I love hearing the about the creative process and little insights from authors. I love hearing about books I have already read, and discovering new titles to read. I love running into so many friends and acquaintances at the festival, it brings out the best people.
So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when the wonderful Rosemarie Milsom announced there would be sessions online over the weekend. A lovely selection of things I had wanted to see and others I wouldn't have seen due to so many simultaneous sections.
A tremendous effort to bring the festival to the comfort of our homes and it should be applauded.
I don't mind saying I wept with joy.
Please consider making a donation to NWF, as we've been very blessed to have this weekend given to us free of charge! It takes a lot to keep such huge festivals going, and it will all assist to pave and pay the way for next year!
https://www.newcastlewritersfestival.org.au/donate/
And you can go and watch any of these yourself.
I started in my study/library - my happy place - watching on my laptop which allowed me to type my thoughts as I went and tidy them in between session!
The sessions were back-to-back but with wriggle room (ok, loo stops and food stops) in between. And plus excuse my photos, but I like to pop a pic with each session!
So here is Day 1:
Surviving a Toxic Family with David Owen Kelly in conversation with Ed Wright
I was fortunate enough to go to David's book launch last year and purchase a copy of his memoir about looking back to his past, his childhood, and in particular finding his adopted brothers who were Aboriginal.
David was one of a large family of adopted, fostered and step siblings. Their home life wasn't great, but they had each other. When their Mother wed her second husband, things got worse. His 2 Aboriginal brothers left as soon as they could and disappeared without a trace. He always thought about them, and later in life started looking for them.
I bought a copy of his book at the launch and popped it on my very large to read pile and have yet to read it, it will make its way higher for sure!
All At Sea - Lucy Treloar in conversation with Susan Wyndham
Wolfe Island is historical fiction set in the near future on the island, Wolfe Island, off the coast of the North East Coast in the US. Climate change is changing the world and Kitty, a writer and artist, is isolated on the island until she has to move on. Sounds fascinating and quite timely given the state of the world right now.
Lucy spoke about visiting the island and thinking it a great location for a sort of dystopia near future, the action leaves the island after a while as circumstances mean they have to. She now has her grand-daughter (she is estranged from her daughter) and her friends in tow.
Lucy, obviously, had no idea how close to reality her book would get. It is another I will add to my pile!
How Our Bodies Shape Us with Gabrielle Jackson and Lee Kofman in conversation with Caroline Baum
Gabrielle Jackson wrote the book Pain and Prejudice: a call to arms for women and their bodies. She talked about chronic pain and how it is not taken seriously. She especially focused on period pain.
Lee Kofman wrote Imperfect: how our bodies shape the people we become. It was based on operations she had when she was younger after being born with heart issues and then had a bus accident and being 70s Russia, she was left with a lot of scars.
They both talk about the conflicting thoughts about images and appearances of women. We are meant to look as the media pushes out, but yet we are not meant to be vain. It is an ambiguous area and there is so much that impacts on it.
Gabrielle talks about pain between women and men, they suffer it differently and yet, most of the drug testing it done on men! Unreal, and so very disappointing.
Lee says self acceptance is a constant work in progress. When things are ok, we are happier with our selves, but stress can make us more negative.
Both books sound fascinating, I will add them to my to read list.
Men, Women and the Whole Damn Thing with David Lesser in conversation with Rosemarie Milsom
David is a well-known long form journalist. Men, Women and the Whole Damn Thing is his second book. It came from a conversation with his daughter when she found out he was going to write a feature on the Me Too movement. She didn't want him to as she didn't think he fully understood the situation. So they had in depth and confronting conversations about it.
He realised he had to have a rigorous self interrogation before he could really write about this. And really research the great feminists. He looked at his wife and marriage and realised there was inequality in their marriage in terms labour.
The feature was well received, more than any other feature. And from there he continued to research to write the book. He also goes back and looks at the seeds of misogyny. Which goes back to BC. And of course looks at modern history and masculinity and the broken men out there.
Rosemarie asked what does it mean to be a good man? His answer was what does it mean to be a good person? Generosity, kindness, resolve and ambition where it is required without being at the expense of others. Be strong and tender, also vulnerable. View women with respect, and raise your sons with respect.
Fascinating and honest, I really really want to read his book.
Smells Like Teen Spirit With Sarah Macdonald and Cathy Wilcox in conversation with Meredith Jaffe.
Fascinating conversation about teenagers from Sarah and Cathy and Meredith based on their book, Smells Like Teen Spirit. They talked about how wonderful teenagers can be, and how challenging they can be. Also the whole new era of online and fluid sexuality. Which can be great and bad. Whilst I don't have teens, I found it interesting.
The Weekend with Charlotte Wood in conversation with Ailsa Piper.
The Weekend is Charlotte's 7th book and is about 3 friends who come together to grieve a 4th friend who has recently passed. There is also an ageing dog in the book and Charlotte spoke about the background into adding this 'character', and how it helped with plot in the story.
Secrets and Lies with Susan Francis and Stephanie Wood in conversation with Suzanne Leal
Suzanne started the conversation talking to the authors about how they were going workwise and creatively during this time. Stephanie is at the beginning of a new book and has plenty of ideas but is unsure what will be worthy of publication and meaningful at the end of this time. It is an interesting thought. Susan is well into her next book and is soldiering ahead.
Stephanie's book, Fake, which I have read, is about a man she met online who ended up being a complete fake and was having a relationship with another woman simultaneously. The book came from an article she had written about the experience that I read with horror around the same time I started online dating. It helped me be less naive in my endeavours. The book fleshes the story out and goes into the psychological aspect of people who do that and those that get caught in their wake.
I didn't know much about Susan's memoir, The Love that Remains. I knew it had been well received. It is about meeting her true love later in life after a period where she had been searching for her parents, she had been adopted. She found happiness in this man and they married and decided to pack up and live in Spain for a year after her husband said we should live before we die. But unfortunately he died while they were overseas. How absolutely heartbreaking. And then she drops in a spoiler of an additional turn, which I will not add here.
It was intense, but I just cannot wait to get my hands on the book so I can read it!!
Surf by Day Jam by Night with Ash Grunwald in conversation with Nick Milligan.
Ash has written a book about how surfing and music go hand in hand. He interviews various musicians and surfers who do both and describes why they do work together. He talked about a whole range of ideas and things related to staying fit and happy, being in the moment, and how music feeds the surf and vice versa.
You can read about Day 2 here.
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1 comment:
Great bblog
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