From Horsham to the driving force behind The Birmingham Book Festival

Oct 23 2009 by Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post

Tom Fleming talks to Sara Beadle, the driving force behind The Birmingham Book Festival

Like an old friend

When I met Sara, her love of books shone through. She was just seven when she set up camp under the dining room table and held her own sponsored read, and 21 years later she runs the book festival alongside founder and artistic director Jonathan Davidson.

She spent the whole half term working her way through a huge pile of books and looks back on the experience as heaven.

“I would do that now if I could,” said Sara, who comes from Horsham, a small market town in West Sussex.

“Both my parents are passionate readers, which gave me a wonderful example to follow. We have similar tastes and are forever sending each other books we think we’ll love; as a result they have often inadvertently been responsible for some of the festival’s best events.”

Sara was also lucky enough to have an inspirational English teacher. “He was incredibly perceptive and weaned me off horsey books and onto the classics, contemporary and otherwise,” she added.

“I vividly remember the moment I began to read To Kill a Mocking Bird. I immediately wanted to start writing about it and debating the meanings and messages it contained.

“I’ve treasured that relationship between reading and writing ever since and the book festival is an extension of it, giving me and everyone who has a passion for books the chance to debate and discuss our opinions.”

It’s not just the reading that’s important to Sara. The physical book is too.

“I love the touch and feel of books,” she said. “I like knowing I have shelves and trunks full of them and looking at them in my house, reminding myself which ones I love most. Electronic books are not for me. They may be efficient but they’re not evocative.”

With books central to her life, it’s easy to see why the 28-year-old is so passionate about the festival. But it’s still a big leap from loving to read and debate ideas to directing one of the most innovative and unusual book festivals in the country. And Birmingham is a long way, both physically and metaphorically, from Horsham.

After leaving school, Sara went to the University of Wales (Carmarthen) to study theatre. She wanted to explore areas beyond the English she loved in order to broaden her horizons to all sorts of possible careers. During this period and her subsequent gap year she spent a great deal of time travelling and studying in the US.

“I was really tempted by the idea of post-graduate study in California and on the verge of committing when I found the incredible MPhil in Playwriting at the University of Birmingham,” she said.

“I came to the city and loved it, finding the book festival in the same year. They wanted an extra pair of hands in October and I jumped at it, loving the perpetual excuse to talk about books and writers. A year later I was helping to programme the festival, unable to contain my ideas, and four years further down the line I’m programme director. I was drawn to it because I love reading and writing.”

Jonathan Davidson has more than 20 years in the field and he has provided Sara with a kind of on-the-job apprenticeship.

“He has been an incredible mentor and, as my experience has grown, so has his generosity in handing the festival over,” she explained.

“We don’t allow ourselves to be confined by what other organisations are doing, or how hard it might be to run 60 events in a year.

“We decide what we’d like to do, then work out how. Usually this means we have to cut and re-cut things until it works and we often add extras into the mix along the way.

“We are independent, but we are mindful of the sustenance we draw from the support of others, and we look for organisations like ours to work with – ones that want to rise to the challenge of this city.”

The festival is far more than just a job to Sara. The language she uses to describe it and the ideas for it that are always bubbling over make the point very clearly.

“The festival to me is like an old friend,” she says. “It troubles me when it doesn’t behave in the way I would like it to, but more often it surprises me and makes me proud as it grows and matures. It is an intellectual challenge and sometimes a logistical one but it’s always exciting and definitely inspiring.”

One aspect of the job that particularly engages Sara is finding new writers. This year alone she has uncovered a love for Jenn Ashworth, Jeremy Page, Amanda Smyth, Mark Illis and Sadie Jones. These writers and others grab her attention and she then weaves them into the festival, persuading them to come to Birmingham and give their time.

Sara is the kind of person who has always had a notebook by her side into which she can jot her ideas and thoughts at any time of day. It’s no surprise she lives in rural South Derbyshire with her partner and has lots of cats. I can picture her sitting in the window with her head in a book and the notebook in easy reach.

She does other things she assured me – walking other people’s dogs, running and cooking, but I can’t see how she finds the time.

One day Sara would like to write her own book and has tried from time to time. But right now this instinct is overcome by her desire to engage with the entire “world” of writing.

“I feel it is my responsibility to talk and think about reading and writing and to make sure that others have the opportunity to do so, as well,” said Sara.

And long may she continue to do so because while she does she is helping to make the Birmingham Book Festival challenging and ultimately compelling.

To find out more about the festival, go to www.birminghambookfestival.org