Want to get out and mingle with wordsmiths, literature lovers and people interested in exploring the creative arts? Then skeddadle along to one of the upcoming events:

Melbourne Writers Festival, Victoria 21–30 August

Running from 21-30 August, the 24th annual Melbourne Writers Festival is back and bigger than ever at Federation Square. Proceedings kick off on Friday 21 with a keynote address from scholar and judge, German born Bernhard Schlink, author of world renowned The Reader. Schlink’s keynote address will cover the concepts of forgiving, condemning, and reconciliation, and problems facing literary representations of the past.    

The rest of the festival sees an array of literary events to keep the whole writing community happy. There’ll be outdoor events; free events: an Antiquarian Books Roadshow: children’s activities: the festival club: walks: dinners: the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Presentation Dinner, and professional development master classes and workshops. You can even see harvest’s poetry editor, Geoff Lemon performing spoken word.

To find out more about the program, visit the MWF website: www.mwf.com.au

Queensland Poetry Festival, Brisbane 21 – 23 August

Spoken in one strange word. 

www.queenslandpoetryfestival.com

Words in Winter Festival, Victoria 1-25 August

Celebrations of words in all their forms and expressions in Hepburn Shire. Events are held in Daylesford (1–9 Aug), Creswick (19–25 Aug), Clunes (1–2 Aug) and Trentham (14–16 Aug). The official launch is on Friday 7 August in Daylesford followed by events in Daylesford such as Morning Poetry, the awarding of the Reason-Brisbane Poetry Prize, Scrabble Fest and a performance novella.

Further information available at www.daylesfordonline.com/wordsinwinter.

My Brother Jack Literary Festival, Glen Eira, Victoria 9 & 16 August

The festival program features writing workshops, author reading sessions (In conversation with…), and a local short story and poetry competition, culminating in an Awards presentation evening.

Workshops on Sundays 9 & 16 August include Successful Story Writing with Arnold Zable and Writing Romantic Fiction with Anne Gracie. Or join in conversation with Joanna Murray-Smith and Shane Maloney.

Details at Glen Eira City Council and bookings: 9524 3333.

Aireys Festival of Words, Victoria 14–16 August

The coastal town of Aireys Inlet is set to be taken over by art and ideas as part of the annual Aireys Festival of Words. Now in its third year, the Festival has once again attracted internationally acclaimed writers and will showcase the talents of local authors, illustrators, musicians and artists in a weekend-long celebration of words, sounds and images.

Details on the program available from www.aireysinlet.com.au/words

Byron Bay Writers’ Festival, NSW 7–9 August

Commencing in 1997, the focus of the program is firmly on Australian writing, with recognition of our physical place in the world through the inclusion of Indonesian and Asian authors. Authors include Peter Goldsworthy on the power of short stories, Nicholas Jose and Linda Jaivin on China’s literary character, and Shirley Walker on the ethics of biography.

Festival details at www.byronbaywritersfestival.com.au.

Write Around the Murray Festival, NSW 5–9 August

A five-day feast of author talks, presentations, workshops, a literary lunch, festival dinner and a literary pub crawl based in Albury City.

Details at www.writearoundthemurray.org.au

Crime and Justice Festival, Abbotsford 17–19th July

An annual event where the public, writers, social commentators, judicial luminaries and the legal profession come together to both celebrate and promote contemporary writings in the fields of justice and human rights, and to overlay these discussions with guest writers in the genre of crime fiction.

Head to the Abbotsford Convent – 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford or visit the website for programme details.

Emerging Writers’ Festival, Melbourne 22–31 May

The Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF) exists to promote the interests of emerging writers – to improve their opportunities for professional development and their engagement with the broader public. And in May, it’s doing so with a 10-day “cavalcade” of events.

Major public events include the 48-hour Play Generator and the play-reading series The Early Stages plus Wordstock (featuring new work inspired by the songs of Nick Cave).

There’ll be spoken-word at the Speaker’s Corner, mini book launches (with wine tasting), and the 15 Minutes of Fame and In The Pubs series.

The Melbourne Town Hall is the festival’s central hub with a packed program of panel discussions and workshops. Established events return such as the Ambassadors Program, the From Here to There interviews, Two Sides of the Coin literary debates and The Pitch publishing forum.

For more information on the program, visit www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au.

Come visit the harvest stall at the EMF Page Parlour, Sunday 30 May, Federation Square Atrium.  

The harvets team will be at Page Parlour, the EMF’s market that will feature over forty stall holders selling everything from posters to mooks, from zines to literary journals. This is the only place to stock up your bookshelf and browse the many exciting works on offer from emerging writers and publishers.

WORDPLAY is on

If you’re after Melbourne’s best in poetry, hip-hop and spoken word, venture to the Dan O’Connell Hotel in Carlton on the 2nd Thursday of every month.

