Live Literature

‘A hugely insightful and entertaining survey of the live literature scene: what it is, who it's for, and why it matters. Full of brilliant analysis and fascinating vignettes, it is sure to be standard work on the subject for years to come.’

Michael Hughes, author of the award-winning novel Country

The idea for Live Literature (2021), was seeded years ago when I started wondering why literary festivals, and other events like salons and bookshop readings, had become so popular and so crucial to the literary scene this century, and what they contributed to literary culture, and the way that people think about books. I was surprised to discover that little had been written about literary events, beyond considering their function as places to market and sell books. That was interesting, but I felt there was a lot more to them that could be explored, particularly in terms of participant experiences at events and how they are valued – including not only reader-audiences but author-performers too. My first novel came out during the course of the research, and so I’ve also included some reflections on what it’s like to participate in literary events as an author myself.

Covid hit as I was finishing the manuscript in early 2020, causing live, in-person literary events around the world to be cancelled or postponed. The pandemic and its consequences made it even more important to ask: how and why are in-person events important? What is their value as experiences for their participants, in comparison to digital and hybrid alternatives which are increasingly possible and often cheaper to put on?

I did a lot of ethnographic research while writing the book, which involved spending time at many different literary events, observing them, writing notes, and talking to reader-audiences, author-performers, producers, chairpeople, booksellers, and others about their experiences. I found out plenty of interesting and surprising things along the way, including how participating in events can transform the way in which people read, interpret, and value books beyond the bounds of the event, and sometimes well into the future.

In the middle chapters of the book, I take readers along to two very different literary events: The Hay Festival, one of the world’s biggest and most famous festivals based in the Welsh countryside; and the Polari salon, and LGBTQ+ salon based in London. For each one, I composed an ‘experiential literary ethnography’ – an evocation of being present at the event, using creative writing techniques, into which research conversations and reflections are woven.

It is published as a ‘crossover book’ – i.e. it’s got academic ideas and references in it, but it’s written in such a way as to be enjoyably readable for non-academic audiences.

Reviews:

‘A pitch-perfect guide to the live literature scene.’ – Matthew Rubery, author of The Untold Story of the Talking Book (2016), and Professor of Modern Literature at Queen Mary University of London.

‘A hugely insightful and entertaining survey of the live literature scene: what it is, who it's for, and why it matters. Full of brilliant analysis and fascinating vignettes, it is sure to be standard work on the subject for years to come.’ – Michael Hughes, novelist, author of the award-winning novel Country, and Creative Writing lecturer at Queen Mary University of London

'Ellen Wiles's fascinating and engaging new book on live literature beautifully reveals how the seemingly personal act of reading can be transformed, and even enhanced, through performance.' – Deirdre Mask, author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power (2020)

'Literature is often thought of as an intensely inward, individual experience—the slow, silent immersion in a book which has the potential to transform how we see ourselves, others and the world. Yet, as Live Literature shows, it is for numerous groups and communities across the world now a powerful public experience as well. Creatively blending autobiographical reflection, anthropological ‘thick description’, and literary analysis—in a mode she calls ‘experiential literary ethnography’—Ellen Wiles uncovers what it means, for authors and audiences, to bring the written word to life as speech and performance today. Live Literature is not only a ground-breaking contribution to contemporary cultural studies. It is a stylish and engaging counter to the cynics and doomsayers who are, as ever, prematurely waving literature’s final death notice.' – Peter D. McDonald, author of Artefacts of Writing: Ideas of the State and Communities of Letters from Matthew Arnold to Xu Bing (2017), and Professor of English and Related Literature at the University of Oxford.

‘At a time when public life has been curtailed and we are increasingly concerned with the alienating effects of social media, Ellen Wiles' riveting account of live literature events reawakens us to the emotional connectiveness and sense of community that are fostered by participation in face-to-face art performances. Live Literature is an eloquent testimony to the ways in which the life of art entails the art of life’. – Michael Jackson, poet, novelist, author of The Paper Nautilus, and Professor of World Religions, Harvard University

'In Covid times, with Zoom and digital culture replacing real experiences, this book is an inspiring and heartening reminder of why live literature matters. Collective human engagement with writers, in literary festivals and salons, is analysed here by a writer passionately and personally engaged with her subject. The accounts of author-performers' appearances and reader-audiences' responses make for a powerful argument that we mustn't allow live literary events to die.' – Helen Taylor, author of Why Women Read Fiction: The Stories of Our Lives (2019), Emeritus Professor of English at Exeter University, and the first Director of the Liverpool Literary Festival.

‘In this bold, wide-ranging book, acclaimed author Ellen Wiles makes a convincing case for live literature as a crucial cultural practice of the 21st century—a practice that includes “bodies, voices, performance, places, spaces, emotions, and communities, as well as individual intellects and judgments.” Combining literary criticism, sociology, cognitive science, and journalism (e.g., her account of the celebrated Hay Festival), Wiles brings us a compelling report from the future of literature that is already here.’ – Lisa Zunshine, author of Getting Inside Your Head: What Cognitive Science Can Tell Us about Popular Culture, Bush-Holbrook Professor of English at the University of Kentucky

‘Literary festivals and salons come alive in this charming book packed with writers, readers, performers and audiences revealing the very human desire for shared cultural encounter. Ellen Wiles has crafted a reading experience that is fun, evocative, intelligent and informative, offering a gifted writer’s vivid descriptions and an anthropologist’s keen analysis.’ – Alisse Waterston, author of Light in Dark Times: The Human Search for Meaning, and Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York, John Jay College

‘Ellen Wiles’ book Live Literature breathes new life into scholarship of contemporary literary culture with this richly nuanced, highly readable foray into the world of the spoken word. Wiles’ ethnographic approach is fresh, thoughtful and engaging. This is an essential addition to the expanded field of publishing and the literary industries.’ – Anna Kiernan, author of Post-Digital Writing: Cultures and Contexts, Publisher at The Lit Platform, and Director of the MA in Creativity at the University of Exeter

‘Live Literature takes you on a vivid journey visiting literary festivals and salons across the UK. More than a book reader, you’ll feel like a theatre spectator in front of a skilfully directed performance featuring many characters, sub-plots and scene changes. Wiles’ experiential ethnographies are an outstanding contribution to the fields of literary anthropology and performance studies.’ – Dr Margherita Laera, Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre, University of Kent