There was an unplugged authenticity

I loved this Byron Bay Writers Festival more than any of the past five I’ve blogged, or attended, going back to 2004. Yes, I say that after every festival! But this year I felt it more. There was an unplugged authenticity. And the calibre of the writers was strong right across the board, from the big stars of which there many – where does one start?  Stuart Littlemore, Katherine Boo, Jessica Watson,  Gail Jones – this link talks about Jones’s incredible tempering of her speech and writing with poetry.
It’s never easy to précis all that you learn and hear over three days. I never can decide how to blog. It’s a stresser – when you step away to write you miss too much and when you are listening to panels all that you hear fills your brain layer by layer to overflowing.
Think of a smorgasbord being catered for by the world’s top chefs…
So this year I tweet, tweeted #bbwf2012 and left bigger recollections to bubble to the surface afterwards. Here are a few of my highlights and a rough kind of archive. (Apologies for the unscheduled delay in finalising.. pleading the firstborn’s HSC trials/18th defence.)

Kerry O’Brien and Bob Brown. Photo: Evan Malcolm

In any festival there is so much of the ‘Who knew?’ variety of facts collected. How compelling Bob Brown’s telling of his growing up years was. His policeman father and his divorcee mother who had to go from church to church in order to find someone who would marry them. How events echo down the years… Brown’s inner turmoil about being unexpectedly made school captain, about winning the hurdles race, about being caned for watching a whale from the classroom at Coffs Harbour High School, and how he was made school captain when another boy got into trouble, and he left and cried. Where did his passion for the environment start? Brown came home one day with flowers from the bush and his mother told him they’d have been best left there. These things shaped Brown.

His years far from home, in an inner wilderness, that changed when he heard some of the most important words ever spoken to him: Why don’t you be who you are?
He said the Prime Minister Julia Gillard had kept her word with him. And at a private farewell dinner with the PM and her partner, Brown’s partner Paul Thomas, had asked her about her position on gay marriage. She explained it to them, just as she explains it in public. It still mades no sense to him, said Brown.

Who knew that Adrian Franklin proudly has more vases than any other man in history? He was influenced in this by Pablo Picasso who said that vases enabled people who were not wealthy to have real art in their homes. He also collects curtains that were designed by artists, including Henry Moore. Collectors sometimes get a bad press said Franklin. The whole psychology of labelling collecting as obsession is not warranted. Research is compelling and sometimes people mistake that for psychosis, says Franklin.

The program also covered the newest of novelists. One of the sessions I heard people talk about most – and that they are still talking about for I’ve lost count of how many people have told me about it – was the homegrown panel about Writers’ Groups. This included Sarah Armstrong, and debut novelists, Lisa Walker and Jessie Cole, chaired by Jesse Blackadder. These writers are fantastic in their support of each other within their groups. I knew this already and not without some envy from past soirees that these groups go far deeper than a cuppa and a natter. Now writers’ groups members all over the NSW North Coast and beyond, including the one I am in, are being told about these writers who send their work to each for editing ahead of their meetings. I wonder what the ripple will be …..

Nicole Moore reveals to people a collection of censored books – it’s the absent library that a country keeps away from itself. Australia barred hundreds of book up until 1973. Some of them were books not banned anywhere else in the world. There were 22 Micky Spillane books banned, and literary books aroused the most suspicion and were all read by one man. Apparently he did not enjoy his reading.

Who knew about Niromi de Soyza? She appears now, as far from being a child soldier, as anyone could be. My first sighting of

Niromi de Soyza’s book

her was at a session on schools Thursday. It was a gorgeous afternoon and she had herself and teachers, and students in tears. What struck me most was how one minute she and her parents were going through all the normal teen/parent angst, and then the next she and a friend were Tamil child soldiers. And yet mid a deadly game they still wanted the connections and rites of passage that every teen wants. But she, and her family came through. I know this because I gave them a lift, spending 30 minutes with them, trapped in traffic to Byron.

Despite the deliberately eclectic programming, there seemed to be a large number of ex-members of the legal profession…. Stuart Littlemore, Michael Kirby. And John M Green, Shamini Flint, Elliot Perlman and Sulari Gentill – how many lawyers does it take to make an audience laugh? Shamini Flint can’t afford a sports car any more – and somehow amid bringing up a family she produces novels – childrens novels, detective novels, and adult – prolifically. Sulari Gentill drew the dots of herself, not practicing law any more and instead writing in baggy pyjama pants, and Elliot Perlman painted in the picture of himself wearing those same pants, as he wrote. I realise he said something more than that but after a while there was too much laughter, and little wonder I only ended up with a signature on his book (that I can’t wait to read).

