Tower and Town, October 2018 (view the full edition)From Small BeginningsFrom small beginnings in 2010 the Literature Festival, set up after the initiative taken by Nick Fogg and the novelist Mavis Cheek and carried on by a committee headed by Jan Williamson, our much valued Chair for the last five years, has matured into a much-anticipated event of substance and reputation which has become an integral part of our cultural calendar. It has throughout kept faith with its founding mantra, the celebration of fine writing. Much of its consistent success is due to a knowledgeable, well-read and hard-working committee who are determined that the festival's standards should be maintained, if not bettered, each year. Word is spreading amongst authors and publishers that this is a festival worth attending, being assured of interested audiences, a warm welcome and remuneration (not always the case with other festivals) from their hosts. Our 70 volunteers make a major contribution to this. The festival invigorates the town and brings in discriminating visitors who spend money here and spread the word about the Litfest and Marlborough's other attractions. By building on a strong local literary inheritance (William Golding, Siegfried Sassoon and John Betjeman amongst others), it has made an invaluable contribution to the cultural mix. Interest in good creative writing via the Litfest stimulates face to face discussion and exchange of ideas, an excellent antidote to the distractions of a technological age. John Sykes |