‘It’s quite impressive to have curated an established festival that has gone from strength-to-strength’
The Yeovil Literary Festival team have announced their headline authors for the latest incarnation of the book event that brings top names to South Somerset.
Martin Hacker, the marketing manager at The Octagon Theatre in Yeovil, told Somerset’s Alive! the inside story to the curation of the event and what it takes to bring one of the south west’s leading literary festivals to life.
Martin starts with a little background to the festival and who is involved in bringing in the names that will excite bookish people in the area.
He said: “The Yeovil Literary Festival has now been established for 10 years, with 2023 being the 11th time it has been held in Yeovil.
“We think that’s quite impressive to have curated an established festival that has gone from strength-to-strength, becoming one of the south-wests’ leading Literary Festivals.”
Martin continued: “The festival started from a love of books and a shared passion for the arts in Yeovil and the right people in the right place at the right time. Conversations evolved at the popular Yeovil Community Arts Association author events between Marcus Bishop (Waterstones Yeovil) and Liz Pike (YCAA) who subsequently teamed up to hold a small festival.
“Through his love of Literary Festivals, in particular Hay Festival, Adam Burgan (of The Octagon Theatre and Westlands Entertainment Venue) had the ambition of holding a Literary Festival at The Octagon Theatre.”
From this seedling, the growth of the festival had begun but there was still a long road to bringing it to the public.
Martin said: “Conversations were held and the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place and the Yeovil Literary Festival was established. Following the first festival, Emma Mercer (Yeovil Library) reached out asking to bring the festival to the library.
“From tentative beginnings, we now have people travelling from afar to visit Yeovil for our festival.
“We bring writers, speakers and thinkers to our festival to entertain, inspire and enlighten. In ten short years, we are proud of how the Yeovil Literary Festival has grown from a small acorn, just like our logo, into something rather special and beautiful.”
Putting together the festival bill is no easy matter and there are a lot of factors to be considered before a name can be added to the list.
Martin explains: “Organising the festival takes a rather long time. Marcus uses his Waterstones publicist contacts to try and obtain high-profile authors, local and international actors, singers, dancers, scientists, fashion designers, chefs, historians, politicians, journalists, horticulturists, doctors, adventurers, explorer, naturalists and some truly inspirational survivors and war heroes.
“It’s not just a case of bidding for an author; the author must be releasing a new book at the right time, they have to then be doing a book tour and most importantly – available during our festival dates in October.”
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Martin continued: “Meanwhile, Adam uses his venue contacts to bring other names through agent companies. The process of completing a full schedule for the festival can take up to six months and doesn’t tend to be fully completed until the end of August, when the full brochure is then released to the public.”
Then there is the small matter of tickets and the pricing structure to be considered, as Martin added: “Beyond confirming the programme, there’s still lots of decisions to be made. Where do we host the events? What’s an affordable ticket price? What’s our marketing strategy? When do we go on sale with events? Can we attract sponsorship? How do we make our festival unique from others? How do we make it a cost neutral (not-for-profit)?
“Work goes on deep into the festival to ensure we can give the best experience to all of our customers who come to Yeovil Literary Festival.”
The literary festival is not only for those who enjoy listening to their favourite authors talk about their books and processes, and getting to see them close up, it also gives an economic boost to the economy in the area.
Martin describes what he thinks the literary festival will bring to South Somerset: “We have always said that literary festivals give that perfect opportunity to hear from inspiring artists and writers.
“There are not many opportunities in life where you can be a few metres away from one of your personal heroes and listen to the story they are telling, whether its about a certain aspect of their life or what inspired them to produce such a creative piece of work.
“It could be the one opportunity you get to meet these inspiring authors and have your book signed by them. That sense of giving, for us, is most important.”
He continued: “Yeovil Literary Festival sold over 7,000 tickets for events in 2022 so economically, it brings people to the area who might go out and dine at restaurants in the town centre or nearby.
“Visitors might come from far and wide and travel, perhaps staying over night in some of our hotels, so in terms of tourism to the area, it’s a big pull over the 4/5 days that we hold the festival.”
The growth of the festival has also enabled a more diverse programme, which Martin said has been a real boon.
He continued: “The wide-range of authors that travel to Yeovil to be part of the festival really shows how the festival has become one of the leading Literary Festivals in the south-west and we are grateful to each and every author that has been with us over the past 10 years.
“It is thanks to them that we have been able to grow the festival and offer a diverse programme of events.
“One of the gems of Yeovil Literary Festival is discovering new authors. Our festival gives a platform for new authors which brings an opportunity for everyone to experience something new that they otherwise might not have discovered.”
So, what can one expect from the 2023 incarnation of the festival? It would seem that there is plenty for everyone with household names once again heading to Yeovil.
From Dragon’s Den to The Supervet, there is plenty of interesting people lined up.
Martin chose some of his highlights for the coming festival, which is at the end of October.
He said: “For me, the 2023 Yeovil Literary Festival has some exciting names already announced – I think Deborah Meaden is going to give a fascinating insight into her book ‘Why Money Matters’.
“We have a Dragon’s Den investor in Yeovil ready to talk about her children’s book and answer questions.
“What a great opportunity for our next young entrepreneurs to ask any burning questions! But also at a time when we are all feeling the pinch, Deborah will be explaining where money comes from, how it shapes the world we live in and how we can all empower and inspire children to become money experts.”
Our four-legged friends are also catered for with Martin picking out The Supervet off the list of authors.
He continued: “Professor Noel Fitzpatrick, the world-renowned neuro-orthopaedic veterinary surgeon, the founder of Fitzpatrick Referrals in Surrey, the star of the hit Channel 4 television show The Supervet, and author of three No.1 bestsellers will also be here discussing his book ‘Keira & Me’.
“I think it’s going to be a really insightful event and will capture how powerful the bond is between human and animal.”
Pick number three is an inspiration to many and was also a star of the popular BBC crime series, Line of Duty.
Martin said: “Coming to the festival is the award-winning actor and activist, Tommy Jessop. Tommy has followed his dreams in life and proven that anything is possible with hard work and love.
“‘A Life Worth Living’ is the first memoir in the UK written by an author with Down Syndrome in their own words, so Tommy’s story will take everyone behind the scenes of his life showing us his unstoppable determination and charisma.”
Photograph of Martin Hacker at The Octagon Theatre was taken by Len Copland – check out his site HERE
Somerset’s Alive! 
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