If you are involved in the publishing world, you will be aware of literary festivals around the country, and even the world. At the beginning of my degree, our lecturers informed us of a lit fest that took place in the north of England, which in itself is less common, since most of the publishing base, and therefore most events, are in London.

This particular festival is called the NYA Lit Fest, or The Northern YA Literary Festival. UCLan Publishing, the publishing company associated with my university, hosted the first festival in 2018, which it is doing again this year. A part of our participation in the course means that we have the opportunity to help out behind the scenes at this festival and learn how they operate.

As a student, instead of being taught hypotheticals within the publishing industry, we get firsthand knowledge of real situations with actual authors and their books – for example, what marketing was done during promotion or working directly on the titles themselves. Since all of our assignments coincide with these titles in some way, we become very familiar with them. Which means that having a lit fest at the university is a bit like having celebrities in attendance.

During the festival, authors (both from UCLan and other publishing houses) will host workshops on different themes or panels with other authors and have book signings. Attending literary festivals also helps stay in touch with what is trending in publishing, which is always interesting. There is also a KIDS Lit Fest associated with the event, which happens the day after the YA Lit Fest. The KIDS Lit Fest has more hands-on workshops offered and it geared more toward younger audiences, so it’s inclusive to everyone of all ages!

I hope you enjoyed getting a little more insight into one side of publishing. Thanks for reading! Stay safe and stay happy.