Writing on the Wall (WoW) based in Toxteth, launched their ‘Future Imperfect’ festival (WoWFEST 2022) at the Bluecoat in Liverpool city centre.
The festival theme 'Future Imperfect' aims to explore and respond to what's going on locally, and around the world using writing as a platform to research, debate and seek solutions to today's and tomorrow's problems. WoWFEST, in its 22nd year, has its first live performances since 2019 due to the covid pandemic when all activities went online.
The launch featured guest speaker Gary Younge, award-winning author, broadcaster, professor of sociology at the University of Manchester and formerly a columnist at The Guardian. Gary’s speech discussed his life and the pandemic, and he made a case for global society’s capability to adapt, meet challenges on what’s possible, necessary and desirable for us to lead better lives.
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Responding to racism in society, Gary told the ECHO : "First, the alternative to fighting is losing, if you don’t fight you’ll definitely lose. Second, sometimes we have to wait, sometimes we have to be able to choose our battles.
"Racism is not new, its been around for 400, 500 years. A marathon not a sprint, so every now and again we have to take care of ourselves, we have to sit down and warm up in that neutral corner."
WoW, Liverpool’s longest-running literary organisation and annual festival inspires and celebrates creativity and writing through debate, performance and inquiry. Each May they bring together audiences with local, national and international writers, artists and social commentators, this year includes; Tony Schumacher, creator of 'The Responder', Clare Coombes of Liverpool Literary Agency and Stephen Small (from Toxteth, now a professor at Berkeley University, USA)
WoW co-director Mike Morris said: "‘Future Imperfect’ our theme in response to what's going on locally, nationally and internationally; wars in Yemen, Syria and what's happening in Ukraine. Energy bills rising, people getting further impoverished and are asking what is the future and we're trying to get engaged in discussions and inspiring people to get engaged themselves.
"Our 22nd annual festival, I think the way we’ve been able to keep the momentum going is a mixture of creativity, hard work, really good staff, great trustees, great partnerships, sponsors and funders. We engage local communities.
“In lockdown we launched the Writers Bloc and ran two projects that really connected, Time to Breathe, in response to the murder of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, and Write Now, about mental health, Its not OK, about domestic violence. The work that came out of them was stunning and some people said it was a real life changer for them".
WoW chair, Stuart Borthwick said: "I've been with WoW since it was founded in 2000 and I’ve got a passion for reading. When I first got involved I was not a published writer, but with their support and guidance I’ve now managed to publish three books, the last being launched at the festival at the end of the month.
“I see the power of reading and writing to change people's lives. WoW is about helping people change their own lives with the power of words".
Participant in WoW projects Alexandra said: "It was fantastic and gave me an opportunity that I’d never had. I really enjoyed it as they had people from different areas, copywriting, poetry, short stories and writing for children.
"One thing I and others got was more confidence in writing, to put it out there, which perhaps before that you would not have the confidence to do. I’m also doing a playwriting course and would probably have never considered this if it had not been for WoW".
Participant Eme said: "It's been invaluable, as writing can be a lonely thing that you do in isolation. The idea of coming together collectively to think about your writing gives you an environment where everybody's writing and you can contribute.
"I found that great because the discipline of having to write and come up with new ideas every week and hearing other people's ideas and contributions was a really good environment to be in. It gave me confidence to stray into areas I’d not thought about, like fiction".
WoW co-director, Madeline Heneghan said: "We encourage people of all ages, and backgrounds to express themselves through creativity. We’ve been trying to transform the lives of individuals and communities.
"We say be creative, its the most important thing in keeping your brain active for mental health and wellbeing. We’ve got a range of writing development projects and really its time to tell our own stories”.
Information on WoW events that end May 28 visit: https://writingonthewall.org.uk/wowfest/
