NEWCASTLE WRITERS FESTIVAL 2023

10 years!

I can't believe it, it only seems like yesterday that we headed to the inaugural NWF with the brilliant Miriam Margolyes doing the most wonderful opening for the festival.

She had us crying and in stitches laughing, a better presentation to the world could not be thought of.

It was also the year we got to meet Richard Fidler, as we kicked on at a pub after a session he hosted with my friend, Anita. She invited him and his manager to join us for drinks after and we had a great time, a time that led to me driving them both back to their hotel. And thus led to the moniker, Richard 'I drove him in my car once' Fidler. And yes, he is as lovely and kind and funny and sweet as you would hope he was.

Seemingly, in the blink of an eye, we were seated at the 10th Opening night of the NWF. This year the guest was the inimitable Grace Tame. The evening was at the grand dame of the city, The Civic Theatre, and we had great seats.

Friday 31 March, 2023

In her own words: an evening with Grace Tame

Civic Theatre, Festival Opening Night

As always there were speeches and people to thank for making this amazing weekend happen. As always Rosemarie Milsom was a goddess, for her simply idea and making it happen, not just once but for an entire decade. She always inspires me to push through my own roadblocks and issues and get stuff done!

She spoke at length about the economy and kudos the festival brings to the city. It is a big deal that I do not think gets enough coverage or support, but luckily she has some great sponsors helping her along. It is my weekend of the year, always!

Whilst all the lead-up speeches were great, especially the one from University Professor, John Fischetti - he described Librarians as the Keepers of Civilisation - we were really eagerly waiting for Grace.

She is much smaller and fragile looking than you would imagine, yet has this impressive steely manner. Her stories were peppered with humour, sometimes dark, which was incredibly endearing and helped her, I think, be able to tell some of her less-amusing stories. She had us laughing and sobbing. At times, I was worried, I felt a little voyeuristic listening to her stories being told given she is still quite a fragile person and she was close to tears herself on numerous occasions. Yet, she explained she wouldn't have it any other way, telling her story in her own way was and is incredibly important to her and her survival, and connecting to others is also something she very much loves and needs. Maddison Connaughton from The Saturday Paper was her interviewer and didn't need to do too much, just keep her moving forward. Some would say she was redunant, but I feel she was incredibly important, as an anchor for Grace and I think others may have pushed and pulled her to tell certain elements in a particular way. Maddison did not, she was respectful and a calming influence. It was a lovely evening.

Saturday 1 April, 2023

World Traveller: Richard Fidler in Conversation

Richard was in conversation with Paul Bevan. Richard is a great raconteur, he can talk about anything. This is exemplified in Conversations, his hit radio interview show on the ABC. He talked about his new book, The Book of Roads and Kingdoms, is about the time when Baghdad was the centre of the Persian and Arabic worlds. It is full of otherworldly tales, tales of conquering cities and expanding empires. He has done his research and I cannot wait to read it. 

Afterwards I took my newly bought copy of the book, and was third in line to get it signed. He was lovely and engaging, and remembered our night, 10 years ago, fondly. It was a perfect exchange.

Sunday 2 April, 2023

The day started early, with a lovely brunch on Darby, at Wil and Sons. It was a beautiful day in Newcastle, as you can see.

The Beatles and beyond: Paul McCartney and his creative practice

Phillip McIntyre has written a fascinating book about McCartney and where his creativity comes from. He was in conversation with Scott Bevan. This was fascinating, a Beatles fan, Phillip lectures at the University on creativity. He has based his studies on song writing and the music industry, and has written a book specifically about the creativity of Paul McCartney. His theories on his creativity, which he believes is sparked from many different ways, is the genesis for his genius. He told some great stories to back up these ideas. With so much written on McCartney and The Beatles, this was a fresh and interesting take on the man.

The Life of Iris

Fiona Kelly McGregor has based her latest historical novel on Iris Webber and was in conversation with Nancy Cushing. Iris was brought up on the wrong side of the tracks in the early 30s in Sydney and soon became ensconced in the underworld and underbelly of Sydney as a gunslinging petty criminal. She was in and out of jail, and also quite possibly a lesbian. Fiona researched the era to fill in the holes of the story with tight information on the era. A fascinating insight into the era and Iris through a fictional background.

