I hope that teh very best literary event during Oxford Literary Festival won't be part of the festival at all. Nor even the Fringe.

We'll be at The Albion Beatnik, Oxford's coolest bookshop, specialiseing in books about jazz and the Beat Poets, on Wednesday march 24th from 6-8pm

Full details here:
http://yearzerowriters.wordpress.com/our-gigs/year-zero-not-at-the-oxford-literary-festival/http://yearzerowriters.wordpress.com/our-gigs/year-zero-not-at-the-oxford-literary-festival/

but a quick rundown:
we'll have Beat-inspired readings from the works of

er, me
Larry Harrison
Daisy Anne Gree
Ali Cooper

and music from the fabuilous Christi Warner:
http://www.myspace.com/christiwarnerhttp://www.myspace.com/christiwarner

oh, and free wine Songs from the Other Side of the Wall is just £0.70 on Kindle

Thank you. We'll be hanging around the festival venues during the day handing out flyers (with free poems on) - hoping to get people along who've come for the festival. The programme is so staid and expensive it'd be great to give people a shot in the arm, and for free Songs from the Other Side of the Wall is just £0.70 on Kindle

Yes, the problem with this festival, and I'm sure all others, is that it's a group of people from out of town shipped in to perform to a group of people from out of town at generic tourist venues. Which isn't wrong, just rather dull, and a missed opportunity to showcase some fantastic local talent (I'm sure there must be some)

The place we're holding our event, The Albion Beatnik ookstore is the best independent bookstore in Oxford, right in the middle of the city's bohemian quarter, with a huge area that can be used as a stage, and they weren't even approached by the festival or the fringe - the festival didn't even ask them to take some flyers in - that can't really be the right way of doing things. And people wonder why the industry's in such a mess, and is all such a mishmash of wotnottery.

All of which being said, I will be attending one event aty the festival - there's no way I'm turning down the opportunity to see Patti Smith. I've just had a look at the website - Oxford is one of the few venues she has not sold out. I lose more faith in this place's artistic integrity every day! Songs from the Other Side of the Wall is just £0.70 on Kindle

Thanks. I picked up the ticket at lunchtime - am schoolboy kind of excited - she's one of my absolute idols. Funny, I always think of our Patti (DeLois) as looking like her.

It's going to be hugely exciting, yes. I've read there before, and it's such a great atmosphere:
http://yearzerowriters.wordpress.com/our-gigs/the-first-year-zero-book-launch/pictures-from-the-launch-1/http://yearzerowriters.wordpress.com/our-gigs/the-first-year-zero-book-launch/pictures-from-the-launch-1/

We're looking at small festivals - I know the guys who run Y-Not which is a super thing in the Peak Districty, and there are some others around that would be great. We're bringing an album out in the autumn, working with some local, Birmingham, and London-based musicians, so it would be interesting to have a mini show at a festival around that.

The people I've met in publishing have all been utterly lovely and passionate about writing and literature. I've noticed two things, though- there's a lot of jollying and junketing that seems to oil the wheels - nothing inherently wrong with that, but think back to advertising and journalism - it's the kind of decadence and laurel-resting that tends to mean the status quo is too comfortable and about to change; and there's WAY too much deference, even among the indie-est of publishers. Yes, I go schoolboy giggly at the thought of meeting Patti Smith, but I write a music column and meet bigger and smaller acts, and it's very dangerous for an industry to be more impressed by who you are than what you do - you can miss new exciting thnigs happening under your nose - things someone else won't miss.

Sorry, turned into a bit of a ramble, that Songs from the Other Side of the Wall is just £0.70 on Kindle