to miss us, with banners everywhere promoting what we were about. We had overwhelmingly positive feedback from over a third of our audience and this has encouraged us to be even bolder in planning our next event.
So now here we are, finding ways to work smarter not harder, making new friends, and seeking out new and exciting ways to engage and stimulate our local and not so local visitors.
Our organisation
- We are an independent, not for profit organisation (CIC), run co-operatively, working wherever possible with local partners – in education, public services, complementary arts; supporting local businesses and seeking out opportunities to transform unused assets for the benefit of the town.
- We are sensitive to difference & diversity: including multicultural, intersecting identities of race, creed, age, social status, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability and advantage.
- We do not align ourselves with any party-political views. However, the content of our festival is inevitably and often explicitly ‘political’ in line with these values.
Our work
- We promote or provide edgy, radical, experiential and courageous work, which is engaging & fun, engendering wonder, bringing high quality art for the benefit of the local community and wherever possible, creating a cultural legacy for the town. We believe that art should challenge and stimulate reflection and discussion. We want to foster local, grass roots talent and local art and through our work, bring creative people together. We believe that art, and thus our work, should reflect current themes and concerns in wider society and worldwide movements.
Our green credentials
- We are ecologically aware, with a small carbon footprint and committed to a sustainable future for our community, our town, our planet and our programmes. We want our work to promote the wider wellbeing of our community – healthy people (in mind and body) and support and respect for the environment that nourishes us.
The Directors and Committee of Clevedon Literary Festival
Alistair
Books on the Hill is Alistair Sims. He is the manager and commander-in-chief of the bookshop (though his partner, Chloe and his mother, Joanne, who set up the bookshop with him, may disagree with this description ). Alistair is dyslexic and has a PhD in history and archaeology. He struggled to read until he was 13 and is passionate about helping anyone who has difficulty reading. He is the driving force behind BOTH Press and has been involved in every step in this project, from finding award winning authors to contribute, the cover design, and the road to publication, including setting up for distribution.
Angela
Prior to becoming a bookseller, Angela Everitt worked for many years in London and Newcastle-on-Tyne, in Polytechnics and Universities, specialising in social policy, practitioner research, and project & programme evaluation.
At the University of Northumbria, she set up the Social Welfare Research Unit to undertake collaborative research, to promote social welfare. With Wigtown in Galloway winning the award to become Scotland’s National Book Town, Angela, moved there to open ReadingLasses, a women’s studies and social sciences second-hand bookshop. While in Wigtown, she helped develop, and became a trustee of, Wigtown Book Festival.
After moving to Clevedon, Angela initiated Clevedon Community Bookshop Co-operative, and later set up its book bindery and publishing press. She currently is Co-ordinator of the Co-operative’s Publishing Press Team. Angela recently graduated with an Open University degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, followed by an MPhil in Creative Writing from the University of South Wales.
She continues to work for the OU, teaching on a Masters’ Programme in International Development. Angela is currently editing her memoir which tells the story of opening and running ReadingLasses for twelve years, then the only women’s studies bookshop in the UK. She is a Director of Clevedon Festival Company CIC.
Annie
Excited and inspired by the formation of ‘More than Words’, Annie joined the CLF Committee during summer 2020. She says “as a relative newcomer to this town it is a wonderful way to get involved in something that lifts my heart”. She became a key member of the CLF team for the 2021 Festival, initiated the Festival map and trail, and is planning a number of events for June 2022.
Annie has a mixed background in the arts, higher education and social welfare. Starting out as an archaeologist both in the field and then as a lecturer, she moved to wider roles in museums and other public sector organisations, managed a museum service and then worked as an independent consultant for arts organisations. Becoming a mother meant a big life review, and she moved into the psychotherapeutic field, running her own practice and being a part-time lecturer in counselling.
Involvement with the Clevedon Literary Festival enables her to draw on her organisational experiences and skills, to work creatively with others and to contribute to arts projects in her local community.
Carol
Carol has lived in Clevedon since 1988 and has been a member of many community groups and organisations throughout that time. As one of the founding members of the Community Bookshop in Copse Road, Carol enjoyed organising events in the shop and over many years has been part of the Clevedon Marine Lake Festival which used to be held annually at the seafront.
Carol brings administration skills and local knowledge to the team.
Gill
Gill grew up in Clevedon but moved to Derby at the age of just 17, where she lived for 20 years before moving to Milton Keynes. But the ‘magic’ of Clevedon never left Gill’s heart and she could resist no longer, returning to Clevedon in 2018.
