Literary competition cancelled on account of value of residing disaster | Books

Methods With Phrases, which runs literary festivals within the Lake District, Suffolk and Devon, has cancelled its forthcoming competition, saying it isn’t “at present viable” due to the UK’s cost of living crisis.

The organisation had been on account of placed on Phrases by the Water, a 10-day occasion in Keswick, in March 2023. However after experiencing low ticket gross sales for its competition in Dartington, Devon, in July this 12 months, the choice was made to cancel the Lake District gathering and stop planning occasions for the foreseeable future.

In a statement on its website, Methods With Phrases mentioned that “like many companies and organisations within the final two and a half years” it had “confronted extremely tough challenges”. Unable to run festivals in the course of the first 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, it then returned to internet hosting “restricted audiences”.

“From there the nation has moved into an financial state of affairs the place households are going through tough monetary decisions,” continued the assertion. “We all know from different colleagues and literary festivals that almost all literary occasions have seen smaller audiences and decrease income.

“As a small staff, we have now labored extremely laborious to maintain Methods With Phrases going since 2020 however sadly we’re now not at present viable and we have now needed to make the choice to stop working occasions.”

Talking to BBC Radio Cumbria, Leah Varnell, managing director at Methods With Phrases, mentioned that cancelling Phrases by the Water had been an “extremely tough heartbreaking choice”.

Varnell spoke to the Guardian in August and warned that the price of residing disaster was affecting spending on non-essential actions and outings. She mentioned on the Dartington competition in July it was clear that “the temper music appeared that ‘leisure’ actions needed to be jettisoned because of the already felt elevated value of gasoline/meals and there was a palpable anxiousness about how way more costly life might but grow to be and for a way lengthy the price of residing pressures could be felt”.

On the time, Varnell mentioned Methods With Phrases confronted a “severe dialogue” about whether or not 10-day festivals have been viable, or whether or not a “a shorter weekend competition and standalone particular person occasions” could be a greater path. She had additionally warned that she anticipated to see “a big quantity [of other festivals] cancel and maybe shut over the approaching months or 12 months”.

Within the newest assertion, Methods With Phrases mentioned it hoped to proceed working literary occasions and was “at present researching how this may work”.

“We’ll cherish the numerous blissful reminiscences from all our festivals over time and we thanks for all of your help,” the organisers mentioned.