At around about this time each year, Australia’s literary and arts festivals explode in a pre-football grand finals, pre-summer drinking weather extravaganza.
No human can attend possibly attempt to attend them all without being reduced to a sobbing mess of unresolved panel discussions, excessive book purchasing and, especially if you’re a writer, a swathe of insecurities that you are never going to be as good as [insert object of current intellectual crush].
Which is why we are focusing our attention on just two of the (very excellent suite of) literary festivals on offer this month:
The Queensland Poetry Festival – one of Australia’s longest running and most-acclaimed dedicated poetry festivals (full disclosure I am on the Board), this year working to the theme, Lost Language Found, and featuring one of the strongest line ups of Indigenous and First Nations writers and performers I have seen at any mainstream Australian festival.
The Chinese Writers Festival – a new festival initiative of Writers Victoria, in collaboration with Aust-China Writers Association, Australia Chinese Writers Festival, Chinese Poets & Authors Society of Victoria, Melbourne Chinese Writers Friendship Association, Yarra Libraries, Melbourne Writers Festival, WrICE and Peril Magazine. Supported by Creative Victoria and the Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office.
At both festivals, we’ll be sending along live bloggers with Allison Chan and Xia Cui at the helm for Chinese Writers Festival and Eleanor Jackson and Ashley Ho at the Queensland Poetry Festival.
Look out for these faces at both festivals and come and say HI!
Gluttons for punishment can check out the innumerable events stacking up here on our events page.
