Special Feature: 4th Annual Bold Strokes Book UK Festival, by Victoria Oldham

With its healthy list of UK authors, Bold Strokes Books is one of the biggest publishers of LesFic in the country. We’ve mentioned its annual UK bash a few times already, but with the weekend rapidly approaching we asked its organiser and Rabble-Rouser in Chief, Victoria Oldham, to tell us a bit more about the event and why as many as possible of you should go to it!

~ ~ ~

Another year has flown by. It’s already time for the 4th Annual Bold Strokes Book Festival in Nottingham. And wow, has the event grown!

The first year it was scheduled for a single weeknight, for a few hours. Two weeks before the event, the book store moved the date to accommodate a big name author, resulting in one of our authors being unable to come. But we had a really good turn out anyway, and feedback suggested we could move on to something bigger.

So, we went for it. The following year we made it a two day event, and we had eight authors. Turnout was amazing, and we were sponsored by loads of LGBT businesses as well as by Starbucks. Last year we had a good turnout, though we were competing with Super Saturday at the Olympics. After the panels at Waterstones on Sunday, we went to the New Foresters for our meet and mingle, and as a group we watched Great Britain bring home medal after medal on the big screen TV.

In this, our fourth year, we’ve grown so much we’ve had to add a few hours to the event on both days! We’ve got eleven LGBTQ authors scheduled this year, and they’ll be reading and discussing everything from fantasy to romance to crime and punishment. Over the course of two days, there will be readings of new work and upcoming work, and lots of time for questions and answers. Plus, we’ll enjoy nibbles and drinks at local club Propaganda on Saturday night, where you can mingle with the authors and ask all the questions you like. On Sunday we’re bringing back our popular How to Get Published and What to Expect When You Do panel, sponsored by Starbucks.

And for the first time, you can pitch your novel to a Bold Strokes Editor! Sign up for a ten minute time slot and tell us about your novel. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get your work in front of the largest LGBTQ publisher in the world!

We’ll end the weekend with a late lunch provided by New Foresters, the only lesbian-owned pub in Nottingham. It’s your final chance to get books signed, get your hands on our giveaways, and connect with the authors.

This event gets bigger and bigger every year, and the award-winning authors who show up love to meet readers and fellow authors. I believe, with all my heart, that events like this are important for the LGBTQ community. We all love to read books where we identify with the characters, and LGBTQ fiction allows us that. Come to this fantastic event, support the authors, get some amazing fiction, and have a damn fine weekend surrounded by readers and writers.

~ ~ ~

The 4th Annual Bold Strokes Book Festival is completely free to attend and will be held on June 8th and 9th 2013 at Waterstones, Nottingham (just off Market Square and five minutes’ walk from the train station.)  The Saturday event will start at 1 pm, while the Sunday one will see you out of bed just that little bit earlier with panels getting under way at 11 am. If you head into Waterstones and aim for the escalators, someone will be on hand to point the way to the event room.

For more information go to: http://boldstrokesauthorfestuk.wordpress.com/

And to sign up for a pitch slot, email Vic at: bsbediting@gmail.com