Monday, September 23, 2013

Flights and ferries - more great support from our sponsors

With just a few days to go, our visiting authors, poets, performers, agent and publisher will be (we hope...) getting a tad excited about their trip across the water to visit us for Manx Litfest 2013.That's right - just a couple more sleeps.

As we all know, one of the key elements of ensuring any festival of this kind can take place is the support of businesses and organisations, and with travel in mind, the Litfest team would like to thank two of our supporters, who have been a great help this year, just as they were for the inaugural festival in 2012.

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and Citywing have both assisted us with travel for a few of guests - author Victoria Lamb is returning to the Island where she lived for 23 years and is driving up from the south of England, with the Steam Packet Company kindly supporting her travel.

Meanwhile, authors Andrew Taylor and Robert Bullock are flying from Gloucester and Blackpool respectively and we'd like to thank Citywing for supporting their travel.

Sponsorship comes in many forms, and it's only by the continued support of the community - and business community - that we can continue to leading authors, poets, storytellers, agents and publishers to the Island for Litfest.

Thank you once again from everyone involved with Litfest to the Steam Packet Company and Citywing.




Sunday, September 15, 2013

Schedule and programmes - an update

The schedule for Manx Litfest 2013 has been up on the website for a week or so now, and we'd hoped to be holding printed copies of the programmes before now. Best laid plans and all that.

We'd hit a few last-minute snags as it was, nothing major, but they needed to be resolved before we could issue the schedule. The delay to announcing the schedule was compounded just as we were about to hit print on the programmes - a rather more serious technical snag, which involved a laptop, open-hard drive surgery and the retrieval of all our artwork and files. It was indeed an anxious 24-36 hours.


It's been a frustrating last ten days as we battled to get the schedule and programmes done and dusted, and can only apologise that we've not had the programmes to deliver far and wide around the Island - this year we've had fantastic support from Bridson & Horrox, which means we can give them out free, unlike last year when we had to charge a cover price.


So, from Tuesday, keep an eye out in libraries, bookshops, schools, Government offices, town halls, the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal and the Villa Marina reception - you should be able to get your hands on a copy. We'll also be delivering them to many businesses, although as we'll be doing it in car/on foot, we can't guarantee to hit everyone. If you would like a copy and can't seem to find one, drop us a line at manxlitfest@gmail.com

In the centre of the programme is an at-a-glance guide to Litfest weekend, which we've produced as individual images - and you can see them in this here post.

We're less than two weeks now until the second Manx Litfest kicks off and ticket sales are going well - tickets for events at the Villa Marina Promenade Suite and The Studio Theatre at Ballakermeen High School are available from the Villa Gaiety website, by calling the box office on 600555, or in person at the Villa Marina reception and the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal in Douglas.

Tickets for other events can be bought from Lexicon Bookshop in Douglas, Bridge Bookshop in Port Erin, Celtic Gold in Peel and Shakti Man in Ramsey. Alternatively, you can email bookings@manxlitfest.com

Many thanks to all our supporters - we hope you enjoy the four days of the festival as much as we are looking forward to it.

Thanks
The Litfest team