Month: August 2015

New Asia Now: Miguel Syjuco, Annie Zaidi, and Sheng Keyi

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According to New Asia Now contributor Sheng Keyi, there is a saying in China: “If a Chinese person wants to learn about China, they have to learn English.” And the author of speculative novel Death Fugue points to the heavy censorship in the Chinese media and publishing industry. Keyi should know, Death Fugue has been banned in mainland China. Many Asian writers have difficulty expressing themselves as a result of either oppression or corruption in their countries. A common atrocity among the nations of Miguel Syjuco, Annie Zaidi, and Sheng Keyi was the levels of corruption in their societies. They each chose to write openly about the dark, and rarely scrutinized, aspects of particular Asian countries. They are all part of New Asia Now, a Griffith Review collection of work from young Asian writers, all born after 1970. It is the journal’s most ambitious edition, according to the Griffith Review editor and session chair, Julianne Schultz. The session began with the three authors reading excerpts of their work, and then they leapt into discussing the …

Narrative Frontiers: The future of storytelling

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As we move through the 21st Century, and technology evolves, inevitably so does the way we tell stories. It is important to consider how to tell our stories in this fast-paced era, as well as the way they are distributed. The panel jumped into a passionate, but friendly debate about the direction of these narrative frontiers. Mike Jones, head of story development at Portal Entertainment and author of The Transgression Cycle series, is a self-proclaimed ‘platform agnostic’. He believes the current state of storytelling, including video games and interactive narratives, have come about naturally as new ‘platforms’ have evolved along with society. His ‘platform agnosticism’ comes from a desire to break from sticking to a particular storytelling tradition, such as solely writing print, novels, plays, and so on. Instead, he says, you should consider the merit of working on platforms popular with current audiences. Jones said that he didn’t believe in the writer as the embodiment of self-expression; they must be audience-centric. Nury Vittachi, author of The Curious Diary of Mr Jam, also contributes to …

Out of Africa: The Meaning of Place

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There is something very personal about the concept of “place.” People ascribe meaning to places they visit during their lives, and those places become significant through the time they spent there and by the memories that are made. And through shared language and background, people can find a collective meaning or a disjointed one about place. Friday afternoon’s conversation Out of Africa brought together Abdi Aden, Russell Eldridge, and Eben Venter to share their diverse experiences about their African birthplaces. The three men, two of whom are white South Africans, have lives both familiar and different from one another. Aden, whose aptly titled Shining: The Story of a Lucky Man details his life as a Somalian refugee, speaks of a Somalia that thrived, teeming with life and commerce and, above all, happiness. Aden‘s memories of place are largely tied to language; his book was written in English because, he says, no one in Somalia will want to read about the bad parts of his life there. English gives Aden a platform to speak his story where …

Julia Gillard at #BBWF2015: Twitter recap

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Julia Gillard’s appearance at #BBWF2015 was indeed one of the biggest highlights of the festival this year, where she was greeted with enthusiastic applause and a standing ovation from the crowd. Her interviewer, historian and author Clare Wright, was openly thrilled to chair the session with the former Prime Minister, and described Gillard as one of her “bucket list” idols. Gillard’s memoir, My Story, was the best-selling political book of 2014 and her reason for appearing at the festival. More than full house and incredible applause for @JuliaGillard @ClareWright #BBWF2015 happy national book day pic.twitter.com/Euhog5trqq — Meredith Curnow (@MeredithCurnow) August 8, 2015 #bbwf2015 Yet again biggest crowd of the Fest for Julia Gillard. pic.twitter.com/Fo8jtNJDAm — HarperCollins Aus (@HarperCollinsAU) August 8, 2015 The session commenced with Wright noting Gillard’s many accolades, including her current role as the Chair of Global Partnership for Education, and her recent honorary doctorate for  “achievements as a women permitted to education and to social inclusion”. @JuliaGillard 'The most productive Prime Minister in Australian history-566 pieces of legislation while in a minority government' #BBWF2015 — Angela Long (@Angela_L_Long) August 8, 2015 …