Katherine Boo is a Pulitzer Prize winner, and someone who clearly knows where to source the best of Indian cotton clothing. More than once, I was tempted to ask – where DID you get that dress? But instead I asked her if she would mind repeating to me, something she said during a panel. She’d told us of wanting to write about a housing project in the US that deserved writing about and of the disappointment when told that while it was a worthy story, editorial budgets would not run to it. It’s not right, what can I do? she said. Her editor said, “Subsidise their lack of interest with your surplus.”

I thought the best place to remember what Katherine Boo said was in her book

I think that’s what writers do. And soon, very often there is interest, and community, readers and something much more comes.

Marian Edmunds

Michael Kirby, Australians’ champion of love

Australia’s longest serving judge Michael Kirby shared the stage with authorised biographer Daryl Dellora and chair Mick O’Reagan, ABC Radio National’s homepage editor. Kirby’s thoughtful and compassionate comments and humorous anecdotes of his personal life, and his experiences as a High Court judge were entertaining and thought provoking.

Kirby set the tone early by taking the mickey out of himself when plugging his own book A Private Life: Fragments, Memories and Friends and Dellora’s Michael Kirby: Law, Love and Life, holding the books up and saying “I would hate to be so vulgar as to advertise my books”.

O’Regan described Kirby as a man with a great passion for family, his long-term partner Johan van Vloten and an unrelenting courage to stand up for what he believes to be right and just.  Kirby was quick to point out that he has his faults, joking that one day he sat down with van Vloten to list them and van Vloten looked across at Kirby’s notepad and said, “that pad’s not big enough”.

Michael Kirby, Daryl Dellora and Mick O’Regan in the signing tent at Byron Bay Writers’ Festival after their session. Photograph: Tao Jones.

While the conversation moved effortlessly between his early years when he met van Vloten, to his rise in the High Court, it soon became apparent that Kirby’s message today is about love. Referring to Law, Love and Life Kirby said that the title should be reversed as life precedes all, it is the genesis of our being, then comes love, it gives our lives meaning while developing and enriching us and lastly is the law, “down there”.

Kirby spoke warmly of his family admitting that he has been surrounded by love all his life and, “anyone who denies another love is not a nice person”. This was in spite of the difficulties he encountered when coming out as a homosexual both publicly and personally. Dellora’s book contains extracts from letters between Kirby and his father written in the ’60s that encouraged him to go to the top doctors on Harley Street to get himself fixed, making his plea, “as a loving father”. When his mother read the letters she wrote back, “I love you, I love you, I love you”.

Kirby encouraged the audience to be grateful for the love in their lives, that if we find someone who is kind, supportive and honest we are a lucky human, whether we are straight or gay. He said it doesn’t matter if we have a mother who loves us and another mother, or a dad and another dad, the important ingredient is love and any child that is loved is a lucky child.

He talked about the fear campaign in the media’s coverage of refugees pointing out that Australians shouldn’t be swayed by fear. He drew attention to the fact that Australia has a very small number of refugees, currently around five thousand, which is substantially less than other countries. What he would like to see is a process where their applications can be processed more quickly so people know where they stand asserting, “we shouldn’t be so unkind to these people”.

Kirby’s respect for life is not limited to human beings but extends to animals. He is encouraged to see how many young people attending university are campaigning for Animal Law, that they are saying our society is cruel to animals and, “we have corporatised the killing”. Kirby’s own view is we should be treating animals as sentient beings and extending to them love and care.

When writing a biography, Dellora said he looks for something others have overlooked and saw that Kirby is one of the only people willing to speak out about love.

Kirby, a man who has devoted his life to human rights and the law and continues to serve on international bodies remains genuinely conscious of his shortcomings. He spoke highly of his partner van Vloten and his capacity, “to give and give at all times”, against which he could only describe himself as a selfish man.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he said, “I should be down mowing the lawns.”

Missed the Kirby session? Click on the image to listen.

Humble words from Australia’s champion of love.

Margo Laidley-Scott is a media student at Southern Cross University.

After Auschwitz, there can be no more poetry

During the closing session of the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival 2012, some of the darker themes of writing were explored in Going To The Dark Side.  Chaired expertly by Ashley Hay, the panellists Tony Birch, Tony Cavanaugh and Denise Leith all spoke about their unique experiences of going to the dark side in their writing – a defining thread that seemed to tie them all together. The discussion took an up-close-and-personal look at the darker aspects of human society: war, fear, violence, disaster and environmental collapse – all the usual suspects.

