This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
INTERVIEW BY CESCA MARTIN Hi Cesca, and big wave to all Novelicious followers. It's lovely to be here to talk about the Festival of Romance (www.festivalofromance.co.uk)
What is your role?
I'm the moderator of the Reader Awards for the Festival – in effect I'm the 'overseer' for these. I've been primarily responsible for setting up the Reader Awards, establishing and briefing a splendid panel of experienced readers, and collating their scores and opinions regarding the novels submitted. In the final stages of the selection process, I'll be making sure that all panel readers have read all the shortlisted books, and that the winners of the Festival Awards for Best Romantic Read and Best Historical Read are those that are fairly adjudged best by the panel according to the criteria set out in the rules. I'll also be chairing a panel session on 'Love in War and Peace' featuring Jean Fullerton, Christina Courtenay and Kate Allan discussing historical set romantic fiction, (and doubtless I'll be helping the conversation flow in the bar as well!).
What was the inspiration behind this event?
The Festival of Romance is the initiative of Kate Allan, and I expect her experience in organising events such as the York Festival of Writing gave her the confidence to put her dream of an American-style convention devoted to romantic fiction into practice over here. I think there's an increasing demand for literary events that bring all those involved with books and their enjoyment together – and that includes readers as well as authors and new writers, publishers and other industry professionals. Given how popular romantic fiction conventions are in the States (the annual conference of the Romance Writers of America attracted over 2000 this year), there's every reason to suppose that the Festival of Romance will grow and grow.
Why is the Festival of Romance one of a kind?
There's really nothing quite like it in the UK that I can think of. Here is a Festival that is pitched at welcoming everyone with a love of the genre, and the establishment of the online forum is a master-stroke for establishing an online community devoted to just that: www.festivalofromanceonline.ning.com Anyone can register and there are already over 300 members.
What are you most excited about?
Oo – the ball, the buzz and the chocolate! – meeting interesting people and making new friends. It's going to be a great event, and it's really energising to be involved at the start of a bold new initiative like this. Readers now are wanting so much more; they're embracing new technology very fast – they want ebooks for their ereaders, but they also want to engage with authors directly, both online, through blogs and social networks, and in more conventional ways. They want to meet authors and interact with them, hear them speak and know their future projects. They want to be in on the latest news about the kind of fiction they like. That's where events like the Festival of Romance come into their own – as an interface for bringing those involved with romantic fiction together from all manner of backgrounds. But what's going to be really exciting for me is the judges' dinner and finding out which novels the reader panel selects as overall Award winners. I can tell already that it's going to be a hard-fought contest; we've had some really excellent entries. Seeing the culmination of all the hard work the reader panel has put into assessing the novels submitted will be immensely fascinating and enjoyable. I'm sure there'll be some tough decisions to make; then we'll have the incredibly difficult task of not revealing anything until the Saturday ball – but it should make for a toe-tingling occasion! I'm greatly looking forward to that.
More about Jenny Barden and her novel just finished can be found at: www.jennybarden.com She tweets as @jennywilldoit and welcomes new friends on Facebook.
The Festival of Romance takes place at Hunton Park, near Watford, on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 October. There are still places available for as little as £55 for a day ticket: www.festivalofromance.co.uk
Don't forget our competition from last week's Women's Fiction Thursday (22nd September) for a chance to win a ticket to attend the festival. Winners will be announced next Thursday.