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Bionote: Jo James has been in the book trade for more than 30 years, firstly as a bookseller and bookshop manager, and then managing events for the bookshop chains, Ottakar’s and Waterstones. Since turning freelance in 2010, Jo has helped to run and programme a number of festivals, including the Times & Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, The Stratford Literary Festival, Chiswick Book Festival, the Stanfords Travel Writers Festival, the Cheltenham Science Festival and the Queens Park Book Festival.
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This interview by Sourabhi Dutta Roy is featured in the book,
“ANONYMOUS WAS A WOMAN”:
an anthology of poems, short stories and interviews available worldwide via Amazon.
Here is the India link.
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TMYS: We talk a lot about authors. But seldom do we look backstage. Having organised multiple literary festivals for almost 30 years now, would you like to share with us some backstage moments of inspiration, chaos and adrenaline rush? What were some of your personal learnings? Tell me your story!
JJ:
There are really too many to mention. From authors having ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ as they’re about to go on stage, speakers not turning up with literally one minute to go before their event is due to start, technology not working, audience heckling, speakers turning up on the wrong day – the potential for chaos and disaster lurks at every turn. But, the biggest lesson from all this is to not panic. Panicking wastes time and doesn’t solve anything. Take a couple of deep breaths, and think through the possible solutions, the options, for the one that is going to be best for that situation. Prepare, prepare and prepare some more.
TMYS: Sense of community is always crucial to most festivals. This sense should of course begin at the local base level and then embrace others. Can you talk to us about this sense of community in the context of the festivals you helped organise?
JJ:
Every single festival I work on has a different personality. This is partly driven by location and the genre of the festival, but primarily by the people that run it. I call them my Festival Families – because that’s what they are. Each one has its core team, and its core volunteers, and you bond incredibly closely with each one for the duration of the festival. You spend all your time together for those few days in a year, and then, when it's done, you go on to the next one and have the same experience. But each one is special, and when you return the next year, you pick up where you left off. Each of these festival families are tremendously important.
TMYS: What are some of the parameters that goes into successfully organising a literary event?
JJ:
Planning, planning and more planning. Each one takes me about nine months, and of course with multiple festivals, they are all at different stages of the cycle. But to make each one successful, you have to put yourself into the shoes of your audience, and ask yourself what is it that THEY would like to see? You do of course try to stretch those boundaries, broaden horizons, and take people on experiences and journeys that they wouldn’t have expected. But you always have to have your audience in front of your mind. And then you have to think of the practical – what time of year is it? Will you need air con or heaters? What venues are you using? How will speakers get to you? How will you feed them? Who is doing the bookselling? How do you get enough volunteers? Like I say, plan, plan and plan some more. Have a plan A, plan B, plan C and plan D. At some point, everything that can go wrong will, so have some contingencies up your sleeve.
TMYS: What are the 3 words that describe your job? It could also be 3 words that are important to you and you bring them to your job.
JJ:
Organised, creative, practical. Or tenacious, fun, energetic. Could also just say ‘attention to detail’.
TMYS: How would you say the space of literary networks have changed over the decades you have been a part of, and also more recently with the entire COVID-19 pandemic?
JJ:
Hugely. When I first started doing events, we barely had email or mobile phones, let alone social media. So it’s changed beyond all recognition. It’s become much easier to network, and much easier to keep in touch. But, in the same way, everything has become much more demanding, with answers being expected immediately, and finding down time (especially if you’re freelance like I am) can be really hard. The last time I had a day off without checking my emails must have been in something like 2010. My laptop always comes with me if I’m away for a night or more, and I try to respond the same day as often as I can.
One thing the pandemic did was to help us all keep in touch via zoom. This is sometimes a good thing, and sometimes bad, but I have saved weeks of my time by not having to travel to meetings anymore. Being able to meet by zoom means I can meet my clients more often and in a way, that’s much more convenient for both of us. The occasional face to face meeting is still needed, of course, nothing can replace that, but it does mean I work a lot more efficiently.
TMYS: You work extremely closely with various authors. Could you name some of your favourite books or authors that inspire you? If you could write any genre, which one would you choose and why?
JJ:
I sadly don’t get much time to read these days, but yes, I do love books and reading. I mostly read contemporary fiction and crime, although I do attempt to delve into a classic every now and then. Favourite authors include Mark Billingham and Mick Herron, Audrey Niffenegger, John Niven, Jane Smiley, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Giles Foden, Jasper Fforde, Mavis Cheek, Jilly Cooper, Louis de Bernieres, Margaret Atwood. And loads more – just can’t remember them all!
I have absolutely no desire to write at all. I’ve read too much great writing to even attempt it.
TMYS: In a day and time, where everyone has too many entertainment options especially for the GenZs, could you have some suggestions to increase the reading culture globally?
JJ:
I wish I could. I think we have to be realistic about what and how people read. Not everyone reads books, but most people read more than they think. It’s finding a way to deliver it to them, in a way that’s appealing and suits their lifestyle.
TMYS: With all the newness of bookstagram, booktok, booktube, and the entire online book community, do you think it has affected the actual reading favourably? For example, do you think all these have made the entire reading process reserved solely for the elite aestheticism of it, where not reading a certain number of books within a certain time-frame gets judged amid the ‘hashtag booklovers’?
JJ:
No I don’t. I know there is social media pressure in all sorts of areas of life, but hopefully, people endorsing books online don’t create an atmosphere of pressure to read them. I would hope that people read a book because they want to and it interests them, rather than because they feel it looks good on social media.
TMYS: Lastly, throughout history there has been a majority of men's narratives that came to the frontiers. What would you say is the vision of global literary networks when it comes to empowering the voices of women?
JJ:
Personally I think women are pretty good at empowering themselves in this world. More women than men work in the industry, and have held positions of great power within large corporations. Women are also much better at networking and maintaining relationships with other people than men are (on the whole), so we should theoretically be a global network that can help and support women wherever they are in the world. When we work together we can help voices be heard, and awareness of inequalities and oppression raised.
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This interview by Sourabhi Dutta Roy is featured in the book,
“ANONYMOUS WAS A WOMAN”:
an anthology of poems, short stories and interviews available worldwide via Amazon.
Here is the India link.
***