Author/Editor Maria Anna Furman

There are events that, from the very first moment, reveal themselves in the way people enter the space and in the energy of the conversations. In the looks of those who did not come there merely to buy a book, but to find inspiration, encounter, presence, perhaps even confirmation that words still matter.

That was exactly the case during Liverpool Book Festival at Boxpark Liverpool, where I had the pleasure of speaking with the organiser, Justin Hopper, owner of La Vida Liverpool Magazine, a man of the media, marketing and PR, but above all someone who understands perfectly well that behind every valuable project there must stand a genuine idea.

Liverpool Book Festival turned out to be a living, open space, consciously designed to bring people together around literature, conversation and the experience of community. There was scale to it, but no artificiality. There was size, many people, many stimuli, many programme points, and yet at the centre of it all remained the human being.

Justin Hopper spoke about it with an enthusiasm that inspires trust. As someone who has worked in the media for years, supporting people, companies, charities and events, he very clearly noticed a certain problem in the contemporary publishing market. Today, authors, even valuable ones, often disappear in the shadow of giant sales platforms and digital mechanisms of visibility. In a world dominated by Amazon and other large online systems, reaching the audience becomes, for many creators, a difficult task, and at times even an unequal struggle to be noticed.

It was precisely from this observation that the idea of Liverpool Book Festival was born. Not as a marketing response, but as a human response. Justin created a place where the author can meet the reader without intermediaries. A place where the book once again becomes the beginning of a conversation, and not merely a product in an online catalogue.

There is something very important and, at the same time, very contemporary about this concept. Paradoxically, in an era of unlimited access to content, we increasingly long for real experience. For presence. At a glance. For a conversation that does not take place through a screen. Liverpool Book Festival responds to this need with exceptional precision. This is not just an event for book lovers. It is a place where literature regains its social dimension.

What is more, the whole week was also connected with the celebrations of World Book Week. This combination of two contexts, the celebration of books and International Women’s Day, gave Liverpool Book Festival additional symbolism. Literature was shown here not as a closed world of aesthetics but as a tool for dialogue, for getting to know others, and for building relationships.

Justin Hopper spoke directly about this: books and the media are powerful tools. When we read authors from different environments, cultures, and experiences, we learn about a world we ourselves may not know. And when we learn otherness, we strengthen community. It is one of those thoughts worth holding on to for longer. Today, when divisions so often dominate conversation, the book remains one of the last quiet, yet effective bridges between people.

In the conversation with Justin, there was also a clear sense of satisfaction with the project's development. I asked whether he was happy because of it. That short question opened a whole new dimension of the conversation. Justin admitted that behind the scenes of the event lie an enormous amount of work, stress, rushing, tension, and constant thinking about whether everything will go according to plan. This kind of honesty gives credibility to the statement. Because every well-organised event has its invisible cost: hours of preparation, uncertainty, logistics, responsibility and inner tension that the audience often does not even notice. All the more pleasing, then, when amidst all of this the organiser is able to look at the result with a sense of fulfilment.

The conversation with Justin Hopper left me with the conviction that true projects are recognised by the intention behind them. Here, that intention was clear: to create a space in which the author meets the reader, diversity becomes strength, and culture does not separate people from one another, but instead leads them towards one another.

Author/Editor Maria Anna Furman

Liverpool Book Festival is a literary event in Liverpool linked to La Vida Liverpool and organiser Justin Hopper. The official announcement for the second edition placed the festival at BOXPARK Liverpool. The programme featured more than 60 authors, talks, stalls and additional attractions. Its central idea was to reconnect writers and readers through direct, real-world interaction.

Liverpool Book Festival shows that literature is not losing relevance but changing the way it exists in public life. In a world where visibility is often controlled by platforms, ads and algorithms, events built around real encounters become more valuable. The author stops being just a name on a cover, and the reader stops being an anonymous click. Festivals like this restore the original strength of books: they become the starting point for conversation, connection and shared cultural experience.