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

Cooking our way to salvation: Jim Hearn and Wayne Macauley

Can we cook our way to salvation?

This is the question posed to Jim Hearn (researcher, filmmaker, chef and author of High Season: A Memoir of Hospitality and Heroin), and Wayne Macauley (highly acclaimed and awarded author of many titles including his most recent, The Cook) by Michaela McGuire (writer, columnist and author, Melbourne’s Women of Letters Salon host) in the Blue Marquee on the final afternoon of the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival.

Two very “real” authors sit facing the crowd from the stage, “real” as in honest and approachable. Jim Hearn and Wayne Macauley have a common thread in their writing; both their recent books are set inside commercial kitchens, but that is where the similarities end.

Hearn’s experiences in High Season are gritty and real-to-life. Set locally in Byron Bay, it is a memoir reflecting upon the reality of chefing and the toll it can take on one’s life. He describes the havoc on our “actual, physical body” that long hours and unforgiving schedules creanjte, the roller coaster ride of adrenalin that fast-paced service times demand, as well as the effect of this sort of career on family and relationships. He laments that “hospitality doesn’t lend itself to happy families”.

Hearn describes his work as being “raw and unapologetic, (a story) about living on the edge, addiction”  – he went through a nasty heroin addiction and thankfully, a recovery – “and rites of passage”.

There are no doubt some similar experiences that Hearn may have shared with “Zac”, a troubled young man wanting to become a chef who is Macauley’s central character in The Cook. Hearn’s experiences were all very real happenings though, that he has courageously shared with readers even though they may be some of the most difficult times of his life. Macauley credits his research to a lot of reading cookbooks, foodie blogs and biographies of celebrity chefs, whereas Hearn can look back on his life and see how his own path created an amazing story to work with, despite many twists and turns.

After working for many years as a Chef, Hearn returned to university at SCU as a mature age student to complete a BA (Hons) and is currently enrolled in a Phd at the University of Sydney, demonstrating the benefits of re-educating ourselves in later years with life experience to back up the theory.

It seems Hearn is a man with the gift of retrospective clarity. He is of an age when he reflect on his life and start to see that all of the craziness and suffering might have actually been headed somewhere, not just a continual path of learning, but towards lessons he can share with others in a hope of reaching out, both on a cautionary and empathetic level.

Both men read passages from their books. Hearn reads steadily and it is easy to see the rawness of the text in relation to the person reading, which is an amazing thing to witness in a world of overly constructed writing. Macauley offers a faster paced account, with his passion for storytelling really coming alive as he speaks, almost excited to drop each word into an attentive audience. Both men are engaging on their own terms, very different in styles which creates an interesting dynamic on stage.

Michaela McGuire now turns the conversation towards how meals and eating out (and the whole Masterchef movement) have gained such power, and how they are viewed as  status symbols in contemporary Australian society rather than as mere sustenance. Hearn seems slightly amused by this notion, explaining that the actuality of restaurants is more about the service and receipt of generosity than “all about the food”. He laughs off the TV perception that chefs stand around all day discussing the greatest way to create jus, also at the contrast of “working class” Australian kids getting immersed in French cooking terminology to get through their apprenticeships.

Hearn said it has definitely been part of the reason that Australian cuisine has become more sophisticated, due to a strong European influence, but that, overall, the relationship between the host and the guest is paramount to the underlying tasks of any successful food business.

There is lively debate between Macauley and Hearn over the role of service and servitude, and Macauley makes the point that sometimes it can be excruciating to pay for ten times an ingredient’s worth whilst dining out, especially in stark disproportion to the fact that we are experiencing widespread global poverty and food shortages. His socially aware stream of thought seems to echo a moment of sadness in the audience, which Hearn breaks by stating the truth of the matter, however disconcerting to hear.

“We live in a consumer-driven climate; so, no, cooking will never be a way to salvation, it is not possible.”

It seems that it is going to take more to save the world, or our souls, than a well-executed meal. Maybe true salvation may lie not in the presentation of a plate but in filling the bowls of the starving? Just a thought …

Keira Patrick is a Southern Cross University media student.

War (what is it good for?) – Pilger gets standing ovation

“Pilger’s work has been a beacon of light during very dark times,” Noam Chomsky.

Two icons had the crowd hanging off every word as Phillip Adams hosted John Pilger in the Southern Cross University tent this afternoon at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival.

Over the years, John Pilger has been instrumental in shedding light on social injustice around the world. Passionate and unapologetic, the left-wing journalist and documentary-maker gave insight and understanding into how we’ve come to know the world we live in today.

Listen to the session in full here.

“Obama is a brand”: this was the statement that jerked me into consciousness. Pilger unloaded on Obama and his failing of the American people.

[Obama's] got five wars going on around the world… he’s betrayed the people at the bottom of society,” said Pilger.

This statement sums up the feelings Pilger has about Obama, but the notion of Obama the brand, I’d never heard that one before. This brand Pilger speaks of is the notion that Obama is “the man in front of the showcase”. That showcase, is a US government richly invested in upending countries for resources such as oil and fighting wars under the guise of human rights issues.

