THE ‘tap-tap-tap-ding’ of typewriters could be heard echoing around the Lower Gardens as a writing festival began.

The second annual Bournemouth Writing Festival started with the mayor, councillor Anne Filer, tapping out a bespoke story about the town in the bandstand.

Festival director, Dominic Wong, said he was ‘super excited’ for the second edition of the festival, after the success of the inaugural event last year.

“We’ve got people coming from all over the country coming down to Bournemouth to be inspired and to progress their writing,” he said.

Bournemouth Echo:

“We’ve got 103 different writing activities and events happening over the weekend.

“Some are free, so for example where we are at the moment at the bandstand, this is a free activity for anybody, for children, for people who have never written before, people who have written before, to have a go, speak to our writing professionals, have a go on out typewriters.

“We have a poetry hub in the Avenue on Saturday, which is free and family friendly.

“Amongst all of that, we’ve got talks, panels, workshops from writing professionals and authors, imparting advice and inspiring people to write.”

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Events include two performances on Saturday and Sunday nights, which Dominic is particularly excited about, taking place at the festival hub at Pavilion Dance.

“On Saturday night is a live music, spoken word improvisation performance, where we’ve got special MCs who will be taking prompts from the audience and then improvising poems and spoken word, and the band will be moulding the music to the words,” Dominic said.

“On Sunday evening, I’m really excited about this, we have a showcase finale of five local arts community groups, we’ve commissioned them to create the performance.

“These are groups from Vita Nova, the Outsiders Project, who work with ex-homeless, ex-prisoners, migrants, refugees.

“We want to hear everybody’s voice at the Writing Festival, doesn’t matter your age, your ability, your background.

“I think that Sunday night event is going to be so important for the community because it’s showcasing the wonderful people we have in the area.”

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Bournemouth mayor, Cllr Filer, said she was ‘thrilled’ to open the festival.

“It’s part of Bournemouth, I think this just typifies what Bournemouth should be about,” she said. “It’s wonderful, all credit to Dominic for organising this.

“I used to work for a magazine, I used to be a writer, so for me this is a real joy, a real pleasure.”

Paul Kinvig, chief operating officer at Bournemouth Town Centre BID, said this was the second of a three-year commitment to support the festival.

“It’s really important that festivals like this, that build on Bournemouth’s creative skills, actually are held within the town centre,” he said.

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“The great thing, apart from actually celebrating the skill that’s here, there’s a whole bunch of businesses in the town centre that are involved in hosting events, working with Dominic on this whole thing.”

The festival takes place between April 26 and 28. Events include a writing competition in collaboration with the Mad Hat Company, writing on the beach and literary walks.

For more information, visit the Bournemouth Writing Festival website.