A new independent book festival is coming to Waterloo

A new independent book festival is coming to Waterloo this Saturday (May 23), giving readers a chance to discover written gems and meet their authors.

The Literary Escape Festival, which launched in Edinburgh last year, is here for the largest date of a UK-wide tour.

It will feature 60 stalls from indie authors, makers and small businesses, showcasing a wide range of genres and stories including crime fiction, fantasy, romance, poetry, short stories and contemporary fiction.

Laura Barnet, one of the festival’s directors along with founder Laura Ruddock, says the event has had a great response from writers and book lovers alike.

She explains:

“We launched last year with one event in Edinburgh, so this will be our first full year and it’s been going brilliantly.

“Every event we do is so full of smiles. The indie authors are very excited to be there because they’re getting a chance to actually put their books in front of readers. 

“Writing a book and marketing a book are two totally different things so they’ve loved having an opportunity to be there with all these readers who want to discover new books.

“We’ve had authors sign up to multiple venues around the country and we’ve seen people travelling to the events who say they’ve never been to anything like this before because it’s so focused on indie authors.

“The authors are all getting to know each other, they’re becoming a real community. For a lot of them it’s their first time doing something like this so those who’ve had a few under their belt are able to give them helpful advice and it’s been lovely seeing everybody supporting each other. 

“It’s also nice to see the readers leaving with big heavy bags as they go away excited to sit down and start reading!

“We’ve had people coming back with friends, wanting to buy the next in a series of particular books, and book clubs who’ve come on a day out and met up afterwards to show each other what they’re planning to read next as a group.”

Laura says one major factor behind the success of the festival is the increase in the number of people choosing to publish independently rather than through one of the big publishing companies.

“Most of our authors have never even tried to go down the traditional publishing route, they always intended to go down the indie route because it gives them more control and it’s what works best for them. 

“It’s easier than ever to be an indie author in terms of getting work out there but building an audience can be incredibly hard – just because you’re good at writing a book doesn’t mean you want to get involved in the whole world of social media or email marketing. 

“Our festival gives people the chance to find stories they wouldn’t have otherwise come across, and the breadth of genres and characters and writing styles, and the talent in this indie world of authors, is incredible.

“I would encourage anyone who really loves books and stories to go and find indie authors, look beyond the top 10 and the big names, because there’s so much out there.

“There could be people a few streets from where you live busy writing their next novel, putting their heart and soul into it, and you wouldn’t even know about it.

“We’re just delighted to be able to connect readers with indie authors and help those stories find their audience.”

The Literary Escape Festival is at the Old Christ Church in Waterloo on Saturday May 23 from 10.30am to 2.30pm. 

Find out more about the Literary Escape Festival here.

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