The payment of authors - and not forgetting poets, illustrators and
storytellers - for attending literary festivals is an issue that has
been gathering pace in recent years, and looks like it's about to start
knocking down buildings. In fact, the payment of authors isn't the issue
- it's the non-payment.
It hit the headlines today with Philip Pullman's announcement that he
has resigned as patron of Oxford Literary Festival 'because of their
attitude to paying authors'. It seems Oxford doesn't pay its authors (in
monetary terms), but it's not alone there, as Guy Walters attests in
this piece about Hay Festival from a few years ago.
As Pullman told the Guardian today, if festivals are paying everyone else - the marquee suppliers,
the venues, the brochure printers, the caterers etc - then why is it the
author, the very reason for the festival taking place, is expected to
work for nothing?
It's a view shared by Joanne Harris, who was with us for Manx Litfest 2015 - this is an article she wrote in March last year - and Nicola Morgan, who mentioned us in this post ahead of her visit to the Island in 2014.
Oxford's response on its website
says that, as a charity with no government or public funding, and with
around 500 speakers each year, it wouldn't be able to stage a
festival if it had to pay all of its authors.
When
we started planning Manx Litfest back in early 2011 (the first festival
was held in September 2012), we made two very deliberate decisions -
first, we established the festival as a charity. The team involved were
not doing it to make money, but for the love of literature - and to
create something very special in the Isle of Man. The second decision
was, well, not even a decision - paying authors just seemed like the
natural thing to do. Why wouldn't we pay them?
We
also knew that the charity status would stand us in good stead for
applying for funding from the Isle of Man Arts Council and Culture
Vannin, who have both continued to support us each year. We have several
corporate sponsors, including three who support the major events (in
terms of cost/organisation), the family day, the writers' day, and the
schools day. Between them, those five organisations make the festival
possible, but we also need the support of those organisations who
sponsor other individual talks and events.
I
can see where Oxford is coming from, to a point. It's not easy. The
costs can be crippling, and we've had to learn to box clever, in all
areas. In our first year we found that the rates some authors charge - a
small minority, anyway - was way above what we had planned for, and we
got our fingers burned. But we learned our lesson. Of course, we have
around 13-14 visiting authors each year - much more manageable than a
festival of 500 authors. Indeed, looking at Hay as well, it could be
that it is the larger festivals that don't pay authors. Maybe they don't
have the resources, maybe they feel that their events are so
prestigious compared with the smaller festivals - and they are, to be
fair - that authors will attend because of the size of the crowds, and
the publicity and column inches their events will generate.
Fundamentally,
however, it still comes back to the main issue - authors are being
asked to work for nothing; and not just for nothing, but for nothing
while the vast majority of suppliers to a festival will be getting their
hard-earned.
If you're hosting the number of speakers that the bigger festivals do, and having a similar number of events, and enjoying (as I understand it) probably bigger crowds than the smaller festivals, your ticket receipts should be so much higher. Bottom line, between receipts and sponsorship, you have to ensure your income is enough to cover paying everyone, authors included.
Not paying our visiting authors wasn't something we were prepared to entertain, and the
feedback we have received over the last four
years has been positive. They appreciate the overheads involved,
and that makes them really appreciative of us paying them a fee. It's a
flat daily rate, and it's hardly at the retire-to-the-Bahamas level, but
according to a survey carried out by the Society of Authors last year,
where they asked festivals if they paid their authors, and at what rate,
then the level we are paying is decent (certainly looking at what Nicola Morgan says in her post from last year).
Some
debut authors approach us and ask to attend, and usually don't expect a
fee - they understand that if you're putting on an event with an
unknown/new author, it can be difficult to make it cost-effective if
you're having to cover an appearance fee, along with the accommodation
and travel expenses we pay (and being on an island, the travel is a much
larger factor than for most festivals). But we always look to pay them
too, even if it's not the full rate. We've even had one or two
well-known authors waive their fee as a contribution to the Litfest
charity, which was a lovely gesture, but certainly not expected.
All
that said, we know we have one or two issues we want to address. Each
year, several Isle of Man authors are involved with the festival, often
as panelists at the writers' day, or as part of the team we send out
around schools on the Friday. Some might not have have the kind of
readership to warrant a solo event, but they are incredibly keen to
support what we are trying to do, and the festival is much richer
(artistically) for their efforts. So we are looking to attract
additional funding to allow us to pay our local writers a fee too,
because it's the right thing to do. End of story.
John Quirk, Festival Director
