NEWCASTLE WRITERS FESTIVAL 2015: Overview

It has taken me a few weeks to digest all I saw and heard at the 2015 Newcastle Writers Festival.

I feel 2015 was the best year yet with a very full weekend and I saw as much as I could.

There was no way I could condense all this amazing into one simple blog post. So I decided to do a post for each session and link them together on one post. From here you can click on the links below to the 10 sessions over 1 night and 2 days.

Friday night was opening night, this year in City Hall which was to be our home for the next two days. We were thrilled to be in the presence of Helen Garner, Jessica Rudd, and Michael Robotham, all talking to Caroline Baum about The Book That Changed Me - an inspiring start by any means.

Saturday began at Newcastle Library with the book launch for Don't Think About Purple Elephants as part of their children's program. This launch was very special as the author, Susan Whelan, is a good friend of mine. The launch was exciting for all involved and the Lovett Gallery was packed with eager readers awaiting a special reading from Susan. 

From there I headed to City Hall for the remainder of the day and a session on The Treatment of Asylum Seekers. This was an extraordinary session, with a passionate and articulate panel including two refugees. They told us their story, and had us in tears, and are now great forces in our community, helping others and assisting fellow refugees.  

My friend, Linda Drummond, hosted an informative session on Self Publishing. I went along to support my friend, but was enlightened with the panel's wisdom and positive stories about Self Publishing.

We followed that session with a talk by author, Marion Halligan. Marion is an ex-Novocastrian, and a great writer of real life, grief and sex. Listening to her talk is always delightful, and this was no different.

My favourite non Helen Garner session was Outward Bound, with Bob Brown, Favel Parrett, and Clarie Dunn talking about connecting with wild places. Their passion, sensitivity, and exquisite storytelling shone through in this exemplary session.

The final session for Saturday was Helen Garner in conversation with Caroline Baum, and what a great conversation it was. What struck me the most was her explanation of writing the type of book she does in the way she does. But you'll have to read my piece to find out more.

Whilst tired after a long and full day, it was lovely to have some dinner at Coco Mondo with my lovely friend B and debrief on the festival and our busy lives. 

Sunday began a little later than expected with the sad withdrawal of Les Murray. So instead of starting my day with him reading his poems, I started by hearing an eclectic group of writers reading their 500 words autobiographical story. As always this was an exciting and varied session.

Next up was This Writing Life, another fabulous panel featuring Don Watson, P.M. Newton, and Brooke Davis. They spoke to Rosemarie Milsom about writing, their inspirations, deadlines, the muse, and everything else in between.

The final session for the day was Radical Lives featuring the formidable Vera Deacon and others, and the launch of the Radical Newcastle book. This was a fitting end to the festival with the feisty Vera stealing the show and enlightening the huge audience about her Radical life.

What a wonderful weekend I had.

I saw and heard so much brilliance I was overwhelmed and my soul overfed. I caught up with many friends, planned and unexpectedly. And I bought more books for later from the fabulous pop-up MacLeans Bookshop.

I brought many thoughts and ideas away from the festival, have many more books to read, authors to share, and I also bow down to the mother of the festival, the incomparable Rosemarie Milsom.

But the main feeling I came away with was how wonderful some people are in terms of their love of our country and the people that live within it. Many of the sessions I attended spoke of overcoming hardship, fighting for our lives or space, being kind to others, working out how to live our best life, and just being good model citizens.

Whether it was Bob Brown fighting for The Franklin, Don Watson leading the way with exemplary writing, and Helen Garner dissecting the underbelly in the most humane and beautiful way. Marion Halligan writing about the elderly and grief, and Vera Deacon raising hell where it was needed. Or glorious survivors like Aran Mylvaganam and Munjed Al Muderis seeking asylum in our country to help others in the most remarkable way, there was a story of passion, altruism, and activism to be told.

These are the stories that shape our nation, and guide us to a better place. And in an ever growing unstable society, we need this more than ever. I was struck and reminded of this the entire weekend. But for every amazing person listed above it feels like there are 2-3 people who just don't get it, and that saddens me. I kept thinking if there were more heroes like those I heard over the weekend, real heroes, surely our world would be a better place. And if everyone heard these stories, and were educated in a more kind-hearted way about them, surely we could turn this country around. And those of us who really do care could stop being embarrassed.

We must connect with each other, our indigenous cultures, welcome refugees, look after our environment, and educate, enlighten and life those that are not so sure to do the same. That is what I took away from the weekend, so I will continue to share these stories with anyone who will listen, and I urge you all to do the same and I hope that a kinder, wiser community will evolve and peace will be at hand.

The written word is a powerful thing, as shown by this array of astounding authors over this wonderful weekend. I am looking forward to next years festival on the weekend of 1-3 April, 2016.

