I Am Writing Festival,

About the event

Now in its second year, the co-founders of I Am In Print are proud to host the I Am Writing Festival, taking place in Bristol on 19^th and 20^th May 2023. Directors Elane Retford and Sarah Snook are keen to bring this fun, vibrant event to this diverse city for any writers with the dream of getting their novel or picture book published. From topical discussions about AI to workshops on character and setting, it is the ultimate festival for those seeking a traditional publication route or wanting to learn about self-publishing. In addition to the in-person festival, a vast array of events will be showcased in their online community, The Writing Sphere, so that anyone can benefit from learning and networking about the craft of writing and the business of publishing.

Elane says “With in-person events now back on the map, we are keen to keep the conversation going between writers, whether they are published or unpublished, and this event is the perfect opportunity to network.”

Sarah adds “We are grateful to all of the people who have agreed to come and share their knowledge and know that attendees will leave inspired.”

The duo is renowned for pulling together events with a fabulous line-up of bestselling and award-winning authors, and this festival is packed with keynote speakers, writing workshops, a pitch party and opportunities to receive feedback from over twenty top literary agents, head to www.iaminprint.co.uk to book your tickets.

Why should you sponsor?

We would love to offer some places at the festival for low-income writers or those from under-represented backgrounds. Having a book published is a dream for many people. Unfortunately the cost of booking appointments with literary agents or a place on a writing course can stop many people from fulfilling this dream. With your help we can give those writers the chance to attend the festival for free and move closer to achieving their dream of seeing their book in print.

Sarah Snook

Hello! We are Elane and Sarah, Co-Founders of I Am In Print, and Directors of the I Am Writing events brand. We’ve known each other since permed hair and Bananarama were a thing (the first time round) – when Sarah was forced to sit next to Elane at school and hasn’t been able to get rid of her since. You’ll get bonus points if you can tell which ones we are.

In 2014 we set ourselves the challenge to co-write a book and spent many hours developing plots and characters. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing so headed off to a few writing events. Four years in, The Idea for I Am In Print bumped into us – build a community to unite all writers, The Idea shouted, so we did. We began with live broadcasts, gathering an audience from around the world to sit online in front of a published author and ask questions; secondly, #Agent121 was born, the first online service where agents offer feedback to writers, all year round! And then came the in-person courses and online publishing days.

As our reputation for facilitating fun writing events grew, we took over the infamous ‘Winchester Writers’ Festival’ rebranding it as the I Am Writing Festival. As well as an online element housing 11 talks, our in-person event hosted 5 keynote speakers, over 30 writing workshops and had over 300 live #Agent121 appointments over a sunny weekend in June 2022. We are now hosting in Bristol 19-20 May 2023 and hope you will help us allow more low-income writers the chance to attend.

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