Interview by Cara Nelissen
The Growing Room Festival is taking place from March 8-17, 2019. Below is an interview with Festival Director Chelene Knight about her vision for the festival, the work that goes into creating a space for writers to meet and the importance of community. Have a look at all the events and get your tickets here!
You’re the festival director for the Growing Room festival. What has been your guiding vision for the festival during the preparations? How did you go about curating the events?
We started out with our core being built around ethics, safety, and author care. We asked ourselves questions like “How do we create the safest place possible for folks to share their stories authentically?” and “How can we encourage deep discussion?” I think when you center your programming around these types of questions, you are really setting everyone up for success.
In terms of the actual nitty gritty of curating the events, it was a very long and in-depth process. The programming committee was incredibly dedicated and was down for some long hours, intense meetings, and serious discussion. We went through all the pitches from the publishers and we all put forth our own. We discussed pros, cons, and what types of events we could put together. There are also many logistical things to consider such as geographical location, budgets, book availability, venues, dates and timing—things like that. So it’s not as simple as hey, let’s put this person in the festival—there’s really a lot of sculpting that takes place.
How important is it for writers and readers to have a physical place to gather and connect? In what ways has being in community with other writers been important to your own work? In what ways has it been challenging?
Community is everything. Now whether that be an actual literary community or just a group of folks who offer safe, supportive space, having that connection and the ability to engage in whatever way, shape or form is instrumental in continuing to build and maintain relationships. Without community there is no support. Without support we burn out, we get tired, we stop doing the work we love. I’ve seen it happen to many of us. As it relates to my own work, community has taught me that I need to ask for help, and that there are people who are willing to lend a hand and take some of the pressure off. I have the perfect example of this. While working on the festival I still have to run the magazine—in addition to my own freelance work and other gigs—and so my workload doubled. One of Room’s superstars, Nav Nagra (and host of two Growing Room events this year) did one simple thing that just lifted so much of the weight off my shoulders. She asked: “Chelene, what do you need? What can I help you with?” It was that simple question that just proved to me how much community is a necessity and how much folks just want to see this work we are doing thrive. I love her for that. It’s so simple but it changed so much for me.
Growing Room is doing a lot in terms of trying to creating safer spaces for marginalized writers. What kind of things can be done to make large events safer for participants and attendees? What do you think are the biggest barriers to safety and inclusion, particularly in the writing community?
One of the scariest things for me as writer is being on a panel and having someone ask me (or simply comment) something that is really inappropriate, hateful, racist, etc. and not knowing how to react and not having someone intervene. This has happened to me on stage at various events and festivals, so when I read Alicia Elliott’s essay on this very topic, it made me realize how necessary it is to talk freely about the effects of this toxicity and that it is okay to not have the answers. It’s okay to sit down and brainstorm ideas around how to alleviate this stress and it’s okay if we can’t “fix” everything. But it’s that sitting down and talking about the damage this can do and look at prevention. Let’s look at proactive vs reactive. Let’s talk about ways to turn the conversation back to where it needs to if it’s derailed by toxicity. These are all baby steps we are willing to take.
What is it like to balance the work you’re doing with Growing Room with your own creative work as a writer? How do you balance them? What are the ways, if any, in which they inspire/energize each other?
I am not going to lie. I have pretty much put my writing on hold or not given the right amount of attention to my own creative work while curating the festival. But that being said, without the incredible energy that this festival is cultivating, who knows where my head would be. I meet the most amazing people and really, all of this work is connected. I have plans for some future rejuvenation though, I tell you that much! But I am also slowly starting to recognize that burn out is real and that I do not have to wear all the hats all the time. Some hats are going to be hung up for a while, but that doesn’t mean I can’t put them back on when I want to.
What is the first thing you’ll do when the festival is over?
I know you are expecting me to say “start working on Growing Room 2020” but nope! The real answer is treat myself to a full body massage! And pat my amazing team on the back. This is not easy work. None of us are full-time paid employees. We do this work because we see what creating and maintaining this type of space can do for others. That’s worth it to me.
What is something that makes you excited or gives you hope right now?
All the black writers uplifting each other and supporting each other. I wrote about this recently on Open Book. It’s like a breath of fresh air. I hope to continue this beyond the confines of the twenty-eight days of February. We are doing good work! Let’s talk about it.