NEW directions IN BOOK history Literary Festivals and Contemporary Book Culture Millicent Weber New Directions in Book History Series Editors Shafquat Towheed Faculty of Arts Open University Milton Keynes, UK Jonathan Rose Department of History Drew University Madison, USA As a vital field of scholarship, book history has now reached a stage of maturity where its early work can be reassessed and built upon. That is the goal of New Directions in Book History. This series will publish mono- graphs in English that employ advanced methods and open up new fron- tiers in research, written by younger, mid-career, and senior scholars. Its scope is global, extending to the Western and non-Western worlds and to all historical periods from antiquity to the 21st century, including studies of script, print, and post-print cultures. New Directions in Book History, then, will be broadly inclusive but always in the vanguard. It will experi- ment with inventive methodologies, explore unexplored archives, debate overlooked issues, challenge prevailing theories, study neglected subjects, and demonstrate the relevance of book history to other academic fields. Every title in this series will address the evolution of the historiography of the book, and every one will point to new directions in book scholarship. New Directions in Book History will be published in three formats: single- author monographs; edited collections of essays in single or multiple vol- umes; and shorter works produced through Palgrave’s e-book (EPUB2) ‘Pivot’ stream. Book proposals should emphasize the innovative aspects of the work, and should be sent to either of the two series editors. Editorial board: Marcia Abreu, University of Campinas, Brazil; Cynthia Brokaw, Brown University, USA; Matt Cohen, University of Texas at Austin, USA; Archie Dick, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Martyn Lyons, University of New South Wales, Australia. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14749 Millicent Weber Literary Festivals and Contemporary Book Culture Millicent Weber Australian National University Canberra, ACT, Australia New Directions in Book History ISBN 978-3-319-71509-4 ISBN 978-3-319-71510-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71510-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018932743 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Kathy deWitt / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A cknowledgments Sections of this book build on my journal article ‘Conceptualizing Audience Experience at the Literary Festival’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 29.1: 84–96 (2015) and an article I authored with Simone Murray, ‘“Live and Local”? The Significance of Digital Media for Writers’ Festivals’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 23.1: 61–78 (2017). Audience members at the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Emerging Writers’ Festival, the Clunes Booktown Festival, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and the Port Eliot Festival were hugely gener- ous with their time and opinions. A very special thank you is also due to the organisers of the Melbourne Writers Festival, Emerging Writers’ Festival, and Clunes Booktown Festival for making time in their hectic professional schedules to talk to me. Many people provided generous support and assistance with this book. It began life as my doctoral thesis, and the expertise and sage advice of my supervisors Simone Murray and Robin Gerster at Monash University were invaluable to its conception and execution. My fellow doctoral students, particularly Mishka Kent and Kevin Patrick, were unfailing sources of advice and fellow-feeling, as was my colleague Beth Driscoll at the University of Melbourne. Mehmet Özmen at Monash University provided valuable sup- port with survey design and data evaluation, and assistance in implement- ing quality checks and distributing the survey was also provided by the staff at Qualtrics. v vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My family offered love, support, and distraction throughout this proj- ect. I am particularly grateful to my mother, Thérèse Osborne, to whom I dedicate this book. Your encouragement, reassurance, sense of humour, and patient reading of my drafts mean the world to me. c ontents 1 Introduction 1 Contemporary Literary Festivals: Brief Context and History 4 Defining Literary Festivals 6 Existing Research 9 Research Goals 10 Conclusion 13 Bibliography 15 2 Recognising Literary Festivals 19 Production and Consumption, Commerce and Culture 19 From the Public Sphere to the Literary Field 20 Print Culture, Cultural Policy, and the Public Intellectual 23 Creating Value: Literary Celebrity and Literary Prizes 26 Arts Festivals 28 Literary Festivals 30 The Literary Festival Audience 34 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework 37 Literary Studies and Book History: Reader, Readership, Public 38 Media and Communications Studies: Consumers and the Mass Audience 39 Theatre and Performance Studies: Spectator Experience and the Theatre Audience 41 Introducing the Audience 43 vii viii CONTENTS Research Design 47 The Case Studies 48 Methodological Limitations 50 Conclusion 53 Bibliography 54 3 Patterns of Attendance and Experience 61 Introducing the Data 61 The Qualitative Case Studies 62 Edinburgh International Book Festival 63 Melbourne Writers Festival 63 Emerging Writers’ Festival 65 Clunes Booktown Festival 66 Port Eliot Festival 68 Quantitative Survey 69 Functions of the Audience Member: Spectator, Festival-goer, and Festival Participant 72 Motivations to Attend 74 Patterns of Experience and Interpretation 80 Positive and Negative Experiences 80 Active and Passive Engagement 91 Scholarly, Vernacular, and Middlebrow Engagement 97 Conclusion 102 Bibliography 103 4 Online and Onsite: Intersections in Embodied and Digital Engagement 107 Framing the Relationship Between Live and Digital 109 The Digital Age 112 Digital Engagement with Literature and Literary Communities 114 Reading as Socially Engaged Activity 116 Materiality and Virtuality 118 The Appeal of the Live Event 121 Encountering the Writer 122 Engagement with the Physical Space 126 Shared Space and Shared Experience 129 Meetings and Findings 131 Uniqueness 134 CONTENT S ix Comparisons and Crossovers Between Virtual and Live Engagement 135 Conclusion 140 Bibliography 143 5 Festival as Policy Vehicle: Creative Industries, Creative Cities, and the Creative Class 147 Cultural Policy and the Literary Festival: Historical Context 149 Literary Events and Ideological Projects 149 The Contemporary Literary Festival 151 Contemporary Cultural Policy: Cultural and Creative Industries Perspectives 154 The Emergence of Cultural Policy in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the United States 154 Broadening Conceptions of Culture and the Introduction of Cultural Industries 158 Key Proponents of Creative Industries 161 Comparing Creative Industries Discourse and Literary Festivals: Key Constituencies 163 Comparing Creative Industries Discourse and Literary Festivals: Shared Social Values and Agendas 165 Reservations Regarding the Creative Industries Framework 166 Negotiations Between the Cultural and the Commercial 166 Lack of Ethical Engagement with Social Issues 168 Literary Festivals and Inter-community Networks 171 Conclusion 175 Bibliography 179 6 Festival as Field: Literary Festivals as Instantiations of Larger Cultural Spaces 187 Audience Responses and the Creative Industries Model 189 Providing Access to Culture 190 Barriers to Participation 193 Facilitating Access to Place 198 Programming Diversity 200