Bring Your Own Cape

Victoria Villasenor, editorial consultant, blogs:

Eight years. 

That’s how long we’ve been doing the BSB Annual Book Festival in Nottingham. If you’ve ever put on a festival, you know keeping one going for just shy of a decade is a big accomplishment. And it just gets better every year.

Today begins the blog train that leads you straight into festival station on June 3rd-4th. You’re going to get a fabulous batch of words every day from each of the super-duper attending authors; they’re a crazy-talented bunch, and they love talking to readers, so feel free to comment away! Be sure to subscribe to this blog as well, so you don’t miss a super set of words.

Personally, this year feels quite important to me. LGBTQ rights are under attack all over the place. Hard won battles of years past are being swept away with an ignorant flick of the pen. Hate crimes are up once again. We are living in uncertain times, and for many, that’s pretty scary.

Enter *hero music* the Queer Author Crusaders! (They don’t call themselves that, but I think it’s quite catchy. Picture authors wearing capes with printed book covers or covered in text from famous authors… I digress.) They write books that incorporate people you can identify with, literature that includes us not as bystanders or secondary characters, but as the heroes; the girl who gets the girl, the boy who gets the boy. The bad ass women and men who take the story by the throat and run with it right to the end. These stories matter. We refuse to be silent, we refuse to be invisible, we refuse to be shoved into the background. 

So join us at the 8th Annual Bold Strokes Book Festival, UK. We’ll be at Waterstones on the 4th floor in the Sillitoe Room all weekend, reading from new books, talking about writing, chatting, laughing, and just generally having an awesome time.

Schedule

We start on Saturday at 11:00am and go all day. The Meet and Mingle after is at Faradays, practically across the street from Waterstones. On Sunday morning, I’ll be hearing pitches before we begin. (Are you an aspiring author? Do you have a book you want to pitch to Bold Strokes? This is your chance. Get in touch with me and jump in.) Then we’ve got another fab day planned on Sunday, beginning at 11:00am, and winding up with the Author/Reader lunch, provided by New Foresters. (It’s free, by the way. Just show up, and hang out. Plus, we’ve got lots of awesome giveaways and prizes. How excellent is that?)

Come hang out with us. Chat to the authors. Get books signed. Listen to awesome readings from equally awesome books in an LGBTQ safe space. Eat, drink, and laugh at the after parties both days.

Bring a cape if you want to; we’re all the heroes of our own stories.