“Human rights is always a cover for an attack on a country,” said Pilger.

“Along my travels I’ve learned you don’t invest in the morality of great power,” said Pilger.

Then it came to the idea that governments are extremists. Pilger drew the comparison for when governments license a view among the people that accepts racist or xenophobic views. His examples include Australia’s stance on refugees – a stance that has not changed despite changes in government.

“Howard had views on race and xenophobia that weren’t unlike Pauline Hanson,” said Pilger.

Wiki leaks was the next topic that pricked up my interest. Pilger is a huge advocate for the work of Julian Assange and the crowd shared his sentiments greatly. Pilger slammed Prime Minister Gillard, a lawyer, for pre-judging Assange and failing him as an Australian citizen.

Pilger remembers a time when journalists used to be more representative of the people on the ground, not the ones in power.

“Journalists used to be agents of people, not agents of power,” said Pilger.

Where do we go to from here you might ask? Pilger believes we need to distance ourselves from Australia’s allies such as America and forge our own independence and identity.

“We have to have a sea change in our attitude to this great allies,” said Pilger.

Pilger had some other ideas about how we can forge this identity and pointed out two things that are paramount to this change.

“Nationhood has to be given back to the first Australians,” said Pilger.

“We need to start speaking as a nation not as a satellite state of the United States,” said Pilger.

These statements were met with huge applause and the vibe around the tent was one of optimism. I heard many comments from people that they thought it was “about time”.

Pilger’s talk ended to a standing ovation as the Byron Bay crowd commended him on such an uncensored talk that they could all feel on some deep level of freedom and justice.

Alex Workman is a Southern Cross University media student.

Harry Highpants at the Magic Beach

Alison Lester’s Magic Beach is one of my favourite books that I read to my children. So poetic. Yesterday children from seven schools met at St Finbarr’s Primary School to hear multi-award winning author and illustrator Alison Lester and children’s author Tony Wilson talk about their books. They told the students what set them off on their writing journey.
Festival Director Candida Baker says organising events where children interact with authors is one of her favourite aspects of the Festival. “You could see on the childrens’ faces how much they were inspired by Alison’s and Tony’s stories about how they came to writing and how they have built a career from it,” Baker says. “From the spontaneous applause, it was obvious just how much some of the books such as Tony’s Harry Highpants and Alison’s Magic Beach mean to the kids.”
Alison Lester mesmerised the kids with examples of her very early work including a story she wrote and illustrated as a child. “One of the hardest things about writing and illustrating is keeping on with it,” Lester says. “You have to stick with it and do it every day and then you will get better.”
Lester outlined how she used stories from her own life as inspiration for her books. “The Quicksand Pony is based on the true story of our horse Taffy and how she got stuck in quicksand on the beach.”
The students were also given tips on how to achieve depth in illustrations. “Never use the colour straight out of the tube,” Lester advises. “You will have a much richer picture if you mix your own colours.”
Wilson, the author of eight books, explained that everyone has good ideas but that authors act on these ideas: “I love Dr Seuss and thought it would be fun to write a rhyming story about a hero flower. That’s how I developed the idea for The Thirsty Flowers.”

As Wilson read from The Thirsty Flowers, he encouraged the children to act out the walking class as illustrated in the book. “It was hilarious watching 400 children limping, staggering, hopping and popping out of the ground,” says Baker. “The children were then enthralled by Tony’s explanation of a book’s journey from inception to being put onto the shelves.”
Wilson believes one of the nice things about writing books is that a little bit of him will keep living on. “I like the fact that my kids will always know about what used to entertain and amuse their Dad,” says Wilson.
St Finbarr’s Assistant Principal Caroline Morton was thrilled to able to host event in the school’s new hall. “The children and teachers all loved meeting Alison and Tony,” says Ms Morton. “My favourite part of the afternoon was when Tony had 400 children being dancing flowers.”
Baker says the children’s program has been hugely popular this year: “Alison and Tony entertained over 500 students at Murwillumbah this morning and will talk to 650 in Lismore tomorrow and another 500 in Ballina later in the week.”
The children’s program will continue on site on Sunday, August 7 when popular television personalities Amberley Lobo and Kayne Tremills from ABC3 will host the new Youth Day. Baker says the program is designed specifically to capture the imagination of children aged between six and sixteen. “Amberley and Kayne are very much looking forward to MC’ing the Youth Tent for the day,” says Baker.
Amberley and Kayne will introduce a variety of international and Australian writers including America YA writer Maria V Snyder; Australian writers and illustrators Alison Lester and Martine Murray; actor, presenter and writer Tristan Bancks of Nitboy and Mac Slater fame; picture book writer Tony Wilson; the Gold Inky, Teenage Choice Award winning writer James Roy and Wendy Harmer with her delightful Pearlie series of books. Keep an eye out for the wonderful Story Dogs as well!

