Emerging Writers’ Festival 2013
April 2013
Writing and music, writing and wellbeing, writing and a whole lot more – a very ambitious and packed program has just been announced for the 10th annual Emerging Writers Festival, to take place from May 23 – June 2.
This year, the EWF features some 50 events and around 200 artists. The Festival will not only look forward to the writers of the future, as its title suggests, but will also be a celebration of 10 years, and of the support that has been given in that time to Australia’s new and emerging writers.
The cornerstone Writers’ Conference will once again be held at Melbourne Town Hall on May 25-26 and will feature EWF Ambassadors – who include John Safran and Jennifer Mills – along with one of the most extraordinary groups of writers currently working in Australia, the Sweatshop Collective. Over an afternoon of readings, seven writers share their truths about Sydney’s west – that much discussed new centre of the Australian universe – in what promises to be one of the standout performances of the festival.
Allowing for diversity, inclusiveness and progressiveness, The Emerging Writer prides itself on featuring contributions from writers of a wide range of backgrounds. Ross Onley-Zerkel, Co-ordinator of Deaf Arts Network, will launch a book on May 30, sharing his experiences as a Deaf writer, as AUSLAN interpreters translate his storytelling and views on writing. This will be followed by the announcement of the 2013 winners of the Monash University Undergraduate Prize for Creative Writing.
The highlights are everywhere you look, and this year the program expands into new genres, to include masterclasses on theatre writing, screenwriting and performing your work aloud.
In another first, the EWF has partnered with Abbotsford Convent. On June 1-2 there will be a Writers’ Retreat with the entire program themed around writing and wellbeing, looking at strategies for staying healthy in body and mind as well as looking at writing about health. Workshops will include ‘Writing and Yoga’, ‘Writing and Meditation’, and will focus on movement, interactivity and keeping active in the arts.
Then on May 29, at The Toff in Town, the EWF will look at the relationship between music and writing for Turn the Words up Loud! This will be a night to remember, with Dave Graney, RRR’s Alicia Sometimes and former Frente! frontwoman Angie Hart, all currently emerging as writers.
In a festival first, the EWF is involved in an artist exchange with the Bali Emerging Writers’ festival (the other one of two in the world) and will host the incredible Khairani ‘Okka’ Barokka, a performance poet and writer, also a great advocate for disabled artists – and very funny to boot.
The Emerging Writers’ Festival runs from May 23 – June 2 at various venues around Melbourne.
emergingwritersfestival.org.au