In writing their novels, each panellist had to embark upon a journey into the dark, either through their protagonist, or through the vivid reality of war itself as in the shape of Leith’s book; more closely aligned with fact.

Leith questioned her own obsessive interest in war but reasoned that it is in trying to understand injustice and humanity – an issue she has grappled with since childhood – that she keeps coming back to the subject.

“In war, you see the worst of human behaviour and the best of human behaviour,”  Leith says.

Compassion and kindness always find a way to arise from even the darkest of places, including the abject horror of war, and it is to that place Leith always returns.

It is evident early on in the session that all of the panelists climbed deeply into their books, in some cases research itself almost bordering on a process not dissimilar to madness, channelling psychopaths and swallowing down story after story on serial killers and the like.

Tony Birch describes his connection to the darkness as a deep sense of intrigue into the nature of evil. Before long the line between good and evil is explored in depth on the panel.

Let’s talk about the Rwandan genocide and the way in which Hutus were not just killers, but in some cases heroes – as in those who were hiding the Tutsis, Leith said. This made us all question what enabled them to be so incredibly brave?

Does evil exist? Leith suggests that after everywhere she has been and everything she has seen as a reporter and war correspondent, it isn’t so much that people are evil but that they are capable of doing evil deeds.

There is great skill involved in orchestrating mass slaughter, explain Tony Cavanaugh. Though it is cold-blooded, pathological murder that he struggles to understand. Those are the kind of murders that make you stand up and take notice.

So what keeps us from crossing over? From going to the dark side?

Having the courage to go inside yourself and to ask the deeper questions, Cavanaugh explains.

“To know thy self. Because once you have crossed that line, there is no going back. After Auschwitz, there can be no more poetry.”

Michelle Sim is a student at Southern Cross University. 

Digitial big bang: a brave new world for writers

The digital big bang is neither a good thing, a bad thing but neither is it neutral, agreed panellists Marc Fennell, Antony Funnell and Stephen Sewell.

The way Sewell described it, we’re looking at a revolution. Pillars of our economy, our arts and our society are crashing down around us. We cannot possibly know what might be left when the smoke clears. An oppressive online environment controlled by large corporations, or a great freedom and deregulation with all the advances and the dangers that might encompass. Fennell thought it was most likely we’d end up somewhere in between.

Funnell agreed with the sentiments of revolution. He described the digital big bang as an evaporation of everything we understand about writers, books and publishing. We are standing on the edge. Exhausted as we might feel by the constant digital expansion, we’ve barely dipped our toes in the water.

Dickens’ words “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” captures perfectly the digital revolution. Sewell fantasises about being author to a kind of Alice in Wonderland story. Readers would just leap into a hatch and could go wherever they pleased within the written world. On the flipside, the internet brings new debates about censorship and copyright, it brings trolls onto the scene and it takes some of the legitimacy away from ‘published’ books.

With so much choice, the panel wondered, how can we know what is worth reading? Publishers have performed that function: will we eventually need to trawl through masses of unsolicited works to find the diamond in the rough? A publisher brings a critical eye and editorial ability to a manuscript. Without them, authors risk self-publishing inferior work or they will be forced to hire an editor privately. Potentially a very profitable decision, Fennell thought – IF the book proves successful.

At a session yesterday, I heard about how the success of 50 Shades of Grey has caused publishers to start wildly publishing erotic fiction hoping to capitalise on E. L James’ success. The same thing happened following the hysteria over Twilight. With the economic climate turned against publishers, there is a risk that excellent writing will be left on the reject pile because it fails to fit the sellable mould.

Digital publishing risks the intensification of the shrinking literary variety. Publishers can receive feedback through our e-readers on what we’re reading, how quickly we do it, what we highlight and how often we return to it. In the same way the advertisements you see online are tailored to your search history, we may see publishers tailor their commissioning of new work to suit the style that our data says sells well.

To be an author online is to open yourself to criticism; you need to be prepared for that sort of audience interaction. Fennell spoke about his The Movie Book, the subject of at least three blogs. He is used to his work being discussed online (his advice is to never Google yourself). Fennell however felt that his work was skewed for audience interaction, and the way people reach out to do that is online. As a movie critic, his role he felt is in starting a conversation which the audience finishes. Maybe that’s the future for all writing. Writers stepping out of the ivory tower and into the throng.

Emily Handley is a Southern Cross University media student.