Byron Tales: the ground we stand on

This place where we are matters in life’s big scheme, and in the minutiae of life. A special part of the festival was the Byron Tales event orchestrated by Jenni Cargill founder of The Story Tree Company that provides storytelling performances, workshops and recordings. Cargill chose as her theme “The Ground We Stand On” and invited seven speakers representing diverse constituencies of the community to talk about the forces that have shaped and changed Byron Bay.

First up was Delta Kaye who representing the Arakwal Aboriginal people of Byron Bay. Delta entertained everyone with her warm stories of growing up in Byron. She told of playing hide and seek among the cows with a mob of kids- in the paddock where the new Woollies petrol station now is and of her sister Yvonne getting chased by a bull. She told of eating fish for breakfast, fish for lunch and fish for tea, and of her parents fishing with nets at night ands being posted to watch for the dreaded fishing inspector. She told of living in Suffolk Park Caravan Park and her mother’s fast reflexes with a branch snapped from a nearby tree if they were naughty. Delta spent hours most days at the Taylor’s Lake in Suffolk after school. heer Mum gradually taught her and her siblings more and more, as they got old enough, about bush tucker and stories and how to be a good custodian of their sacred land.
Delta now passes on this knowledge to younger generrations as a part of the Cape Byron Trust running Bush Tucker walks through the National Park and the ‘Dolphin Dreaming’ cultural education programme for school kids, families and adult groups at Cosy Corner and the Pass.

Rusty Miller is a former USA Surfing Champion, who surfed with masters in Hawaii and in the early 70s he moved to Byron Bay. During the Aquarius Festival in 1972 he published the region’s first alternative free newspaper. He was featured in the film “Morning of the Earth” that time that offered a visual manifesto for soul-surfers (as opposed to a competition surfer). Since 1984 Rusty has produced the Byron Bay Holiday Guide each year, as a free booklet and teaches surfing.
“Rusty took up all his speaking time singing and playing Byronesque music from the 70s and 80s with his band. I loved the music and the ambience it created, especially some of the funny original songs the guys sung,” said Cargilll. “But I was disappointed not to hear a story from Rusty, who writes so beautifully for his Byron Guide.”

Frank Mills was the first farmer to sell land to hippies and had to weather disapproval from some of his peers. He was also a Byron Bay Councillor for many years and a Fire Inspector and has self-published many books of local history and is regularly invited to speak about Byron and Brunswick history.

Eighty-one year old Frank took people right back to the days of the old factories of Byron in earlier days. He said Sunnybrand Chickens emits but a mild aroma compared to the fetid stench that that use to roll out of the meatworks. Council meetings were lively. One landlord demanded the Council act to stop his hippy tenant from reading books that contained shocking language. Another made her demands wearing a large hat rammed down over her eyes while waving her umbrella wildly at the Councillors.

Phoebe Robinson, a teenager, from Mullumbimby is a member of a band and wrote a song bout Byron and played guitar. She had taught herself three weeks before but it didn’t show and Phoebe had real presence. The song reminded me that no matter the era we growing up in that our concerns are universal.

Sol was instrumental in the establishment of two skate parks in the shire, has run youth festivals and once led a rain dance during a drought here in Byron Shire which apparently resulted in a brief but steady fall of rain. Sol runs Soul Adventure Tours.
Sol shared his experiences of climbing Mt Chincogan (Mullumbimby and Byron’s small mountain), of men’s rituals held at the summit, and the great gifts the mountain gave him. Sol even told of the night when all his house mates had the same dream about the beings he had met on the mountain- without having heard a word about it from Sol!
Sandra Helpeirn is a passionate environmentalist. and 71yrs young Jewish woman who also works for Aboriginal people. She worked as a scientist, and moved into social welfare and social justice. She arrived with her partner/husband in Byron Shire 1992 and they set up a consultancy in social justice which they ran for 12 years. She was a Byron Shire Councillor for a few years.

Sandra spoke about becoming a grandmother soon after arriving in Byron, which caused the epiphany that led her to become an environmentalist and an active member of the greens. She also spoke of the joys of working to re-afforest her own property.

Jimmy Willing Jimmy Willing, lead singer of ‘The Real Gone Hiccups’ is a musician, singer, songwriter, puppeteer , puppet maker, storyteller, and events co-ordinator, “and he is also an artist extraordinaire,” says Cargill. “I invited Jimmy to explain the story behind the huge new iconic mural set in 1960s that he has painted in one of our main pubs.
Jimmy was dynamic and passionate as ever and even spoke to time! He told us why he set the mural in 1962 and in the 70s or during the Aquarius Festival. He related arriving decades ago in Byron on the train with a band he was playing with and the lead singer would always say “Phew where do they get these women? They are like something from a movie set!”
In 1962 you could drive your Holden on to the beach and take your dog on the beach but women could not take off their top. He had to remind a few Rails patrons of that when they pleaded “Mate where are the white pointers, the lovely white pointers?!” as enthusiastically gesticulated with their hands to indicate upright breasts on their chests.

Marian Edmunds, and with thanks to Jenni Cargill for filling in details of an evening I enjoyed immensely but chose to just sit and enjoy on the night.