Tomorrow marks the start of the Autumn Writers' Exhibition (AWE), a fortnight long event organised by a group called Written Word, centred around the fantastic Cookie sim (Click here to visit). Throughout the festival, which has been put together to spotlight writing in all it’s forms, by the many talented residents of SL, there will be events ranging from explosive fireworks displays opening and closing the event, magic shows, writers performances, music acts, lectures, plays, and even book launches (including one being released by some bloke called Voodoo Buwan, who’s launching a collection of his inworld interviews).

To try and find out more about how this whole thing came into being, I managed to corner the organisers, Jilly Kidd and Hastings Bournemouth, who have put together this non-profit organisation and literary festival, to find out the inspiration behind this mammoth undertaking, and get a little peek behind the scenes at the organisational level of this landmark event.

Voodoo: How did Written Word @ Cookie come about?
Jilly Kidd: Well, when Thinkerer Melville started organising Cookie, he wanted to create a parcel for writers. He asked me to organise it and I asked my good friend Hastings to join me as a partner. He did the build, all the tents, stages and dance floors, and i started getting the writing community together. That has been my dream since I came on to SL in January. i asked INKsters to join in too as they're the biggest writing group and I gave them free space where they've built a beach club for events and socialising. Thinkerer provides it for free and so do we.
Voodoo: So, very much a community spirited collaberation?
Jilly Kidd: Yes. We really work as a team on Cookie

Voodoo: The Autumn Writer's Exhibition is your first big event.... what sort of response have you had?
Jilly Kidd: The artist spaces filled in a few days. We were amazed
Hastings Bournemouth: There would have been more people, if we'd had the space. It was very popular... We've squeezed in a few more people where we can... but it ended up being a lot bigger than we'd originally planned
Voodoo: So, this really seems to be something people have been waiting for? Why do you think it took so long for someone to do this?
Jilly Kidd: One reason, I suppose, is that all of this takes so much time, so not many people would want to do it. I've just really loved it all
Hastings Bournemouth: It was an interesting challenge! And I liked the idea of getting a lot of writers together.
Jilly Kidd: When i came on to SL I looked for a writing community but it was all divided into separate writing groups. I loved this one - the Blue Angel open mic. I really wanted to get the writing community together on a larger scale and connect the groups

Voodoo: Which particular events at the festival are you personally most looking forward to?
Hastings Bournemouth: Me? Well the one I'm doing probably, which is the inaugural writers' circle! It’s happening on Wednesday I think, and is a place for people to gather and share their writing. We’re centring it on fiction but could be whatever people bring along.
Voodoo: And what are you looking forward to Jilly?
Jilly Kidd: i'm really looking forward to the Meet the Author show. The author is Wayne Hoffman talking about his novel Hard, which is about gay life in NY in the 1990s. I'm also really looking forward to the original singer songwriters. Thumper Boucher is fantastic and Djai Skjellerup.
Voodoo: Sounds like there's a wide variety of stuff to look forward to
Jilly Kidd: Most people are looking forward to the fireworks and we have fundraising for Amnesty International. There will be fundraising during the Media Alliance event as they introduced the Amnesty speaker on human rights, Jim Roberts, plus the magician Tuna Oddfellow will be donating all tips from his show to the cause. We will also keep supporting Amnesty International after the event

Voodoo: So... I guess the only other question is what's next for you guys?
Jilly Kidd: Well I want to take the exhibition to other places too and give writers more chance to share and display their work for free. Johnny Austin has said we can have an exhibition at the Joysco Convention Center, so people can see writing can be shared and performed in different ways. That will be called the Writers on Tour - WOT. On Cookie we have a few plans. I want to encourage hobbyists but also help others get to performance and publication stage. We have videos being made and contests monthly, L$5,000 for fiction in November and the same for a one act play in December, and the sim gives writers the chance to perform and film that writing. We'll have workshops for fiction and plays, the poetry reading on Mondays, Meet the Author show on Sundays, and I'm encouraging translation and writers in languages other than English. Plus just having fun and meeting up.
Hastings Bournemouth: When the exhibition is over, we'll be thinking of what to build too - the tents and huts are temporary, for the exhibition. We want to make it interesting and unusual, the sort of space that people will want to visit, and will encourage all these writers to keep coming back.

Voodoo: Well... best of luck with the exhibition, and all your future projects