New literature festival to be launched in Farsley this month

The brainchild of Amanda Truman, who runs an independent bookshop in the West Leeds village, and Dick Bonham of Trouble at Mill Events who run the Farsley venues The Old Woollen and The Constitutional, the festival will present more than thirty book-related events over the course of several weeks in October and November. With a diverse and eclectic programme featuring fiction, non-fiction, spoken word, poetry, workshops and screenings, it is an impressive debut.

Headliners include comedian and broadcaster Robin Ince discussing his new book Biblio Maniac exploring his life-long love of books and bookshops, Esme Young, star of The Great British Sewing Bee and explorer and broadcaster Benedict Allen. Among other authors appearing are best-selling romantic novelist Milly Johnson, Bradford-based crime writer A A Dhand and feminist historian Jill Liddington whose book Female Fortune inspired the BBC series Gentleman Jack.

“We always like to aim high and punch above our weight,” says Bonham. “So, we thought, let’s be ambitious and see what we can do. We can’t wait to get started – tickets sales have been going well so far – and we are hoping that if it is a success, this will be the start of an annual event.”

The festival grew out of a conversation between Bonham, who has been living in Farsley for 12 years, and Truman who moved to the area last year to open Truman Books. It was a big life change for Truman, brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Having worked in the travel industry for 20 years, based in London and flying all over the world, when the UK went into lockdown in March 2020, she was made redundant. Her circumstances changed dramatically and that prompted her to think again about a long-held ambition to open an independent bookshop. “I think 2020 was a year when a lot of people thought about taking a risk and doing something different,” she says. “After being made redundant I started looking for other jobs and I just couldn’t get excited about any of them. Books have always been a passion for me and a voice in my head kept saying ‘what about the bookshop?’”

Initially she explored the possibility of opening a shop in London “but the figures just didn’t add up – rents are so expensive.” Then a friend of hers, who lives in Farsley, suggested she take a look at Leeds. “I was at University up here and a lot of my friends stayed after graduating, so I had a look around West Leeds at various places that might work. Farsley has a high street full of independent shops and a community that wants the area to be great – it seemed like the bookshop would really fit here.”

So, she sold up in London and moved North. “We have been open just over a year now. It has been amazing – and a lot of work. I don’t have a background in the bookselling business so it’s been a huge learning curve but it has been brilliant and the support from the community has been great. Three months after we opened, I started doing events in the shop – that was always a big part of what I wanted for the bookshop.” Then one of her customers suggested she might think about putting on a literature festival and a seed was planted.

“Both Amanda’s bookshop and our second venue The Old Woollen were businesses that opened post-lockdown and it felt like there was a real moment of renewal and opportunity,” says Bonham. “We thought we have the venues, the resources and the connections, let’s just do it.”

They approached Sunny Bank Mills as well as Leeds Libraries and together the programme started to take shape. “There are lots of creative people here and a lot of people innovating, there is so much happening here culturally and it’s really brilliant to be a part of that,” says Truman. “One of the things I love is the collaboration – you can just go and chat to people who run businesses in the village and come together to create something. I feel very lucky that I have landed in a place with that kind of ‘let’s give it a go’ attitude.”

Ink Slingers: Farsley Literature Festival runs October 18-November 22. Details and to book farsleylit.co.uk