Palmers Green writer Alex Woolf was one of the presenters at the first Enfield Literary Festival
(Photograph: Anne-Marie Sanderson)Last Saturday's first Enfield Literary Festival event attracted a roomful of people, young ahd old, to the recently refurbished Edmonton Green Library, keen to learn more about the trade secrets of locally and internationally acclaimed writers and hear about the borough's literary history.
Participants were able to hear talks and take part in creative writing workshops held by Catherine Johnson, children's author and writer for film, TV and radio, and Alex Woolf, a Palmers Green resident whose fiction takes its inspiration from his passion for history and science. Alex played a major role in the "Palmers Scream" in 2015. As well as contributing to the Palmers Scream Book of Spooky Stories, he held sessions in local schools with the aim of stimulating children's imagination and inspiring them to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).
Dr Katy Beavers of the Charles Lamb Society talked about Edmonton's most famous literary figures - Charles Lamb and his sister Mary - and their "Idolisation, Inspiration and Insanity".
The day was rounded off by a session on digital media and "hyperlocal" journalism, hosted by Martin Russo, who runs the new ENTWO for Enfield website and was the organiser of the festival. Martin is planning to run two more Enfield Literary Festival events this year, in April and June.
The new festival is an excellent addition to the borough's literary calendar, joining the now well established week-long Lamb Festival, which is held at All Saints Edmonton, taking in poetry and prose, photography, essay writing, music and local history (this year it will run from 16th to 22nd June).
There is a more detailed report about the Festival and the participating authors on the ENTWO for Enfield website.
