Author Holly Bourne signing copies of her book Pic: Joely Ketterer

The seventh WriteIdea reading festival brought literature to the people of Whitechapel this weekend offering free talks and workshops by literary London figures.

The event aims to bring culture and education to as wide an audience as possible, by offering all events for free.

Sergio Dogliani, deputy head of Idea Store which runs the event, said the priority was “getting people involved and keeping it an accessible event”.

Another philosophy of WriteIdea is connecting well-known names with upcoming writers to bring together their unique backgrounds and perspectives.

On the opening night, two performance poetry champions delivered thought-provoking performances while Iain Sinclair spoke about his recent project, London Overground, a story about a day’s tramp along the Ginger line.

This year’s focus is East End heritage, a concept inspired by Idea Store’s local history events.

“Bringing authors in this area who come and share their stories is very much part of this renaissance of East London in the last ten years”, Dogliani said. “It’s becoming more of a place where people come for events and culture – it’s not just Central and West London anymore. We are part of this movement.”

Speakers included Holly Bourne, Viv Albertine, the pair behind Nicci French, Rosie Willby, David Rosenberg, Jon Day and Kate Thompson.

The WriteIdea Festival is taking place at the Idea bookshop in Whitechapel from November 13-15. All events are free with Sunday’s talks and workshops starting at 2pm.

More information can be found on the WriteIdeas website.

By Joely Ketterer

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The picture is by me and shows the author Holly Bourne signing copies of her book for fans.