DEYA HELPS CREATE A “FANTASTIC” ARTS FESTIVAL

This first festival, which started on Friday, was very much a pilot scheme, however, the organisers said yesterday that it has been such a great success, with all of the audiences with the writers, poets and musicians sold out, that they are very clear in their minds that the festival has an exciting future in Deya. All of the literary guests, which have included British poet Owen Sheers, composer, musical empresario and new Deya resident Andrew Lloyd Webber, authors Hanif Kureishi, Louis de Bernieres, Tomas Graves, Linda Grant and Lynne Franks, have enjoyed taking part in the Deya festival. “It's like we've started a new family and we have all felt really at home in Deya,” organising committee member Lyndy Cooke said yesterday. “But what is also very important is that the village of Deya and the people have been really supportive. “Someone walked up to me in the street yesterday, flung their arms around me and said ‘thanks,' you can't beat that,” she said.
Apart from the talks and audiences with the writers, all of the musical and performing arts events have also been well attended and there has been a real buzz around Deya over the past four days with people from all over the island flocking to the village to enjoy the atmosphere.

Cooke, who has been general manager of the Hay Festival for the past six years, said yesterday that the Deya festival will be promoted at the next Hay Festival, which lasts for ten days and attracts over 80'000 people, and that next year's Deya event may well be a few days longer. “We will obviously be a bit more adventurous next year, now we know the score, there will probably be more political and scientific debate and definitely something for the children. “The response here has been fantastic and we'll probably be looking to hold the festival at the same time of year. We'll definitely be pushing it in Hay as the festival's sister event and will shortly be setting up a special website for the Deya festival,” she said.

The Sudanese-Spanish novelist Jamal Mahjoub, opened yesterday's final day with a discussion about his novel Travelling With Djinns. He was followed yesterday afternoon by Deya home-owner Lynne Franks, the PR guru and the author of GROW; the Modern Women's Handbook and SEED; The Feminine Way to Create Business. A full house turned out to hear Franks, whose books are being used by the British government as manuals to help women in business. The day, and the event, was rounded off with a lively audience with the co-founder of the festival Simon Finch. The hugely sucessful book-dealer, who has opened the Zembla bookshop in Deya, discussed his life in books with the broadcaster Paul Blezard, thus bringing this new chapter in Deya's history to a close....until next year.