Tales from the Bookseller #8
- committee53
- Jul 15
- 3 min read
It’s 4:30am on Monday 14th July and I’m up and dressed. My day is well and truly under way.
It’s a big day today – we find out how our first week of ticket sales for the Ipswich Book Festival have gone, and I’d be lying if I were to say I’m not a tad nervous. The tickets for ten events went on sale a week ago, following the release of the tickets for the Larry Lamb event a couple of weeks earlier. And it’s a big thing. A huge thing.
A frantic – and lengthy – scroll back to the very beginning of the Ipswich Book Festival group chat on WhatsApp has thrown up the date of 22nd September 2024. That was the date that I created the group and sent the ‘I’ve had an idea’ first message to Tony, Cathy and Emma. Ever since, I can honestly say that we have all poured our hearts and souls – as well as time and money – into laying the foundations and organising the first Ipswich Book Festival.
The idea had been brewing in my head for ages. It’s been there niggling away in the back of my mind pretty much since I opened the shop, and it was a simple case of ‘If we don’t give it a go, we’ll never know’.
It’s been hard work, of course it has. When was anything that was worth doing, ever going to be easy. But, at the forefront of everything, have been four passionate, local business owners, with a shared vision of delivering a unique book festival to the county town of Suffolk.
Deciding to work with WHAT associates as our Marketing partner has resulted in incredible branding, an eye catching logo, and insanely epic visuals. Even before the first names were announced, it was creating a buzz and a topic of conversation around the town, and things have gone from strength to strength since then.
It will be a festival for adults and children, for writers and readers. We will be using some amazing venues and spaces, and we are working closely with some amazing businesses, theatres, partners and sponsors to deliver a totally different kind of book festival. It will not only highlight and showcase great authors and writers, but also illustrators, designers and everything in between.
The Ipswich Book Festival is a celebration of the physical book, and of the power of words, stories, reading and writing. Momentum for everything we are doing, and everything we plan to deliver and achieve, is growing every day.
It’s a scary thing. But it’s also a very exciting and special thing to be involved in.
The stats we will all be waiting to receive with bated breath in a couple of hours are only for a handful of events, as there is a lot more to come. We have set ourselves a deadline of the end of July. That’s when all events will be finalised and ALL tickets will be on sale. That’s also when we can start to produce the printed programme. And THAT will definitely be another one of those ‘shit’s just got real’ moments. ‘Really real’.
Of course there may still be the odd event dropped into the schedule late in the day, that won’t make it to the programme. But that’s all part of the fun of organising and wanting to deliver an amazing festival.
The names announced so far are up on the website www.ipswichbookfestival.com alongside a clickable ‘buy tickets’ button:
Charlie Bingham, Coralie Bickford-Smith, David Wright (The Breaducator), Dr Annie Gray, Francis Quinn, Matson Taylor, Michael Robb, Onjali Rauf, Peter Parker, A. J. West, Roland Allen, Wendy Holden, Larry Lamb and Camilla Barnes. Already there is something for everyone, something a bit different for everyone.
And there’s much more to come. So keep your eyes on all things Ipswich Book Festival (Instagram, Facebook, our website) over the next couple of weeks for more news and details and events and authors. And if you’ve not yet subscribed to our newsletter then you can do so at www.ipswichbookfestival.com
There are many ways you can get involved:
Buy a ticket and be there at one of our events
Become a volunteer (sign up on the website)
Follow us on Facebook – Ipswich Book Festival – share our posts and shout about our events
Follow us on Instagram – ipswichbookfestival – share our posts and shout about our events
Spread the word to all your friends and family
Take some of our bookmarks to share with friends and family
Ipswich Book Festival is 3-5 October.
Turn the page, change perspective.
Andrew Marsh
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