NEWCASTLE WRITERS FESTIVAL

This is long, I was going to split it into a few posts, but figure if you are interested you are going to read through to the end, if you aren't it won't matter how many posts there are! There are some photos and I did get to meet Richard Fidler and drive him back to his hotel if that sort of thing interests you!!

(I believe they call that a teaser to get you reading...)

 

Newcastle Writers Festival

I was thrilled to attend the inaugural Newcastle Writers Festival on the first weekend in April.

What a wonderful weekend, filled with intelligent conversation, laughter, tears, joy and learning.

But above all, a celebration of books and the remarkable people who put words to paper...writers!

I love reading and books and of course writers, there is probably a thousand blogs I could (and should) write on the topic! That love of books is why from a very young age I wanted to work in libraries and have done so for almost 25 years. So not only was this festival a personal weekend of exploring a world that is MY world, it was a fact finding mission as a Librarian to retrieve as much new information for my team and for my customers. And fact finding is what Librarians do best!!

 

Friday Night Opening Night - Why Words Matter with Miriam Margolyes at The Conservatorium
I love Miriam Margolyes, I love her enthusiasm, her wit, her outstanding command of the English language and most of all, I love her naughtiness and her total disregard of what others may think of her!! I really grew to love her when I saw her perform her one woman show, Dickens' Women, at the Civic a few years back. A newcomer to Dickens, I was in awe of her capacity to draw people into his world, and her love of him and his very flawed characters knew no bounds.

As M & S & I sat in our seats at The Con looking down we had no idea what a ride we were in for. The fabulous Richard Fidler (more on him later) was our MC for the night. We had various people, including the amazing Rosemarie Milsom, the brains trust/engine of thrust behind the festival giving speeches about the preparation and organisation of the weekend ahead. And then Richard gave us a spectacular introduction for Miriam: of all the things...she wasn't! And she appeared, overwhelmed by our gratitude and admitting to a little stage fright. Miriam is used to acting, performing words from others. This was her talking about Why Words Matter, her own words in fact, and she had never done anything like this before. You would never have known.

So she cheekily introduced a lovely young pianist and asked us all to join her in singing Daisy, in the hope of relaxing us all and leveling the playing field so to speak. It was a perfect way to begin and so she embarked on a whirlwind hour or so of stories from her life, both sad and funny, covering topics from royalty, politics, her mother's stroke, her love of language, acting, and a huge selection of her favourite pieces of writing.

 

The pieces included Dickens (Bleak House and Great Expectations), John Donne, Shakespeare, Walter de la Mare, Les Murray and much much more.

She told Rosemarie that is was worth being bold, and gave her the nickname of "Engine of thrust"

She also said that "arts hold the soul of a nation" and it was "criminal to reduce their budgets"

"Voices and words are what truly connects us as human beings"

"Clearly words matter dreadfully. They express anger, joy, and passion"

"Vowels carry emotion and consonants carry the sense, do not mumble"

"words are the currency of thought, the connection"

I cannot do her piece any justice, and luckily here is audio from the night, so take the time to enjoy it yourself.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1422875/audio-hear-miriam-margolyes-speech-at-the-newcastle-writers-festival/?cs=2372

The night was inspirational, poignant and so very entertaining, which is what a good book should always be. It was the perfect start to what was going to be one of the most perfect weekends I have ever had.

Saturday

S & I, still alive and buzzing from Miriam the previous evening, made our way into the Lock Up, part of Newcastle's cultural hub in the east end of town. This would be the HQ for us and most of the festival today. There was a buzz inside that can only be explained if you have been to a festival such as this. Anticipation, excitement and intellect buzzing about, and that feeling of complete contentment when you are surrounded by 'your people'.

Our first session was called Crossing Over: Why Young Adult Fiction isn't just for teens. The panel of Margo Lanagan, Alexa Moses, and Felicity Pulman was hosted by Kaz Delaney.

 

The group felt there was a shift in publishing for adults/teens and this was evident in the popularity of these titles. Kaz said she gets more feedback from adults than teens. She also said people tend to prefer to read up (read titles that are for older ages) but this trend is seeing adults reading down or reading back, that is, adults reading about teens.

Margo Lanagan is a fantasy writer, popular titles being Black Juice and Tender Morsels. Her new title, Sea Hearts, is a sea/fantasy/romance including mermaids and other such creatures. She writes for 15 years and above, and offered author, Tobin Anderson, as one of her favourites. He has written the Octavian Nothing series of books, set in 18th century Boston and featuring an African American slave. There is ample sex and swearing with brisk plots, as Margo says, "what's not to love" ?

Alexa Moses is a first time author, her book, Slave girl, was inspired by a visit to the Roman Forum. She did not intend to write for a teen audience, but her subject matter didn't really fit into a genre in terms of adult writing. Her pace was more direct and the book was marketed at teens, though a lot of adults read it too, and it worked.

Felicity Pullman writes a lot of historical and crime titles for teen. She mentioned the Dolly Fiction titles and said they were similar for that age group as Mills and Boon were for adults.

