I've just got back from End of the Road, a very civilised festival on the Dorset/Wiltshire border. Even though it's a music festival, I was surprised to see how much literary activity there was.
End of the Road has its own bookshop, the fantastically named Beer Wolf Books, which sells both new and second hand books, including a lovely selection of vintage Penguins.
More uniquely, however, End of the Road has its own lending library in the woods, from which festival-goers are invited to borrow books on the promise of returning them at next year's festival.
The library also hosted a mini literary-festival, with three authors speaking to an audience who might not have expected to hear about books rather than bands.
Literary events at festivals aren't anything new, however, Latitude Festival in Suffolk has a dedicated literary stage, and even a poetry stage. These have hosted authors including Jonathan Coe, who I was lucky enough to see last year reading from most recent - and then unpublished - novel The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim.
What's great about having literary events at music festivals is that readers who might not go to a bookshop event or a traditional literary festival can meet authors and hear them read from their own books.
There always seems to be quite a bit of waiting at music festivals: the bands don't usually begin until after midday, and keeping a book handy is a fantastic way to pass the time.
If you'd like to get into the festival spirit without having to go four days without showering, have a listen to my bookish songs Spotify playlist - see if you can spot the literary references. Or you could pick up a copy of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, Simon Armitage's Gig or John Powell's How Music Works.
Share your favourite books about music, or indeed music about books in the comments.
Edited 6-10-10 12.17 - this post was originally written as part of a job application and contained links to a relevant website, I have edited the links to go to LibraryThing.
