Guernsey Literary Festival

As you know, we were heartbroken to have to cancel this year’s Guernsey Literary Festival, due to run from 29 April to 3 May, because of the coronavirus pandemic. We had to put the health of our visiting authors and speakers, our audiences and our team of volunteers and helpers above all else.

It was a sad decision and we have had many expressions of encouragement to go on and plan for the future. Already many of our speakers have said that they would like to come to Guernsey as part of a future Festival and we are in discussion with them.

One of the big problems of cancelling an event such as this so close to its launch is the matter of finance. We are a not-for profit Festival, run entirely by volunteers who have spent a year organising every little detail  of an event which was to feature nearly 60 visiting speakers, and we rely heavily on our sale of tickets. In fact, ticket sales and sponsorship account for by far the biggest part of our income. Planning for the Festival started last year and some costs have  already been incurred, particularly in promoting the event, which we are unable to recover through event insurance.

And so we are launching an appeal to anyone who can to donate to keep us afloat. We’d be so grateful and whatever you can spare will make a big difference. All our donors will be able to enjoy the knowledge that they are part of a community which has helped something very special to keep going at this very difficult time.