Something in the Water – Byron’s never ending supply of talent

The Byron area produces an abundance of writers. So many emerge that the Writers’ Festival can afford to showcase the new talent every year. The theory posited this afternoon was that there is something in the water. There does seem to be an element in the area that is especially conducive to writing. If I had to make a guess, I would say it’s the festival itself and the community it fosters. When Jesse Blackadder introduced the four debut authors, she asked for a proper Byron welcome. The following roar of applause, whoops and cheers was as endearing as it was deafening.

The first emergent writer to speak about how the area shaped her as a writer was Jessie Cole. Her novel Darkness on the Edge of Town was lauded as exquisite and pitch perfect by The Australian this week. She grew up in the area, she tells us, but she never really felt like part of it. Cole explained how she is quite often isolated, both emotionally and geographically, living in a technological black spot with no mobile reception and no broadcast media save for the dear old ABC. Jessie gives credit to this degree of separation for providing her with an impetus to write. She wasn’t compelled by the Byron area so much a given a realm without distraction to create her story.

Amanda Webster’s story is an entirely different matter. The Boy who Loved Apples is Webster’s memoir, detailing her experiences raising an anorexic son. The impact of Byron on her story is immediately apparent; the story, after all, is set in Byron Shire. The novel took eight years to emerge fully formed, and when it did Webster was not without reservations. She explained that the beauty of this area might help you write, but it leaves you unprepared for publication and the sensation of having a readership. She was telling her son’s story as well as her own, exposing a very personal experience to the world. Webster remained chipper, though, as she took us through the experience of writing in Byron.

“It’s not the water, it’s the coffee.” She laughed, but ended by saying that the real value of the area is the support of her fellow writers.

Lisa Walker’s first novel, Liar Bird is a romantic comedy featuring a pig that is feral and a frog that is a philosopher. She always knew she had a book inside her, but it was her move to Byron from the city that compelled her to finally write it. Her own sea change acted as inspiration for Liar Bird, with the novel’s protagonist undergoing a similar experience after losing a PR battle with a potoroo. Walker explained how fond she is of the local fauna; she was very impressed to see that wildlife is an important part of so many people’s lives. This, perhaps, explains the philosopher frog. Walker also detailed the lack of anonymity the area provides to writers, how her readers might be trying to find analogues of people they know. A futile activity, she assured the audience, as all her characters were entirely fictional.

Shamus Sillar absorbed the stories of the area from his childhood onwards, managing to find hilarity in the experiences recounted to him. He told of how he noticed a scar on his father’s leg while body surfing. It turns out his father was out spear fishing and found that his leg was the catch of the day. Sillar told us about his Nanna and the trove of stories covering both family and local history. We’re told she had wonderful store of tales and an even more wonderful store of lollies. Sillar’s wedding is just such a story; involving a doughnut of storms, a tearful bride-to-be and a happy ending with rainbows and humpback whales. As the title suggests, Sillar’s debut novel Sicily, it’s not Tuscany is set in Sicily, but it’s author has taken Byron with him and put the attitudes and character of the place into the story.

It probably isn’t something in the water, it might not even be the festival or any other X-factor that turns Byronians into auteurs. There might be, but even if it’s just a stroke of luck, there’s no denying the effect the area has on the locals that are brave enough to put pen to paper.

David Wilton is a Media student at Southern Cross University

Pitch a story and pull a crowd

How easy it was for me to sit, with the sun on my back, and to wait to hear what the Perfect Pitch entrants 2012 would come up with. It was easy for me, this time, just to watch. When it’s you standing up talking about this book that you have poured your heart and your work and your belief into, and when you are confronted not only by an audience but real life publishers, any one of whom could be the one who loves your book, and may publish your book… In the first moment of panic on stage you can forget that the publishers and audience simply want to hear a about the story you created, and something about the story of you, as someone who created a book, something that remains a wonder and that most people won’t ever do….
Susanna Freymark, who pitched her novel a few years ago was superb in the MC role and Shamus Sillar, another former pitcher, kicked off proceedings.

It sounds like Christopher Dewhirst has written a rollicking crime thriller, Fractured, set in Shanghai and Casino and many places in between. Chris received very positive feedback from the panel of three judges to say there was lots of detail in his pitch about the story plot, They mentioned they would like to hear more about character motivations, and particularly of the love story.

Kathryn Lyster told us about her epic love story of Rip and Sahara torn apart when Sahara left Byron for Sydney.  It is a story of love, and longing and loss, and none of us was in any doubt that Kathryn spoke from the heart beautiful pitch from Katherine about her story of epic love dedicated to Sam who took his life weeks after their last kiss.

