My festival romance - by thomas brooman cbe co-founder of womad

Thomas Brooman was one of the organisers of the first Womad festival, held at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, in 1982. That first event was an artistic triumph but a financial disaster. Womad survived, just, and Brooman went on to organise more than 150 Womad festivals around the world. His career with Womad came to an end in 2008, just weeks before the announcement that he was to be awarded a CBE by the Queen in her Birthday Honours List for services to music and charity. In his autobiography My Festival Romance, Brooman explores the musical influences of his childhood in Bristol and Buenos Aires; he describes how Womad developed out of the Bristol punk scene of the late Seventies; recalls his time organising festivals and travelling the world with some of the biggest names in music; and reflects upon life after Womad. The book includes black and white and colour photography. "My Festival Romance is the story of a life lived for the love of music. A truly wonderful read." Miles Hunt, The Wonder Stuff