The Cosmia Festival is a new arts festival focusing on all things science fiction, fantasy, and horror. We caught up with the festival’s director, Dave Smith, to find out more about it…
STARBURST: What’s the Cosmia Festival?
Dave Smith: We’re a new arts festival dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction. We’re based in Huddersfield, Yorkshire.
Why the festival format?
Genre fans are incredibly well served by conventions, and there are some great literary and film events but we wanted to do something a bit different. Partly that’s about bringing together a wide range of formats and art forms, but also to give space for the serious and the silly. I love festivals that take place across a town or city too, and that’s different from a Con model of one big venue.
What’s The Movement for Responsible Fandom?
The Festival team are really aware of the urgency of the climate emergency – it’s baked into the DNA of the Festival and how it operates. The Movement developed naturally from that line of thinking.
Fandom is going to have to change and soon. Much less plastic and cotton, and cheap electronics, because eventually there won’t be a choice. We want to start positive conversations with fans and the industry to rethink what we’re doing and come up with something better.
Which parts of the festival have been the most rewarding so far?
The Festival Director part of me would say the day that the programme launched. Lots of work went into the preparations and it was great to see a website full of events. The fan part of me would say… when I realised I could put Resident Evil up on a big screen.
What’s the appeal of literary festivals?
I love literary festivals – despite the lack of many genre authors I make an annual pilgrimage to Hay-on-Wye. The chance to see authors read their work, or talk about how it’s made (and get some stuff signed) is just a great experience. There’s also a great buzz. We hope to build a mini-literary festival element into Cosmia in the years to come.
Huddersfield is very far from London, is that part of the appeal?
Not at all. As well as Cosmia, Huddersfield is also the hometown of Sir Patrick Stewart, Lena Headey, and Jodie Whittaker. Throw in amazing transport links to all the Northern cities, and the M1 and how could it not be here?
What plans do you have for the future?
We’re already planning for 2020, which will provisionally be called “It’s the end of the world as we know it” – expect content about climate change, apocalyptic fiction and a lot more.
Is Fandom really as friendly as it thinks it is?
There’s nothing like that moment when you enthuse with another fan about a shared love of something. I think what we’d like to bring is more opportunities for fans to get together to do that in person. It’s a lot easier being friendly face-to-face than online.
What has the response been like so far?
We’ve had amazing support from partners and lots of positive messages from people we speak to – hopefully we’ll get the same response through the door.
Don’t we already have enough geek conventions?
There are certainly a lot of them, which I think is really healthy for the genre. We hope that we’re filling a different purpose, which is complementary to cons.
What authors are you reading/TV shows are you watching? And why?
When I decided to start a festival, I took a long look at my book collection and realised I was stuck in a rut, buying the same authors. So I deliberately bought new stuff, new authors (to me at least) and I’ve honestly had a blast. The one that leaps to mind (I’m re-reading for the festival) is Rosewater by Tade Thompson which is incredible – such a different voice and setting. I just finished the audiobook of The Last, by Hanna Jameson, which I loved. As for TV, I’m saving up my time for ST: Discovery when the Festival is over.
You can find out more about Huddersfield’s Cosmia Festival on their website www.cosmiafestival.co.uk
