SXSW, London, Australia and the US

The annual SXSW festival has been taking place in Austin since 1987. This bustling cosmopolitan city has been a party town way since the days of the Civil War when General Custer’s troops used to frequent the local bars and nightclubs. Nowadays SXSW caters to those with an interest in film, interactive media as well as music; and the town becomes transformed each March as thousands flock to this event.

London’s Word Festival. Taking place over 3 weeks at various venues in and around this trendy part of town the festival describes itself thus: ‘From Blogs to boggle; from poetic lyricism to lyric poetry; from diaspora to the double-dactyl; from politics to play-texts; from publishing house to pop culture and the plain cult. This is the London Word Festival – putting words centre–stage’ – and I couldn’t have put it better myself ! You can catch the godfather of hip hop poetry Saul Williams at Cargo hosted by Polar Bear, cult indie musician Edward Larrikin premieres his one act play Camusflage Krokodial at Hoxton Hall along with an acoustic set from his new project The Pan I am; and US author Joshua Ferris reads from his novel ‘Then We Came To the End’ at Bardens Boudoir in Stoke Newington.

WOMAdelaide is held. Womad stands for World of Music Arts and Dance and was inspired by Peter Gabriel way back in the eighties. Womad events take place all over the world throughout the year, celebrating cultural and musical diversity.

Langerado in the South Florida Everglades. Founded by music promoters Mark Brown and Ethan Schwartz as a way to bring jam based live music to this neck of the woods, it has evolved into an event of many musical styles. This year Langerado has a new venue - the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation just 30 minutes west of Ft Lauderdale. Artists on the bill include Thievery Corporation, Ani DiFranco, Arrested Development and Ozomatli. Full details at the Langerado website.