About PZ Litfest

The Penzance Literary Festival is a festival for everyone who enjoys words – the written word, the spoken word, the recited word and the sung word too. We always have talks by prize-winning authors and by people with a deep knowledge of subjects special to West Cornwall. We have ’round table’ discussions, authors in conversation, and workshops on writing, poetry and drama. Performance and entertainment feature prominently in the evenings. 2012 will be our third Festival, and to go by our experience in previous years a tremendous ‘buzz’ is guaranteed!

The 2012 Festival will be based at The Acorn theatre in central Penzance. Our other venues – Morrab Library, Penlee Coach House, Trevelyan House in Chapel Street, The Exchange gallery, The Ritz and The Old Dairy - are all nearby. Because most of the Festival’s venues are small, it’s easy for members of the audience to ask questions and contribute to discussions, making for a very informal and lively atmosphere. Festival-goers tell us they have learned a lot and often laughed a lot. If you enjoy words, do come and join us!

A literary festival unlike any other

The Penzance Literary Festival is unlike any other. Almost every other literary festival depends on national celebrities to attract the crowds. Not ours: we do things differently in Penzance! We’re not interested in celebrities just because they’re celebrities, although we attract and warmlywelcome some very well-known people. First and foremost, our contributors are interesting people who have interesting stories to tell and an interesting take on life.

And this is a Festival put on by and for the local community. In Cornwall there’s a great tradition of every town, village and parish holding its own special celebration – festival, feast day, charter day, agricultural show, steam rally … So we think of our Festival as a celebratory get-together for the ‘literary village’ of West Cornwall.

But it is NOT just a festival for people who immerse themselves in books. As we see it, a literary festival is all about words. We all use words, and we all enjoy them, whether written, spoken, recited or sung. If that applies to you, you’ll find something for you at the Festival.

As you see, we aim to make the Festival as inclusive as possible. There will be events for all ages, and an event for people who have a learning disability. And thanks to our community-spirited contributors who don’t ask for payment, and the fact that our organization is staffed entirely by volunteers, we’re able to keep admission charges to the bare minimum – standard £2, concessions £1 – so no-one will be priced out. (There will also be one or two ‘Fringe’ events, for which higher charges will apply.) Again, that’s something very different from other literary festivals. (Just compare their prices with ours!)

PS A message to visitors from ‘up-country’

Penzance is the urban centre of West Cornwall. As everyone knows, it is a small, coastal, characterful, end-of-the-line town. Less well-known is the fact that it and the surrounding area have a remarkably rich and flourishing literary life. Dozens of writers live in Penzance and the neighbouring small towns and villages, while in Penzance alone there are more than 25 reading groups. There is a deep-rooted story-telling tradition and there are thriving poetry groups. There are unique book collections in Penzance Public Library and the Morrab Library, one of only 19 independent libraries in the UK, which has been acquiring book collections since 1818. And that’s just the ‘written word’ component of our literary life!

As you’ll gather, the Penzance Literary Festival is essentially a grass-roots community festival, put on by and for local people. Our Festival isn’t a small-scale version of Hay-on-Wye, and it’s emphatically not one of those festivals where local people give the town a wide berth while festival-goers take over. But we aren’t precious, we aren’t parochial, we aren’t inward-looking, and we aren’t exclusive. Guests from across the Tamar will be very welcome!

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[Last updated 09/05/2012]

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