 Feedback from the judges  including HarperCollins publishing director Shona Martyn and Meredith Curnow from Vintage said the wonderful characterization gave the story extra poignancy. The judges said to be careful of telling publishers how marketable a story but still asked to speak to her afterwards.

David Roland’s book, “How I rescued my brain” was a firm favourite with the judges, who described him as a confident performer. One of the judges spoke of “soundlessness of the first chapter as being amazing.” The judges said they could clearly see where the book is going. David said he would be finishing the book in eight months. He received a clear signal to continue his work on just as he has been going until now.

        
Anthony Brown is an ex-policeman who did grueling, heart-rending work in dark, damp places diving to find bodies. It’s work that would affect anyone profoundly. Anthony is now a psychotherapist for men supporting boys through to manhood. His book describes his journey from dabbling in drugs and prostitutes and his realisation he was ticking off the list of “an unconscious death wish”.

Diving beneath the mask will be a part memoir, and part guide of what to do, and what not to do, from a ‘macho cop’ using reiki and crystal as his weapons of choice.  The judges said it was a fantastic pitch. They suggested he consider whether he was writing a memoir or guide and that there might be two books in there.

 

 

I had heard and could recall clearly a chapter from Sharon Dean’s White Heron read before and had not forgotten it. It is the story of a banana farmer, Janice Bostok, who was also a world-leading writer of haikus. Sharon was enthralled by Bostok’s life, a narrative that included twice marrying her husband, the second time after he had shot himself missing all vital organs. It also describes the pressure Janice was put under to stop her from writing but how she persisted publishing several volumes of haiku and even writing apornographic book set in a nursing home! The judges said it was a lovely pitch in s conversational style and that the wild details Sharon shared in the pitch should definitely be part of the written synopsis. The book emerged as part of a PhD.

The judges mentioned in general terms that books written as PhDs need to be written differently tor trade publishing.

Julia Prendergast impressed the judges and the audience with her quiet presence and the fact that she has written a book that sounds powerful yet disturbing. It also impressed us all that she had done so amid a busy family life with six children. It must be a good number of children for writers as John Marsden mentioned he has six children. Julia Prendergast’s novel is complete and the story about Chelsea who is on a quest to save her mother.  The judges felt Julia’s book is brave and complex and said they would like her to “Tell us more about the story and sell it to us.” It was dark and interesting, they said.

The six authors exchanged cards with the publishers, paused to bask in the occasion, before returning to their homes with a new list of things to consider before sending off their finished works to agents and publishers. 

Marian Edmunds

 

Shining a light on Isobelle Carmody

There is something rather magical about Isobelle Carmody.

Touted as Australia’s own version of J.K Rowling, Carmody has a sparkle about her; a twinkle in her eye, as though she has knows a powerful secret. With wild, raven black hair and small elfin like features, you could actually imagine Carmody stepping straight out of one of her fantasy books – or perhaps that is just the spell she casts upon you.

I had the pleasure of seeing Isobelle Carmody speak at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival 2012. It was purely by accident that I ended up at the ABC3 tent, after my 10-year old daughter decided to tag along with me at the last minute. As a guest blogger with Southern Cross University, I was lucky enough to see some superb sessions at the Writers’ Festival this year, including some truly wonderful Australian talent. But by far the most memorable session for me, both as a writer and as a mother, was the session with Isobelle Carmody – the one I attended with my daughter.

Isobelle Carmody is an award-winning Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy, children’s literature and young adult literature. Her rich and vivid imagination shines just as brightly in person as it does on the page and she connects to her audience with an honesty and authenticity that is so often missing when children are involved.

Carmody has written extensively for adults,  however, today’s crowd was made up predominantly of book-loving youngsters between the ages of 4-18,  many of whom came out to the festival today, especially to meet her.

I had seen Carmody interviewed the day before by a Southern Cross media student, and thought she seemed intriguing. While everyone else visiting Byron Bay was admiring the spectacularly warm winter weather, Carmody was cursing and complaining.

“Too much sun,” she said. “I’m not a fan of the sun.”

My 10-year old daughter had read a couple of her more popular books at school,  but had no preconceived idea about the author one way or another. But within minutes of being up on the stage, Carmody had won us both over, and towards the end of the session we marched straight over to the book tent to get our new books signed, with a gaggle of fans eagerly lining up behind us.

After family and friends, books are what matter most to me in the world, and to see my child engaged and excited about the idea of reading and writing; to see her eyes light up and her mind wander off and into the realm of imagination – well, it’s worth its weight in gold (or in gold-dust, as Carmody might say). And she certainly sprinkled plenty of that our way.

Michelle Sim is a student at Southern Cross University.