Women and words: Pip Williams in conversation

Pip William's Dictionary of Lost Words was a huge deal in Australian publishing. She was in conversation with Ailsa Piper about it and her new book, The Bookbinder of Jericho. Both are based on true events, but she has taken characters and fleshed them and their story out with fiction, writing very easy to access fiction. I enjoyed Dictionary of Lost Words, but felt it fell very short of what it could have been having read The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester. This was the real non-fiction telling of the same story and far more interesting and a much superior read. She does take the female view in both stories which in reality was minimal, but nice to read about. Her research was insightful and the stories she told about the new book had me curious to give it a go.

I didn't get to many sessions this year as you can see. I have had a very intense start to the year juggling a lot of work, teaching 2 nights a week on top of my FT job means I missed trivia evening, which was a bit sad. And I had to work Saturday and had pre-booked RocKwiz Saturday night and was tired. But I picked some quality events and liked the new location of the University building on Hunter Street. Not quite the same feel as City Hall, but easy to find and get around which is great. Nice views of the city too.

NEWCASTLE WRITERS FESTIVAL 2018

I always rave about Newcastle Writers Festival and always with reason!

I don't impress easily, and it never fails to impress me, which is a great thing.

As a music lover I am not keen on Musical Festivals, too much to choose from, too many people, too hot or too wet.

But a Writers Festival, well that's another thing all together. What fun! Always well attended but never feels like too many people, and often too much to choose from, but for whatever reason, I am addicted!

Books were always my first love, and as a Librarian it is my duty to get out there and check things out. I always do my own thing, make my own agenda for the program, and go solo. It's just easier that way, plus you always run into loads of people you know. And that is actually one of the best things about Newcastle Writers Festival, sooo many people to chat to.

This year I haven't been well, so had to pace myself and didn't get to as many sessions as I would have liked to, but I was really pleased with everything I saw.

Saturday
I was up early to score a good park (always a drama), and get breakfast before things start. It was a beautiful day and Olive Tree markets were in Civic Park which is central to the festival. I had a little shop, wander, and breakfast before getting out of the sun to the main bookshop of the festival. Ran into heaps of people there before my first session.

Too Much Rock 'n' Roll: a life in music
Phillip McIntyre in conversation with Mark Tinson

This was a wonderfully engaging and informative chat with local music identity Mark Tinson. I know Mark from his now defunct Friday Music Show with Carol Duncan on ABC radio. Mark knows everyone, has worked with everyone, and is a self-deprecating and humble figure. He has written a book about his long career in music, mostly based in Newcastle. The conversation went through highlights and lowlights of his career, which is expansive. From playing in numerous bands, producing Silverchair, teaching, and much more.

The second half was fascinating, as he gave tips for succeeding in the music industry and remaining in Newcastle as opposed to moving to Sydney. His best advice was "if you're not good enough at your instrument to teach, then you need to find another job". And "Collaborate. Practice. Listen to good music. Listen to live music. Observe." 

The Long and Winding Way to the Top
Felicity Biggins in conversation with Andrew P. Street

Street has written a great book about 50 songs that made Australia. I read this some months back and thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I didn't agree with all the choices. And how do you reduce all Australian music to 50 songs, he spoke at length about that. He started with 278 songs, and then consulted colleagues and friends, and the list stretched to 1000, and then he had to bring it back. He had parameters, a spread of genres, a spread of eras, not to double up too much, and the earliest song would be The Wild One. He admitted there were few female artists within his list. And era clusters, where there were so many amazing songs it was hard to choose a few.

Felicity choose a sample of songs from the book, played part of each one, then they discussed the song. They discussed The Carnival is Over, I am Woman, You Just Like Me Coz I'm Good in Bed, Long Way to the Top, Down Under, True Blue, Tomorrow, You're the Voice. All the songs had great little anecdotes. My favourite was about Long Way to the Top, AC/DC have never played it live since Bon died, which is quite amazing.

Mini Break

Normally I do sessions back to back but pacing myself and a little break before my next one, so I had what I call early lunch, with a yummy French Crepe from Kid and Cat, who were part of Olive Tree. I caught up with more friends and then headed to City Hall for my next session.

The Deep Time Project
Gionni Di Gravio, Ann Hardy, Craig Williams, Marguerite Johnson (host)

This was a fascinating session about the artifacts found at the former Palais site. Newcastle University managed to get the items to look after and catalogue for this project. A number of students are working on the project with the archival team, they are photographing and detailing the pieces with natural history illustrators, adding detail to the cataloguing with illustrations of each artifact.

The site was a tool making site, a modern day Bunnings if you will.