Kaz Delaney is a Lake Macquarie author of the Dead Actually series. She believes you need to know your character, know their world and keep it real when you are writing for teen/crossover audiences. Also to be careful of language, as using modern terms can date your books. The right tone is more important than words in this case.

Whilst all spoke well and their books sounded great, it was Alexa Moses and Margo Lanagan that stood out to me, and I have sought out their titles.

We moved quickly into the next session, Me, myself and I: writing memoir with Michael Sala, Marion Halligan and Pip Newling. This session was hosted by Karen Crofts from Newcastle Writers Centre.

One of the first questions given to the panel to discuss was how far do you go with personal details and honesty. Marion Halligan writes both memoir and fiction, she said if you can't be honest or personal then don't. Leave it until you can, it's easier to write about someone when they're dead. In her book, Taste of Memory, she thinks it is how things happened, yet her sister disagrees. Her fiction is based on reality yet her memoir tells it straighter.

Michael Sala, has just written his first memoir, The Last Thread, and says everyone he wrote about is still alive but he pretended they were dead! He said he was never sure about truth, how he remembered, what he had written and how it was arranged. He did feel the facts were correct. His brother thought his version of events was true and he was the person Sala was most concerned about. Although he was never entirely at peace with Sala's honesty.

Pip Newling's first memoir was Knockabout Girl. She said memoir writing was about being fair and looking at perspective. She is currently writing a memoir of Taree and spoke of the direct voice on the page.

Marion spoke about writing as therapy. She said it was all very well but you don't expect it to be published. She wrote a fictional book based on her husband's death. It was a funny process, a grieving process. She said the voice is my voice, the character's voice is my voice, but some of the things she does I didn't do.

Michael said the therapeutic side was something you're working out and how you approach it. He started writing about his childhood in his 20s but couldn't work it out. But once he found his voice, it made sense and he went back to that place. He saw a series of images with symbolic power when looking back at his childhood.

Pip said she has verbally told her stories over many years so had honed it. She knew what was funny, people who knew the stories said reading the book was like she was telling the stories to them. Also important to respect the reader, people want to trust the story and spend time with you.

The most important thing was that no one writes like you, which is true!

I then took a little break to have some lunch and met back up with M & S at the Newcastle City Business Centre for Why We Read: Ramona Koval in conversation (hosted by Magdelena Ball). Ramona read passages from her book, By the Book, a Reader's Guide to Life, and told the stories around them. She started with the section on how she asked her mother to buy her a book when she was very young, her mother did, it was the Kama Sutra. Ramona had no idea what it was really about until she read it, she had just heard it was a good book. This was hilarious.

 

She said, for her, normal life was mysterious but she looked for clues in books. She wondered why we choose certain books over others, and this is why she wrote her book/memoir. She also felt that you can do an archaeological search of yourself if you look at the books that surround you. And that if a book doesn't sing to you straight away you should give it away. I'm a believer of that, you can always come back to it later if you still think you 'should' read it.

Ramona also felt that going back into books you have read previously was like a time machine, they take you forward, back and to places we've never been. She also said she learnt from people's tragedies and experiences.

"Reading keeps us alive" Amen!!

She went into her background as a microbiologist and geneticist and she had also studied anthropology. She uses the truth of these scientific subjects in her journalism and writing. How does she know if 'this' is the truth? Is there evidence, what is the source? You can use what you have read as a map to point your forward.

"Reading is the key to writing"

We then dashed home exhilarated and ready for our evening at the festival.

Saturday Night 

Our 'twitter posse' and 'Anita Heiss fanclub' met at The Towers for What Women Want: a discussion about desire with Lexxie Couper, Anita Heiss and Marion Halligan, and hosted by Ruby Hamad. Marion, I had heard earlier in the day, a thoughtful intellect who writes about life and love from an older perspective. Lexxie was writing erotic fiction long before that awful 50 shades of bogan came along. And Anita, a smart, sassy talent who is the foremost chick lit writer in Australian AND writes and edits Aboriginal literature, including her own magnificent, Am I Black Enough for you. It was a fun filled hour or so of intelligent women discussing what we want.

 

And guess what? We want different things, there is no universal answer....deep down, I suppose we knew that all along. But it was entertaining to hear them talk about their own desires or desires they have written about and from three very different perspectives.

The evening was slightly marred by a totally inappropriate question by an elderly male. When I say question, I mean rambling, incoherent jumble of words and when I say inappropriate I mean sexist, rascist, in fact pretty much all the ists!

Anita 'shut it down' with class and intelligence, something the questioner will never have, and our posse swept her out of the building and onto her (and our) next gig!

 

The next gig was the old Crown and Anchor Hotel, quite beautifully done up and now called the Theatre Lane Hotel. It was called 15 minutes: sin, and was hosted by Richard Fidler. Each speaker had 15 minutes to talk about sin, and was followed by a Q and A  with Richard.

 

 

Whilst it was an interesting evening, with fascinating speakers I found the subject matter too heavy for what I was expecting. John Turnball got things off to a rollicking start with his retelling of a section of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The next four speakers tackled subjects such as being gay and religious, mental health, refugees and incest. So it was a breath of fresh air when Anita came on stage to tell her hilarious piece which took the form of a confession for all of her sins!

