Off the Shelf 2022 kicks off this Friday and is sure to be an unmissable experience for those interested in all things literary. See this previous article for more information about the festival and how to get involved.
The festival’s focus is on ‘books, words and ideas’, and indeed guest curator Akeem Balogun’s event – Words, Vision & Sound – puts all three of these at the forefront of its groundbreaking use of technology. The event is set to be a wholly immersive experience, as visitors will be surrounded by a series of creative stories projected on the walls around them, so that they can follow along to the texts as they are narrated aloud. It features work from writers Laura Bui, Selma Dabbagh and James Giddings, supported by the work of projectionist Zaron and musicians Commodo, DSL Official, Utah? and Rider Shafique. Words, Vision & Sound, will take place on Saturday 22nd October at Event Central in the city centre. You can book tickets to the 4pm showing via this link, and to the 6pm showing via this link. Watch this video to see Akeem talk a bit more about his event and general involvement with the festival.
I spoke to Akeem on 12th October to find out more about his experience with Off the Shelf, and his career as a writer.
You’ve been volunteering with Off the Shelf for 10 years now. Can you remember your first experience with the festival? How did you get involved?
I had just started writing, and I wanted to figure it out a bit more, so I went to Geoff Bridges, who used to be based in Sheffield Central Library, and he said that it might be worth volunteering for Off the Shelf. There were only a handful of volunteers, but it was good – we picked a few events and just zipped around supporting people. I kept on doing it every year because every time you volunteer you get a free ticket as well. It was a good opportunity to meet writers and hear about books.
How do the events this year compare to previous years? What are some of the events you’re most looking forward to?
My event is probably the most distinctive because it’s more like an art installation rather than someone just having a conversation about their book – that’s usually what most events across literature festivals are, but obviously with different writers, demographics and content. This year, there’s a workshop on novel writing that I’m looking forward to; I’m going to that because I know the author [David Annand]. There’s an event called Fake History that sounds interesting too, and An Emotional Dictionary as well.
How much planning goes into an event like this?
I’ve never done anything like it. It’s a lot of luck, really. It’s been mostly just people management, trying to get everyone together to produce a piece of work. The most difficult thing was creating a brief for the musicians and writers to follow, because the story had to be of a particular length, and the sound to work with it.
What was it like to experience a more managerial than creative role this year?
It’s definitely different, and not something I want to do all the time. You’re dealing with a lot of people, and it can get exhausting. But now that I’m seeing all of the work come together, it’s quite rewarding. I think that’s the best part about it, having a massive team of people come together to make something. It feels like managing a football team: the training part will always be a bit strenuous, but when you win the game – when you see the outcome – it’s rewarding.
How long ago did you come up with the idea for Words, Vision & Sound?
Around April. I was thinking, what can I do to put words at the forefront? You know how some music artists do lyric videos for their songs? That popped into my mind; something where the words are at the centre.
What was the inspiration for curating your event?
All the things that people usually turn writing into, like a film, comic or performance. I wanted to give words another kind of physical medium, but not one where you can’t see them. If you turn a book into a film, you’re watching a film. If you turn it into a video game or a composition or a performance, you’re not actually seeing the words, you’re just seeing an extension of them. I wanted to find a way where you elevate the actual text, but where the words are still the most important thing. That’s why I thought about lyric videos, and then I had the idea to have the words projected and circle round people.
Could you tell us a bit about your publishing company, Okapi Books?
It’s not just me! There’s a few people involved, and it’s the brainchild of Brett Hackett. He thought of it in 2011, when he and I were at Edge Hill University. He just had this idea to do some cool stuff with books, making them a lot neater than what you might find in Waterstones. When I finished my short story collection [The Storm], I went to a small publisher in London. They were only going to produce a certain number of copies, and I thought: ‘I could do this myself.’ So I messaged Brett, and he agreed that this would be a good opportunity to finally do this thing he’d been on about for years. Then I got in touch with some other people, and they made it happen.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes, for the most part. I started taking it seriously when I was 19, but I’ve always enjoyed reading and writing. At school, the teachers would always say ‘you’re going to get great grades, Akeem’, so I ended up thinking it was something I could do. That said, I actually wanted to do Speech and Language Therapy after English Language at college, but I didn’t get in. My brother does animation and 2D art, and I thought, what else could I do that was creative and not so academic: writing!
What’s your favourite thing about Sheffield as a city?
It’s green, you have to say that. But I feel like Sheffield is a distinctive place. It has its own character, and it’s not trying to be another city – I’ve always liked that about Sheffield. Outside of physical attributes, I would say the people. The people make the place, don’t they? People always complain that there’s not much happening in Sheffield, but if you look hard enough, there are always things going on. If you want to do something, a lot of people in the city will get behind you. Some of the coolest people I’ve met are from Sheffield.
Do you have any advice for young creatives looking to develop and/or showcase their work?
- Do what you enjoy. When I started writing fiction in school, it was the unsexiest, uncoolest thing we could possibly do. But I’ve stuck with it. No matter what it is, even if it’s a bit unorthodox, if you enjoy doing it, you should be confident and stick with it. It doesn’t matter what the activity is, there are enough people in the world who are similar to you, who will probably enjoy it. They just need to know that you’re there doing it.
- Try and take any kind of feedback on. Get your work out there, and take in every response you get, good or bad. But I know there’s quite a bit of pressure on artists to share work, and not everyone wants to do that. Some people might just want to see what they can do from a creative standpoint, and enjoy that. Don’t feel like you have to be the kind of person who is bold and always putting stuff out there. You might just want to make something, but if there’s an opportunity for you to share it with people, you might enjoy the fact that other people resonate with it.
- Don’t stop creating, even if you’re only doing it for a fraction of your time. No matter what, if there’s one sure thing in the world, it’s that if you keep doing something, you’re going to get better at it.
- Really think about your intention. What is it that you would like to get from your work? No matter what the outcome is, it’s always good to remember that success is relative. You should never measure the response to your work against someone else’s, because you’re not them and they’re not you.
- Try and find references. No matter what you’re doing, you’re probably going to make things that you’ve enjoyed yourself. When it comes to writing, people tend to write what they’ve grown up reading. If you look at people who are doing similar stuff to you, they’re often good points of reference, to see how they’ve done their work, how they’ve grown an audience and things like that.
Akeem can be found on Instagram @writtengallery, or his website https://www.writtengallery.com/.