I went to the Primadonna Festival of books and writing last
year and was blown away by it.
It’s not huge and it’s not designed to make a profit, and
for that reason, there’s a lot of good will and community around it.
So I went again this year and encouraged a couple of friends. They couldn’t be doing with camping
in a field, despite the best festival toilets ever (supplied by ‘mobile thrones’). So they air-b-n-b-ed, while I camped out
under the stars.
There were some excellent events where writers shared their
experience, but I probably gained equal enjoyment from sharing a cuppa with my friends, catching up with folk I met
last year and from conversations with amiable strangers.
My favourite moment was at the comedy night. The compere was trying to get a rise out of
the front row.
She asked a young Goth in the front row, ‘And what do you do
for a living?’
‘I work for a specialist cleaning firm.’
‘Specialist, eh? What’s
your specialism then?’
Pause. ‘We clean up
where there’s been a death.’
The compere hastily moved on but I am still left wondering
whether that young person really did work for such a firm or whether it was simply
their way of dealing with comedy comperes.
I have come home enthused and inspired about my writing. The only drawback of so much community is that one of my friends contracted COVID, so I’m waiting to see on that one….