They have also been 3D scanning the pieces and the site which is quite remarkable, and one of a kind. Indigenous Cultures present in a non-linear way and most archivists categorise in the original Greek and Italian linear way of archaeology. This causes a few issues in capturing the items authentically, but the team are finding ways to work around that.

I know I am not selling this project well, but it is brilliant, all the work is ground breaking for Australia and indeed the world in some aspects, the people working on it are passionate and knowledgeable, and it is indeed a thing of beauty.

Lunch Break

I headed to Foghorn for a piece of pizza and a bit of downtime to gather my thoughts on my day so far, and then a gelato at Popolo as I meandered back to the festival. I headed back to the Harold Lobb Hall for my two remaining sessions.

The Music That Changed Me
Felicity Biggins in conversation with Eddie Ayres and Christopher Lawrence

I had read a brief review of Danger Music by Eddie Ayres and it was on my list to read. I decided on the double act interview to get more bang for my buck rather than the singular one with Eddie only. Earlier in the day I was in the festival bookshop and was looking at his books and noticed next to it Cadence by Emma Ayres, which I own. Oh, I thought to myself, his sister, then I looked closer and thought maybe they are twins, but something didn't feel right. It wasn't until I was at lunch I googled Eddie and Emma and found out they were one and the same. D'uh!

So now, I was truly fascinated. I remembered Emma from on air and Eddie is as lovely...of course! 

Both spoke about their upbringing and exposure to music, especially classical music. And their journeys to the ABC DJing, and so forth. Listening to their joy and delight about music, and classical music and it was absolutely glorious. If you have listened to either Eddie (Emma) or Christopher on ABC Classical, you will know how amazing this chat is. And now, I cannot wait to read Eddie's book.
( note, cause it has taken me so long to write this blog, I have indeed read Hunger Music and it is truly wonderful!)

Writing the Past
Gretel Killeen hosting Richard Fidler

Front row, middle, thanks to my lovely friend Athena! I had been waiting for this all day. I adore Richard Fidler, always have, he was my favourite All Star. He also was part of the very first NWF, and we had the opportunity to meet him. In fact we had drinks with him after the final show on the Sunday evening, thanks to our lovely friend and brilliant author, Anita Heiss, and not only that, but I drove him (and others) home to his hotel. sigh...
This was a great chat, as Gretel mentioned very early on, she was interviewing Australia's greatest interviewer, but she did great, and Richard was as affable and fascinating as you can imagine.

They covered both his books, Ghost Empire, which I have read and loved, and Sagaland, which I am yet to start. What I love about Richard is his attention to detail, his extreme understanding and knowledge of almost every subject under the sun, and of course he absolute sweetness, humour, and general decency. And this was all on show this evening. Such an intellect, such a wonderful storyteller. 

After I got him to sign my copy of Ghost Empire and reminded him of that other NWF and he remembered, he said he was envious of Anita's posse, which is what she called us, her friends. I kinda skipped all the way to my car and smiled all the way home.

Sunday

A Fine Balance
Ed Wright in conversation with Robert Dessaix

I am currently reading The Pleasure of Leisure by the wonderful Robert Dessaix, so I had to see him, my only Sunday session. I have loved his writing for a long time, he has a beautiful way with words, erudite and sassy, and totally brilliant.

Robert was exactly as you would imagine in person, dry and witty, naughty and sweet. He spoke a lot about the important of pleasure, as that is his book.

I tried to write a lot of his snappy one-liners, but sitting in the middle front row possibly made me stand out and at one point he made a derogatory comment about phones and their dumbing down of people and I put my phone away. And I just cannot remember the wit well enough.

He had Ed on the run a few times, which made for interesting watching.

He spoke about religion, 'Jesus did not have fun, but Shiva did.' He prefers eastern religion.

Also travel, and how travelling is an act of friendship.

And how he likes to write about what he does not understand, although I cannot imagine him not understanding anything. His intelligence seems so large and broad.

He also spoke about what he enjoyed as a child, including Enid Blyton, she made him the man he is today...this made me smile, what a delight.

He mostly spoke about sex and his dalliances (isn't that a great word, we need to use it more!!!), this is his most favourite example of pleasure. He was quite bawdy, but in the most eloquent and classy way.

I think everyone walked away with a wry smile and feeling better about life and what it has to offer.

I chatted with him after as he was signing my books, and he was kind and sweet.

And so ended my 2018 NWF weekend, not as many sessions as previous year, but every single one this year was amazing. I choose well, but with a program so well put together, it's pretty hard not to have a great time.