NEWCASTLE WRITERS FESTIVAL 2015: Opening Night, The Book That Changed Me

It's been a few weeks since the Opening Night of the Newcastle Writers Festival and I am still thinking about the wonderful panel discussion about "The Book That Changed Me."

After all the important speeches by those involved in the festival, including the luminous founder of the festival Rosemarie Milsom, we were delighted by the outstanding panel as we sat in Newcastle City Hall, our home for the next few days.

The panel, hosted by Caroline Baum, were Helen Garner, Jessica Rudd, and Michael Robotham.

Now I have to say I worship the ground Helen Garner walks on, so you have been forewarned. And she made me love her even more, which I didn't think possible. However, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Jessica Rudd and Michael Robotham also, both being authors I don't read.

Listening to them all talk about the books that changed their lives was fascinating. As a Librarian, I always love insight into people's choices in terms of literature.

Helen started it off by mentioning Arthur Mee's The Children's Encyclopeadia. This immediately struck a chord with me, I remember pawing through them at my grandparent's when I was a child. I couldn't get enough, and Helen was the same when she was a child. Surely this would make us firm friends if we were to meet! She also mentioned Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, which is one of my life changing titles, so I then knew we would be firm friends, though I knew if I ever came close to meeting her my knees would shake and words would never form, thus making any thoughts of friendship fail before I ever had a chance!

Caroline moved through the panel many times with interesting questions and here is what I remember.

Helen belongs to a Reading Group - this is different to a bookclub - they select a book and take turns at reading it aloud until it is finished, what a marvelous idea! They have recently completed The Illiad!

Helen can read other books while she is writing, though she usually gets caught up in her writing and doesn't get time. Both Jessica and Michael do not read in their genre while writing as they find it can influence their writing in a negative way.

Jessica Rudd's books that changed her were Pride and Prejudice, she read every year during high school, and Primary Colours, which saddened her as she had always been very idealistic about politics. Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favourite books, but not life changing for me. Helen Garner mentioned she loves it, and finds it very funny. I do too Helen. Primary Colours was a cracking romp. As I read it it was obvious it was about Clinton, and a few months after this my thoughts were confirmed.

Rudd also loves Caitlin Moran, as do I, and called her the feminist of our generation, that I am not so sure of. As a feminist writer she is good, but flawed. Roxane Gay writes about this in her book, Bad Feminist, which I read a week after the festival. I love it when topics turn up and confirm your thoughts immediately after having them.

Michael Robotham also listed A Moveable Feast, both Helen and Michael had read it whilst in Paris when they were younger, he set out to go to every location mentioned in the book. I too read it in Paris, and visited some areas, but not specific haunts, I am saving that for my return trip.

Helen also spoke of Charles Reznikoff, an American Jewish poet, as the writer that most changed her life. She spoke so beautifully yet at times stumbled over the correct words to describe her feelings, which for a writer as spare and eloquent as Helen shows the impact he has had on her. He writes poetry based on court testimonies, specifically The Holocaust, but other topics as well. You can see, given her own writings, why she would be attracted to such unusual words.

Helen also spoke of police crime photography that also influenced her work, she described what was essentially ordinary photos of macabre scenes in such a magical and beautiful way. I always knew her brain was a thing of beauty, and her heart and soul full of respect and kindness, as this shines through in her extraordinary writing. But to hear her speak about such things was something else all together!

Michael Robotham had the most moving stories. One from his childhood years, the cat and mouse game he played with a battered copy of The Lord of The Rings and his school Librarian was as funny as it was poignant. He is such a natural storyteller, he had the audience in the palm of his hands, myself included. But it was his story about Ray Bradbury that had me in tears. He loved Ray as a kid (or maybe teen?) and read all he could get his hands on, but not everything written was published in Australia. He wrote a fan letter to Ray, and Ray wrote back and included a copy of all the books not available in Australia. How amazing is that? He wrote again to Ray later on in life to explain he was a writer now and again Ray responded, and Michael was to meet him on a recent American tour but Ray passed away just prior to the meeting. Robotham was clearly upset at this, but thrilled for the experience.

Michael also spoke of a less than impressive day at John Irving's house and Helen, a similar story, in meeting her hero, Janet Malcolm. The later showing, that everyone gets tongue-tied in the presence of their heroes.

It truly was a fabulous night, one we were sorry to see end.

But it made me think of The Book That Changed Me. The Diary of Anne Frank was my immediate choice, I read it in my early 20s and it had a profound effect on me. Then I came up with A Moveable Feast by Earnest Hemingway, having bought a copy of it in Paris and read it whilst there. Also Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, which I read in my early 30s after the breakdown of my then relationship, her (far worse) pain helped me through my own. I realised that I had a book for each decade of my life, Hemingway being my early 40s. I am still thinking about what - if any - changed my childhood and teens. And this will be the subject of a post in time, so stay tuned.