Gill has worked in the Civil Service over the last 21 years, (Land Registry, Foreign Office, and HMRC). However, as a teenager, she’d always wanted to be a writer. During lockdown, whilst going through a spell of illness, she decided to use the time to put fingers to keyboard, and has now published four children’s picture books. The books are beautifully illustrated by Gill’s talented sister, graphic designer Julie Pearce (Portishead).
Fairly new to the writing scene, Gill now plans to throw her energies into her writing and building her ‘Tad’ brand, while promoting reading and “More Than Words” to the younger generations. And, after attending and being inspired by the Clevedon Literary Festival in 2021, Gill joined the committee and eagerly took on the role of creating a “Marketplace” for 2022, a collaboration of authors, illustrators and artists, a gathering to engage with the community and promote all things “More Than Words”.
Grace
Having lived in Clevedon for 40years and brought up a family here, I was always keen to encourage more of a cultural life within the town, thus avoiding the need to travel to Bristol or Weston. The opportunity came once I had retired and the idea for a festival was raised at an AGM of Clevedon Community Bookshop, of which I am a minor shareholder. I am a sucker for anything with the words cooperative, community and charitable attached.
Initially a primary teacher, I worked for twenty years for Springboard Opportunity Group which provides play activities and support for preschool children with additional needs and their families, throughout North Somerset. As in my working life, I am committed to helping to develop a festival which is fully inclusive with something to appeal to the whole community.
Isabel
Isabel has performed with Apples and Snakes; Global Fusion Music & Arts: at Shakespeare & Co in Paris; in Rotterdam; at Brighton Festival Fringe, Keats Festival, London Jazz Festival, local festivals in and around London, in Bristol, Chichester, Guildford, Hastings, Manchester, Margate, Oxford, Portsmouth, Reading, Swansea. She was runner up in the 2013 and 2017 BBC Radio 3 Proms Poetry Competitions; a finalist in nine other competitions, and shortlisted for the 2017 Bridport Prize.
A keen writer, Isabel has been poet-in-residence at First Stop in Darlington, Platform-7 in Margate and London, Urban Photofest at Goldsmiths London, and for the St Bride Foundation. Her work continues with collaborations with Oxford, Sussex and Lancaster universities on initiatives funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and with three full collections and a pamphlet to her name, Isabel’s poetry and short stories have been widely published – by the BBC and in 17 books and journals to date.
Isabel founded poetry performance collective www.alarms and excursions.com in 2009, to produce and direct provocations on a variety of topics already mentioned above.
Maureen
I moved to Clevedon in between lockdowns in 2020 and noticed the silent empty bandstand. I chatted to a friend Cinzia Apreda about this situation and we both felt it would be great to have music up there, on this purpose built outdoor music venue which was being under used!
Clevedon Literary Festival supported us with our idea and on June 12th 2021 Clevedon Community Bandstand was launched as part of the More Than Words Festival. I have an interest in shared public space and made a documentary called Instrument of Change: Street Piano about the effect the the street pianos have on communities. Music in public spaces creates connection and community and most especially post Covid this is sorely needed. Literature, the arts and music are a form of social medicine.
Since the Literary festival we have been supported by Clevedon BID to put on more events around Clevedon – we are on the move!
I have a background as a counsellor and running a business, am a mum and grandmother and all the time learning more about being a human being.
Nicky
Nicky was approached by the Clevedon Literary Festival committee in 2019 to take up the role of Company Secretary. After a career covering many roles in Management accounts, Nicky had a useful background to keep track of the company accounts.
Nicky grew up in Clevedon . She joined the Foreign Office after leaving school and after a peripatetic career in firstly the Foreign office and then in the Oil and Gas industry, returned to her hometown 8 years ago.
Nicky still loves to travel and is looking forward to getting back out there now that we are allowed!
Moving to Clevedon in 2019 fulfilled a long-held ambition for Jayne – to live by the coast. She sees re-locating here from the south-east, to be close to her daughters in Bristol, as a final destination after previously living in Kent, London, Africa and Wales.
Settling in a new town can be challenging and was particularly so during the lockdowns of 2020/2021. Jayne was looking for ways to connect with like-minded people when she spotted a Facebook post asking for volunteers for the Festival. She drew on her administrative and people skills to co-ordinate the volunteers, meeting some lovely people in the process.
Jayne has worked in a variety of sectors, from legal, education and the arts to business-to-business exhibitions, enabling her to gain skills and experience in training, coaching and administration. She has also worked as a freelance counsellor.
Being involved with the Festival has given Jayne the opportunity to brush up on old skills and learn new ones. Even more importantly, it has introduced her to some fantastic people and the chance to contribute to the cultural life of her new home and community.