 

We were then free to have drinks and catch up, taking poor Richard Fidler with us to a corner of the downstairs bar. Far from being held hostage, I think Richard was in his element with a bunch of chatty, intelligent women. Of course what was discussed that evening shall remain in the vault, but when it was time to head home (eg hotel closed and kicked us out!), my friend S offered to drive Richard, his producer (and our lovely Anita) back to their hotel. I, of course, was driving S, and just about died on the spot. Well my 20 year old self did, whilst my sensible 42 year old self, led the way to my car. Oh! My!

 

 

Yep, Richard Fidler, my favourite DAAS, in the front seat of my car!!!!

Sunday

After staying up way too late, and then conversing online about our evening's exploits and quite possibly a little bit of squealing and giggling, Sunday arrived and we were back to do it all again.

Today we were based at City Hall, a more splendid location for the festival I think.

 

The first session was a favourite, A Toast to Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice turns 200 with Professor John Wiltshire, Amanda Hooton, and Miriam Margolyes and hosted by Felicity Biggins. Town Hall was packed and a group of us settled towards the front, awaiting Miriam and indeed our beloved Jane Austen.

 

The session started with a quote from Mark Twain, "Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with own her shinbone" Maybe he was envious of her writing style and subject matter!?!

John Wiltshire started with some interesting facts including Jane Austen loved plays and that would have influenced Pride and Prejudice as there was more dialogue in it than in any other romantic novel of the time. He then read the passage about what makes a good marriage.

Amanda read the passage where Elizabeth meets Darcy at Pemberley. She has admiration for the ease in which Austen moves her characters around the 'stage' and that it must have been written in a very happy time for her as it is written with a smile of understanding and enjoyment.

 

Miriam choose a passage featuring Lady Catherine de Bourgh...of course! Miriam says all English comedy is social comedy and Pride and Prejudice is a wonderful example of this as it dissects, examines and presents the minute of English society. Miriam also felt Wilde's Lady Bracknell was a homage to Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Pride and Prejudice has relevance today if only to teach people manners!

 

 

John points out that Austen would only write from her own experiences hence there are no scenes where only men are present.

It was a perfect first session, that only could have been better if Colin Firth himself had burst in halfway in a wet, white ruffled shirt and ran through the room...an idea for next time perhaps?

After a quick lunch at the Clarendon L and I found J & C along the way and headed back to City Hall for A Fine Debut: the pleasure and pain of your first book with Courtney Collins and Cathryn Hein, and hosted by Rosemarie Milsom. It was interesting to hear both Courtney and Cathryn's very different accounts of having their first novel published. Cathryn's first novel, Promises, is chook lit or rural romance. Courtney's is, The Burial, based on a true story about a female bushranger.

 

The Promise was not the first book Cathryn had written, so by the time she was published she had honed her craft. It was a combination of that, the story and luck that rural romances had started to become popular. Whereas Courtney's took 7 years to write and she was nominated for a Vogel award. Vogel Awards are sponsored by Vogel Bread, and all nominees get a loaf!!

Tips on where to start are with conflict as that works best. I have also heard Morris Gleitzman say that is what he does.

Cathryn treats writing like a business and is very disciplined, 8 hours work, 8 hours play and 8 hours sleep.

The editorial process can take up to a year, there is always much change as the author can get too close to things. Social media is also important in terms of promotion and connecting with your readers. Readers will also give feedback which is always interesting, good and bad.

The final session for the weekend was The Great Escape: writing about travel with Hilary Linstead, Nancy Knudsen and Monica Trapaga and hosted by Pip Newling. L & I lost C and J, but were joined by S.

 

 

Hilary began with her book, Growing Old Outrageously, about an extensive round the world trip. Nancy's, Shooting stars and flying fish, started as a journal/blog while sailing for a year with her husband. It is about 2 people in a completely new environment and focuses on change, conflict and reinvention along with the visual journey. Monica's, A Bite of the Big Apple is part cookbook, part travel, part art, part coffee table book. When she first went to New York she felt like she had come home. (I felt exactly the same way!)

They all spoke about place as the main theme in travel writing. Place in terms of description, your place within the place, what you see, feel...all the senses.

Monica feels writing is facing your fears. For her it was also about running away from responsibility to see if she liked her own company.

Other comments on writing and why write were, every time you write, you take yourself out of your comfort zone. Have a good time and enjoy yourself.

The words need to sing. Keep writing. Better to see a flawed performance with brilliant moments rather than something competent.

And so the weekend ended, in the makeshift bookstore at City Hall. I lined up with a copy of A Bite of the Big Apple for Monica to sign and we chatted about New York City.

I went home completely full of information and rather exhausted, but in the very best way. The weekend has fed me for the past month and I haven't even begun to read the books I bought or have got copies of having enjoyed hearing about them.

It was announced that it will be held again next year, not long afterwards. No wonder, it was a fabulous weekend, inspiring and intelligent and educational. Can't wait for 2013!!!!