30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 13 – Harrogate Festival is amazing
September 6 2023 marks 5 years since my first novel was released 😲
I’ve now published 6, and have 2 more under contract.
To celebrate, I’m sharing a new post about what I’ve learnt from being published EVERY DAY throughout the month. This post is part of that series!
Click here for the rest →
I appreciate this is a bit of a UK-centric post, when so many of my blog readers are based in the US or elsewhere, but I’m sure you’ll have your equivalent festival so hopefully it will still resonate.
I had never heard of ‘Harrogate’ (Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival) as it’s known in the crime writing industry before I got my book deal. It was only in my debut year when my editor asked me if I would be going that I first heard about it.
My editor was really kind and offered to pay for my train journey and my hotel (have since realised this is really unusual, so don’t worry if your publishers don’t do this - my publisher has also since realised it was really unusual and, ahem, stopped doing it! 😆).
I was SO nervous that first time, because my book wasn’t even out yet and so I felt like a complete non-entity amongst all these very established crime writers who were sitting on panels and signing books in the tent.
But everyone was so welcoming and friendly and it really was the best way to get to know other writers. And since that first year, I’ve been back every year - except for the covid year when no one was going anywhere.
Now, ‘Harrogate’ is the highlight of my work year. I tried to explain to my 8-year-old that it was like a ‘big school trip’ for writers, and really, I think that’s a pretty good way to describe it.
It’s a complete melting pot of writers from all different backgrounds, genres and at different stages in their careers and yet it’s also very relaxed and you don’t feel like there’s any kind of snooty hierarchy going on.
You don’t even have to write crime fiction to attend. I know plenty of non-crime authors who go each year.
If you haven’t ventured out to any literary festivals yet then please may I encourage you to do so? They are honestly the easiest and enjoyable way to feed your literary soul.
If you’re nervous about going alone, then team up with a writer friend (in my world, these are known as my ‘Harrodates’) and go with them. Or even take your partner.
If you’re in a writing group, you could even arrange a trip together. My Faber Academy group and I once ventured to the Hay Festival together - we hired a big old Airbnb and spent a weeked in the Wales sunshine (and rain, natch).
As writers, we spend so much time alone in front of our computers, and I think it’s probably the worst bit about writing.
We don’t really have colleagues in a normal sense, but actually, our fellow writers ARE our colleagues, and getting to mingle with them as much as possible is so important.
I LOVE going to Harrogate because I’m reminded that I’m not a total weirdo, that there are people ‘like me’ who are also going to end up as hunchbacks and there’s no greater feeling than that sense of belonging and community.
In the famous Harrogate tent
Of course, Harrogate is not the only writing festival in the UK. There are tons more - bigger and smaller ones - and they all have their own unique vibe.
So do some research, get out from behind your computer and go and meet some fellow likeminded souls at a literary festival - I promise your relationship with writing will be all the better for it!
