“Dark Emu” author, Bruce Pascoe.
PART of the burgeoning arts scene on the far south coast, the new Headland Writers Festival kicks off this weekend at Tathra, with talks, workshops, readings and performances.
It’s a labour of love for creative director, singer/songwriter Myoung Jae Yi, who urges would-be visitors to “be inspired by the sublime beauty of Tathra and see the world anew”.
There’ll be conversations with authors, talks, workshops, performances, live music and readings, but the main focus is on books themselves which, he believes, “afford us precious time to reflect and reconsider what is important to us, rejuvenating our minds with new ideas and time-worn truths”.
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What a year. Who would have thought this time last year that 2020 would bring a pandemic? And what did it mean for books? Well, publishing schedules went a bit haywire as titles were postponed, trumpeted or slipped under the radar. It was possibly the worst time to be a debut author, with launches taking on a new identity.
Writers festivals and bookshop events were cancelled or migrated online. But didn t we readers respond well? We took to virtual events in our homes with alacrity, while festival directors swiftly and imaginatively adapted their offerings in a new world.