WHERE: The Dan O’Connell Hotel, 225 Canning Street, Carlton (Corner of Princes and Canning, between Lygon and Nicholson)

WHEN: 8:00pm for an 8:30pm start

COST: Entry by donation

For more information and podcasts, visit WORDPLAY.

The  dates for 2009:
April 9
May 14
(no gig June)
July 9
August 13
 September 10
October 8
November 12
December 10

The Williamstown Literary Festival 1 – 3 May 2009

If you love literature and writing, head to the the 6th Williamstown Literary Festival. Events are being held at two venues: the Williamstown Town Hall and the Mechanics Institute in Electra St.

This year’s Festival theme is ‘The Hidden Life of Suburbs’. There’s an exciting program of workshops, keynote events, panels, readings, book groups and more.

For more information visit Willy Lit festival.

Ibis Writers Biennial Writing Festival, Cowes Victoria 1-3 May

A Sense of Place is Ibis Writers second writers’ festival in the Bass Coast. Featuring Arnold Zable, Melbourne poet Mammad Aidani, award-winning author Danielle Clode, and local writers Carolyn Landon and James Phelan, the festival has locations in Cowes, San Remo and Wonthaggi. For more information, visit ibiswriters.googlepages.com.
 

Castlemaine State Festival, Castlemaine, Victoria 27 March – 5 April

The biennial Castlemaine State Festival first began in 1976 and has grown to become Australia’s flagship regional arts festival. The hotly awaited 2009 Castlemaine State Festival will kick-off on 27 March 2009 and run for 10 action-packed days during which well-loved performance genres and new festival initiatives will be on offer. As part of the Poetry at the Castlemaine State Festival, a poetry writing workshop will consider the relationships between poetry and the visual arts, highlighting works of art from the Castlemaine Art Gallery’s collection. Conducted by Sandy Fitts, the workshop, “Art into Poetry Now”, will take place on Saturday 4 April, 9am – 1pm.

Visit www.castlemainefestival.com.au

National Play Festival, Tasmania 26 March – 4 April

The National Play Festival, nestled for 2009 within Ten Days on the Island, consists of a company of 23 actors (ten from Tasmania), sixteen writers, five directors and two dramaturgs. Two weeks of hard work culminate in the Showcase season. It features six plays selected on merit from across the country. Our finest actors, directors and dramaturgs shepherd the play from page to stage where an audience is crucial to their next steps. The Festival, however, is about more than just enjoyment of the new and the brave, it offers skills development sessions and the chance to turn your stories and ideas into opportunities.
www.nationalplayfestival.org.au

2009 Freelance Journalism Convention, Melbourne, Victoria 19-20 March

This year, international keynote speaker Mark Schapiro from Berkeley, USA discusses the future of work for freelance journalists. With decades of experience as an award-winning investigative journalist and author, Mark is now editorial director for the Center for Investigative Reporting. The second keynote speaker, Colin Freeman, joins via satellite on day two. Colin was a bored city hall reporter when he decided to up sticks and freelance in Baghdad. Colin took himself off to Iraq shortly after Baghdad fell to US troops and started filing (getting shot in the backside along the way). More details on the two day convention can be found: freelance.alliance.org.au

Art of Difference: Arts and disability festival and symposium, Melbourne Victoria 10-21 March 

Now in its ninth year, Art of Difference 2009 is a two-week international arts festival showcasing some of the best and most innovative visual, performing, literary and new media artists. The artists presented challenge perceptions and offer Melbourne audiences an unforgettable experience that will entertain, stimulate, confront, provoke and amuse.
gasworks.org.au/festivals/ArtOfDifference.php

Perth Writers Festival, WA 28 February-2 March

Join Perth’s favourite celebration of the written word with more than 100 events for lovers of debate and discussion, poetry and storytelling. For three days the Perth Writers Festival creates a literary hub in the idyllic setting of the UWA campus. Join conversations with literary luminaries including the 2008 Booker shortlisted Sebastian Barry, former head of MI5 Stella Rimington, and New York Times‘ bestselling writer James McBride. Be enchanted by new work from Robert Drewe, Kate Grenville and Robert Dessaix.
www.perthfestival.com.au/perthwritersfestival

National Screenwriters Conference, Barossa Valley, SA 25-27 February

The 2009 conference Picture This: From Idea to Audience brings together the best of local and overseas writing talent for two and a half days – all designed to inspire, provoke thought, and to celebrate the best of screenwriting in Australia and beyond. Further information at: www.awg.com.au/nsc

Sticky’s International Literature Conspiracy Week 2009

One of our lovely local stockists, Sticky, is putting on the Sticky Zine Fair on Saturday 14th February 2009 from 12pm in the Degraves Street Subway. Festivities will be launched by Minister of the Arts, Lynne Kosky at 2pm.
The Zine Fair will take over the subway underpass with hundreds of local and nationally produced zines, comics and independent press, as well as featuring Sticky’s in-house official Valentines Day cupid (complete with bow, arrow and typewriter) who will take love letter dictations on Sticky Institute stationery to be instantly issued to your Valentine!