Writerly folk of Melbourne: brace yourself for 10 days of joyful storytelling, helpful workshops and ace discussions.
Let’s be real: writing isn’t exactly a social activity. More often than not, writers spend their days holed up on their lonesome. Which is why events like the Emerging Writers’ Festival are so ace. Solitary wordsmiths finally have a chance to gather while fellow bookish types get to listen in on some A+ discussions on all things writing-related.
Now in its 18
th year, the annual festival celebrates storytellers from across the globe, and true to form, this year’s 10-day program is chockers with new writing talent. If you’re a young writer looking for guidance and practical know-how, we recommend nabbing tickets to the National Writers’ Conference (you’ll get access to a full day of online workshops and talks). Elsewhere on the program, there’s a night of joyful storytelling at Amazing Babes, a short-story workshop with author Alice Bishop, a session
The
Dry
After the terrible
devastation caused by last year’s bushfires, which
prompted hundreds of Australians to shelter in the ocean to
escape incineration and destroyed uncountable amounts of
wildlife,
The Dry has been released during a totally
different kind of dry spell. The pandemic has provided an
instructive sense of scale, of how much we are going to have
to change patterns of consumption in order to overcome the
climate crisis. We stopped flying, gave up commuting, and
closed down many factories, all of which ended business as
usual pretty much across the entire planet, far more than we
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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.