An European network of literary festivals bringing new learning opportunities to isolated communities

Making life-long learning a reality

The LitFest Project is an Erasmus + initiative thant brings “learning to the door” to communities that would otherwise not be able to, or inclined to participate in lifelong learning.

We believe in the  power of authentic literature to excite and motivate learning.

If we are to meet the challenges of the 21st Century we must harness the talent and creativity of our citizens

The European LitFest brings together partners from France, Italy, Spain, and the UK  transferring innovation and good practices to promote creative writing, poetry and the use of language as a tool for improving basic skills and promoting learning communities.


Throughout 4 literary festivals local participants will welcome authors, poets and publishers into the heart of their communities. 

Within each programme, partners will organise a Community Learning Workshop event based on literacy  and literature. With the support of  published authors, participants will be  able to leverage the art of creative literature, both poetry and prose, as a tool for  self-expression, community dialogue and well-being.

meet the parners

(2015 – 2016)

Catching Lives (Canterbury, UK)
Catching Lives is an independent charity aimed at supporting the rough sleepers, homeless and vulnerably housed in Canterbury and East Kent; those who have, for many reasons, fallen through the gaps in society and feel they have nowhere else to turn.
Website
A cultural foundation born in Salerno (Italy) in 2011 on the poet's heirs initiative, working to promote culture and liberty.
Website
Cultural association set in the beautiful village of St Clementin, deep in the Frech region of Poitou Charantes with an European approach and wide experience in the Erasmus+ programme.
On Facebook
A non-for-profit literary foundation named after the Galician poet Uxío Novoneyra, commited with the development of its rural territory, the UNESCO Global Geopark of Courel Mountains. Culture and enviroment conservation initiatives.
Website

Between 2017 and 2019 the Litfest Network was extended through a second Erasmus + project —the European Community for Inclusive Culture (ECIC)— where we met and included new members.

Cork (Ireland)
Ó Bhéal is Cork’s weekly poetry event, featuring over 50 poetry evenings per year, plus the Winter Warmer weekend poetry festival every November. Each Monday evening event has four parts: Poetry-Film Screenings, Writing Challenge, Guest poet(s) and Open-Mic
Website
A cultural association set actively fostering accesc to culture in the italian city of Salerno since 2001. The association runs since 2013 the litfest "Salerno Letteratura".
Website

Project Outcomes

Below you can find some of the texts produced in our first 2-years project activities: Poetry, narrative, drawing & paintings…

 Take a moment to discover how literature can change the life of communities.

Eidosfest Plaquette

August 2015
Multilingual plaquette with texts froms the participants in the first festival organized by Fundación Uxío Novoneyra.

Salerno Litfest
"100TPC"

July 2015
The notebook for this 5-days event that included authors meetings and gathering, poetry readings, music, theatre and more!

Eidosfest
"The Awe"

August 2015
An approach to the poetry of Uxío Novoneyra through theatre and music. English version launched within the Litfest Project.

St Clementin Litfest

June 2016
“Joséphine, La bulle de savon” Collective writing compositions inspired by imagination and dreams in our first Litfest workshop.

Catching Lives
Walk in Our Shoes

October 2016
A guided walking tour exploring Canterbury, researched and written by Catching Lives clients, a charity for homeless and rough sleepers.

St Clementin Litfest

June 2016
“A Village Memoire” A memory writing workshop to produce an snapshot of village life during WW2 upon they memory of local families

Catching Lives
Anthology Book

October 2016
" Voices from the Pavement" is an anthology collecting an amazing array of poetry, prose, photography and inspiring pieces of art work .

Working With Words

Catching Lives

Litfest is not only about single events but also a day-a-day continuous work encougaring self-esteem through literacy. Throughout the project, Catching Lives developed creative opportunities at their Canterbury Open Centre to encourage clients to work alongside visual, verbal and performance artists in practical workshops, inspiring individual and group work that enabled participants to express their thoughts, feelings and emotions through art work, photography, animation, film, poetry, drama and short story writing.

Aside from the two collaborative texts produced within the Litfest and the mobility activities  the final highlight was the publishing of the writing of their book “Harbledown Hope”, a journey through homeleness in the footsteps of an urban fox.

Eidosfest, an idea brought to life

Fundación Uxío Novoneyra

The Festival dos Eidos (Eidosfest) is a 3-days event on poetry reading, music and mixed arts taking place every August in the Courel Mountains,where the headquarters of the Fundación Uxío Novoneyra and its writer’s home and museum is located. The first festival took place in 2015 and was possible thanks to the funding, knowledge and support provided by the Eramus + Litfest project.

At the beggining a humble although ambitious initiative to provide our rural community with inspiring cultural activities, Eidofest has kept growing over the years and today is a relevant event in Galicia’s festivals calendar. Granted with the EFFE label for European Festivals, Eidofest received the Audience award in CULTURGAL 2019 and won the Best Non-Music Festival prize in the Iberian Festivals Awards in 2020. It is  the Foundation’s flahship cultural event.   

Litfest Project has been made possible trough an Erasmus + grant, the European Union programme supporting organisations from different participating countries to work together, develop, share and transfer best practices and innovative approaches in the fields of education, training and youth.

Both Litfest and ECIC were developed thourgh a Key Action 2: “Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices” as a capacity-building project in the field of higher education, aiming to raise literacy standards alongside civil participation & empowerment, and to promote people-to-people contacts.

This website has been co-funded by Erasmus + Programme of the European Union

Language is at the heart of human life