Bridget Hart

Finally! We get to tell you!!

A good number of months ago now Paul and Jane, founder and co-directors of For Books’ Sake said they were stepping down, and comms manager Jo and I were like ‘well yeah, of course we’ll take over!’

Since then we’ve been doing a lot of back and forth, switching accounts over, website, etc and tying up loose ends so today when the news dropped on social media, I think we were all happy to have it finally out there!

It’s such a pleasure, a pleasure that I am having difficultly connecting with emotionally. I know this is a HUGE milestone and I am very excited about the future, and what we can do to shape FBS for the next, hopefully, decade. But yeah, my emotions always take awhile to catch up.

It has been an honour to be brought under the gentle mentorship of Jane, and I wouldn’t be here without coming under Paul’s wing. We first met at That’s What She Said LDN when I was on a little tour with Agnes Török. I was so excited to do TWSS, it has been legendary to me since I found out there actually was queer feminist poetry nights out there. But like a lot of London things, it seems a bit inaccessible so I was thrilled when we finally found a way to get on the bill! Paul and I hit it off immediately and by the end of the night we were already discussing running TWSS in Bristol, where we were both living. It was a dream come true to craft a bit of space for queer writers, women and non-binary performers and be brought into the fold.

That was four years ago nearly! Time is a weird concept right now but I have got to do so many great things with FBS, like the sold out run at Edinburgh Fringe in 2019, two amazing retreats, and the chance to carve space for non-binary writers with They // Us, the monthly group set up in November 2020. This has been such an importance space for our members to share work, offer feedback and build a supportive environment for each other. It’s been a pleasure to host this for the last year, and we’re marking our first birthday with a workshop with writer and journalist AJ McKenna, open to all trans, non-binary, gnc, agender writers of all levels. Get involved here.

Coming up we have our Festive Farewell online party on 10th December with AJ McKenna performing alongside Fay Roberts and Sophina Jagot. It’s going to be MAGICAL so we’ll see you there pals!