I spent this weekend at The Sydney Writers Festival.The company
It was a wonderful weekend, full of friends, books and authors. On Saturday I had the opportunity to catch up with a very lovely person that I used to work with which was fun. On Sunday I got to share the afternoon with another good friend who had never been to the festival before. It was nice to introduce someone to the festival for the first time.
The events
I saw some wonderful events. On Saturday morning I went to My Brilliant Debut, a panel of 3 Australian authors who had recently published their first novel. I have read one of the author's books, The Legacy, written by Kirsten Tranter, and it was particularly interesting to hear from the other two authors, Steven Amsterdam and Patrick Allington. Later, I saw John Ralston Saul (a Canadian novelist and essayist) being interviewed by Ramona Koval which was fascinating. Apparently in his books he had predicted the Global Financial Crisis of last year. He had some really fascinating ideas about economics and globalism. Incredibly thought provoking.
In the afternoon I actually purchased tickets to see Rick Gekoski (one of the leading booksellers in the world) be interviewed by Geordie Williamson. I have to say, Rick Gekoski is absolutely hilarious. And so fascinating. It was very inspiring. I wish I was a book seller.
I finished off my Saturday by attending Tiddas Talk Writing and see three famous Australian Aboriginal authors discuss their books and the question: what makes contemporary Indigenous women's fiction so special? I loved listening to them discuss this issue; it became clearer to me what does make it so special. This year my aim is to read more Australian fiction. Next year, it is going to be to read more indigenous fiction. I was particularly interested by Maria Munkara, of Rembarranga descent. She had an interesting story she alluded to; being a member of the Stolen Generation.
And that was just Saturday!!
On Sunday, I started by going to a discussion between some new young Australian authors, all of whom were under 35. It was inspiring to see such successful authors my own age (or thereabouts). For a long time, I have been wanting to read a book called Document Z and I was surprised to find that the author of this book was on the panel and was only 27 years old. He won the Vogel Award with Document Z and it amazing to see the achievements of people so young.
Later in the afternoon I went to a discussion about the works of Chilean author Roberto Bolano. My family-in-law are from Chile, so I had some personal interest, however I have always wanted to read By Night in Chile, so it was also a wonderful opportunity to hear more about the author before I started the book. It only made me more determined the read the books. He is such an interesting person and his novels sound so absolutely challenging in a wonderfully new way, I can't wait to get stuck into his works.
The final event of the Festival for me, involved sitting outside a theatre venue on some big black cozy cushions listening to an event called An Australian Author, which was three famous Australian authors (Thomas Keneally, Michael Cathcart and Jack Marx) discussing different stories of Australia. A fitting way to end the festival.
The crowd
I really enjoy just spending time in rooms full of people who love books. It's great seeing the authors wondering around the Festival, as well as other people in the literary industry (I saw Jason Steger coming out of one the shows). It was great to wander around the crowds and soak up the atmosphere. The only problem was that for a lot of the time, I was soaking. The weather really wasn't great, with lots of rain. The only thing I couldn't help but notice was the volume of white people. Almost everyone was white. And mostly middle aged. It was scary to see my future. And scary because of the lack of diversity.
In summary
So much fun. Something I hope to do every year from now on. The Festival actually lasts for just over a week, and one year I hope to take that full week off work and go to lots of events lover Sydney, especially some of the events in the Blue Mountains.
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Did anyone else from Sydney attend the Festival? I would love to know which events you went to and what you thought of the Festival?
Originally posted 26 May 2010 Page Turners
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