The Byline Festival is a festival whose aim is to promote independent journalism and free speech. The festival was founded by Stephen Colegrave and

Peter Jukes Peter Jukes (born 13 October 1960) is an English author, screenwriter, playwright, literary critic and journalist. He is the co-founder and executive editor of ''Byline Times''. Early life Jukes was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, and atte ...

in 2017. Its tagline is "Dance, Discuss, Laugh and Change the World". The festival is hosted by John Mitchinson, and Raphael Moran is the Festival film and photography producer and director.

Salena Godden Salena Godden is an English poet, author, activist, broadcaster, memoirist and essayist. Born in the UK, Salena Godden is of Jamaican-Irish heritage and based in London. Widely anthologised, she has published several books. She has also writt ...

is the festival's "

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

" and

Hardeep Singh Kohli Hardeep Singh Kohli (born 21 January 1969) is a Scottish presenter of Sikh heritage who has appeared on various radio and television programmes. Background Kohli was born in London and moved to Glasgow, Scotland, when he was four. His parents ...

its "comedy ringleader".

History

The first festival was held at Pippingford Park near

Nutley, East Sussex Nutley is a village in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It lies about north-west of Uckfield, the main road being the A22. Nutley, Fairwarp and Maresfield together form the Maresfield civil parish. The village is on the southe ...

, U.K. on 2–4 June 2017. More than 2,500 people were in attendance, including

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...

Jay Rosen Jay Rosen (born May 5, 1956) is a writer, and a professor of journalism at New York University. Rosen is a contributor to ''De Correspondent'' and a member of the George Foster Peabody Awards board of directors. Biography Rosen has been on ...

and

Martin Bell Martin Bell, (born 31 August 1938) is a British UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Ambassador, a former broadcast war reporter and former independent politician who became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton from 1997 to 2001. He is sometimes known as " ...

. The 2018 Byline Festival was partnered by the

Frontline Club The Frontline Club is a media club and registered charity located near Paddington Station in London. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effective platform from which to support dive ...

and took place 24–27 August 2018 at Pippingford Park. Those present included Happy Graveyard Orchestra, Alexei Sayle, John Cleese,

June Sarpong June Konadu Sarpong (born 31 May 1977) is a British television presenter and executive. She was a panellist on ITV's ''Loose Women'' and is currently a panellist on the Sky News programme '' The Pledge''. In November 2019, Sarpong was appointed ...

Bonnie Greer Bonnie Greer, OBE FRSL (born 16 November 1948) is an American-British playwright, novelist, critic and broadcaster, who has lived in the UK since 1986. She has appeared as a panellist on television programmes such as ''Newsnight Review'' and ''Qu ...

, Tom Watson MP,

Baroness Warsi Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, (; born 28 March 1971) is a British lawyer, politician, and member of the House of Lords who served as co-Chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012. She served in the Cameron–Clegg coaliti ...

Lord Adebowale Victor Olufemi Adebowale, Baron Adebowale, (; born 21 July 1962) is the former Chief Executive of the social care enterprise Turning Point, current Chair of the NHS Confederation and was one of the first individuals to become a People's Pee ...

, Damian Collins MP, Kate Mosse, A L Kennedy, Gary Lineker, Joanna Scanlan, Nick Davis, Salena Godden, Madeleina Kay. Other events included circus, theatre, drama, poetry and music, as well as children's activities. Musical acts at the 2018 festival included Pussy Riot, Joey Base, Badly Drawn Boy, The Blow Monkeys, The Vapors, Tom Hingley from Inspiral Carpets, Rhoda Dakar, the Courtesans, Dramarama, Hows Harry, The Members, Sunstreets, Excursia and the Priscillas. The theatre section was headlined by FoolishPeople. The

Cambridge Analytica Cambridge Analytica Ltd (CA), previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the private intelli ...

whistleblowers

Chris Wylie Christopher Wylie (born 19 June 1989) is a Canadian data consultant who released a cache of documents to ''The Guardian'' he obtained while he worked at Cambridge Analytica, prompting the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which triggere ...

, Shahmir Sanni and John Ford were present, along with Carole Cadawalladr. The festival takes Place at Pippingford Park in the

Ashdown Forest Ashdown Forest is an ancient area of open heathland occupying the highest sandy ridge-top of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is situated some south of London in the county of East Sussex, England. Rising to an elevation of ...

. In 2018 it had five main stages that were tents in the forest. These hosted 150 talk sessions and over 100 workshops. In the evening, tents provided entertainment including immersive theatre, rap battles and live art demonstrations. The festival fringe included Idler, BBC Virtual Reality, The Fourth Group, Overtake and Frontline Club. The 2022 festival was relocated to Acklam Village in Notting Hill. On May 2nd 2022, the festival came under fire after a video was posted by a band named Tokyo Taboo in which the band's set was interrupted by the festival promoter and confiscated the drummer's drumsticks to stop them playing, the festival organisers and venue owner have since apologised to Tokyo Taboo citing noise complaints from neighbours as the reason for the set being cut short.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byline Festival Festivals in East Sussex 2017 in England Citizen journalism June 2017 events in the United Kingdom Danehill, East Sussex