By Rosanna Beatrice Stevens
If there’s somewhere in Australia you should be this week, it’s Melbourne. Federation Square’s BMW Edge hosted this year’s opening party for the Melbourne Writers Festival. The evening kicked off warmly with a chuckle of glasses and conversation at 8.30pm, and hosted an array of writerly-types; from magazine editors, publishers and established authors, to bloggers and emerging writers, electric with fresh creativity and excitement. Amongst those who attended were children’s author Morris Gleitzman, Festival Director Rosemary Cameron, CEO of Penguin Group Gabrielle Coyne, and Editor of The Monthly, Ben Naparstek. Members from literary blogs and journals including McSweeny’s, Voiceworks, Literary Minded, and Torpedo also made appearances throughout the evening, their presences promising a wealth of wordsmiths for Writer’s Festivals decades to come.
This year’s Festival has witnessed record sales, with more sold out events than any year prior. Each day provides an array of free events at Federation Square’s Festival Club inside the ACMI theatre building, including The Morning Read at 10am each day. This particular event features an array of writers reading the best of their work whilst audience members melt away the remnants of sleep dust with a cup of tea, and a shower of words. To compliment the array of adult indulgences, from Monday to Wednesday this week the Melbourne Writers Festival is holding a number of schools programs with young adult and children’s novelists including Isobel Carmody, Andy Griffiths, and Jack Heath. The school’s events will explore an array of written worlds, from the fantastical to the thrilling, and perhaps those quirky places yet to be penned by some of Australia’s favourite young adult writers.
Whilst we hope Australia continues to celebrate writing with the passion and flair that is anticipated in the days to come, the Melbourne Writers Festival closes on the evening of Sunday the 30th of August. The Festival’s Official Program can be picked up at Federation Square’s Atrium or found online at the Melbourne Writers Festival website. To book tickets to any event that catches your eye and imagination, visit www.mwf.com.au or call (03) 9999 11 99.
The Melbourne Writers Festival also has their own blog, which is continually updated as events are viewed and reviewed: http://mwfblog.com.au/
You can also follow the MWF’s hilarious updates written by festival blogger, Estelle Tang, at http://twitter.com/MelbWritersFest.
Photo of Thomas Worrell, contortionist, on front page by Jim Lee.
