Evelyn Araluen, Jasmin McGaughey and Lisa Fuller with Casey Mulder The program described the session as follows: Join this exciting First Nations panel including Evelyn Araluen, Jasmin McCaughey and Lisa Fuller to explore how culture and Country influence each author’s writing. Spanning poetry, YA and children’s novels, how do Indigenous worldviews emerge? As First Nations … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 5, Our worlds, our way
Canberra Writers Festival
Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 4, Finding Elizabeth Harrower
Susan Wyndham with Julieanne Lamond The program described the session as follows: A literary biography can be a truly fascinating exploration of the life of an author beyond their pages, and so it is with Susan Wyndham's Elizabeth Harrower: The woman in the watch tower. Harrower wrote some of the most original and highly regarded psychological … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 4, Finding Elizabeth Harrower
Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 3, Reckoning
Kate Grenville and Paul Daley with Craig Cormick The program described the session as follows: Kate Grenville’s ancestors were ‘the sharp edge of the moving blade’ of colonisation through the Hawkesbury region – the subject of her bestseller The Secret River. Now in Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place, she reflects on the reckoning that comes with … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 3, Reckoning
Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 2, What happened in the outback
Garry Disher and Gail Jones with Michael Brissenden The program described the session as follows: Join two of Australia's most highly regarded writers speak about the lure of the Australian outback with its landscapes, characters and unsettled complexity. Here we have different tales of desperate searches to uncover what has happened to two women in … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 2, What happened in the outback
Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 1, ACT Book of the Year
A preamble The Canberra Writers Festival is back in 2025, with a new Artistic Director, author Andra Putnis whose biography-memoir, Stories my grandmothers didn't tell me I reviewed earlier this year. The Festival's theme continues to be "Power Politics Passion", albeit not as dominating in promotion as it used to be. The ACT Book of … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2025: 1, ACT Book of the Year
Author Talk: Twist with Colum McCann
Like the recent Canberra Writers Festival author talk we attended with Helen Garner, last night's event featuring Irish-born writer Colum McCann was a full-house. I have been wanting to read McCann for some time, but I hadn't realised just how big a following he has. The evening opened with a welcome and acknowledgement of country … Continue reading Author Talk: Twist with Colum McCann
Author Talk: The season with Helen Garner
It is a measure of the love and respect readers have for Helen Garner that this event, held in the National Library of Australia's 300-seat theatre, had a 200-strong waiting list. And, it was well worth booking early for. The evening was emceed by Luke Hickey, the National Library's Assistant Director-General Engagement. He started with … Continue reading Author Talk: The season with Helen Garner
Monday musings on Australian literature: Final thoughts on Canberra Writers Festival 2024
In 2019, I wrote a detailed wrap-up of that year's Canberra Writers Festival, and I thought to do one this year, though I didn't have the fascinating stats I had in 2019. However, with this year's festival bumping up against November, which is a very busy month in the blogosphere, I've decided to scale down … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Final thoughts on Canberra Writers Festival 2024
Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 6, The case for critics
Presented in partnership with Sydney Review of Books and Radio National’s The Bookshelf This was my final session of the festival, and it felt the perfect choice after five sessions focussing on authors and their novels. The program described it this way: Derided, disparaged and cursed to the heavens, book critics are depicted as literature’s … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 6, The case for critics
Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 5, Your favourites: Anita Heiss
In conversation with Astrid Edwards Astrid Edwards is a podcaster who conducted a "conversation" I attended at last year's Festival (my post), while Wiradyuri writer Anita Heiss (my posts) has made frequent appearances on my blog. This was my second (and final) "Your favourites" session at the Festival, though there were more in the program. … Continue reading Canberra Writers Festival 2024: 5, Your favourites: Anita Heiss
