00:00We realised there was an audience for something that wasn't really being
00:04provided in Medway. We've got 300,000 people out there, I know a lot of them
00:09read books because I work in a library, you know, we're heading for 50,000
00:13issues just out of Chatham Library this year, so we know there's a lot of
00:17people out there that would be interested in this stuff, so we thought, hey, let's
00:20try and put it on, let's talk to the council, let's see if we can get
00:23some sort of backing there. We do work with Medway Council culture team and Medway
00:28libraries very closely, you know, they're very, you know, we couldn't do it
00:31without them, and we thought, okay, so like, you know, we've got to have a very
00:36local flavour to it, but we want to bring some other stuff in as well and just sort
00:39of smash them together and see how that works, and it does, you know. The first
00:43year we were headlined by our very own Billy Childish, of everything, of world
00:49fame, but also Chatham fame. Ben Aronovich, who's a major author, he comes every
00:54year, pretty much now, and we've also got Natalie Haynes this year, who's a major
01:01superstar mythologist, if the Washington Post has got anything to say about it,
01:05that's what they call her, but we also have a number of local writers on, as I
01:10said. I mean, Medway is known for its literature in some senses, Dickens used to
01:15live here, but how important is it for you to kind of bring a bit, I don't know, a
01:19variety of flavour to the Literature Festival, like you say, Romanticy and other genres?
01:24We, you know, it would be awful if everything on the festival was just what I
01:30liked, particularly, and everyone looked like me. That's not what Medway is, and it's
01:34not what it looks like. As I say, I work in a public job, I know what this area is,
01:40and,
01:41you know, we've got to reflect that, and we want to reflect that. You know, it's a thing
01:44we positively want to do. It's a festival that is absolutely open to everyone and a
01:50safe place for everyone to be, and we want them to come and enjoy stories.
01:55And if people have listened to our conversation and thought, that sounds like a bit of me,
02:00I want to head down, how do they find out when the events are and where to go?
02:04Somewhere around, if you have a library anywhere near you, go to your libraries,
02:07please do go to your libraries. You'll see one of these brochures, you'll probably find it in
02:12Waterstones as well. This will tell you where everything is happening. Oh, I can see my face
02:16there, dreadful. Yeah, but online, yeah, we have got a website, Medway River Lit. If you just
02:23Google that, you will find it. All tickets can be booked on there free of charge if that's what
02:28you need it to be. We don't believe, particularly with libraries, but with any of our venues,
02:33we don't think that in any cultural space you should necessarily have to pay to get in it. If you
02:39want to see Natalie Haynes and you're unemployed and you can't afford to pay the ticket price
02:43that it would have been anywhere else maybe, you can go for nothing. If you can afford it
02:49and you want to pay some money for it, you can. And that's the way we like to price it.
02:53I think it's fairer and I think it's more accessible. And accessibility is a big deal for us. We have
03:01received some funding this year from Arts Council England to make our events more accessible. We only
03:06operate in fully accessible buildings. We have had, I mean, we cannot afford it for every
03:11event because it's quite an expensive thing and it should be because BSL signers are artists.
03:16You know, it's a thing that takes a long time to learn to do. And we've had a BSL interpreter
03:22for the launch and for the play last night and it was great to be able to do that. And
03:27it
03:27just makes it, it opens the door for more people to come and see it.
03:30Okay.
03:30It's very close to the new order.
03:31Ready, ready for the new order.
03:31Let's see.
03:31Get out.
03:31The new order.
03:31Happy electric guitar.
