Canberra’s own Bookish Bron will host a book club Hyatt High Tea as part of the 10th Canberra Writers Festival. Photo: Supplied/CWF.
International best-selling crime writers, stars of literary fiction, Booker Prize nominees, beloved Australian children’s and young adult storytellers, and acclaimed Canberra authors. These are just some of the people who are part of the incredible lineup assembled to celebrate The Canberra Writers Festival’s 10th anniversary.
There will be more than 110 events, 200 artists and hundreds of books across four days in October.
One is the Frock Up Book Club Hyatt High Tea with Canberra’s own reviewer Bookish Bron (Brownyn Swasbrick) discussing the book with its author Sophie Green.
“[Her] books are set around a particular space where women of different ages go, and they become friends and support each other, and it looks into all kinds of issues that women come across in their lives, small ones and big ones,” Bron explained.
“Because it’s a book club, there’s a chance that we might go further into the book territory than we usually would at an event … and really talk about some of the things that Sophie puts her characters through, we’ll be talking about her inspiration for the book, those kind of things.
“[But] we have all been to one of those book clubs where not everyone has read the book and they’re there for the scones and the chat … so it’s okay if you haven’t read the book.”
Bron has a love of reviewing Australian books and her page is coming up to its 10th birthday as well.
She recalled reading Tomorrow When the War Began in high school, but otherwise most other books she read were set in America, such as Sweet Valley High or Babysitters Club.
“Things where I had to work out what a sophomore was … and so it meant so much to me to have books that looked like my life,” Bron said.
“It was really important to me that we support that industry to keep going, so that kids coming after us have more of that.”
This year’s festival program also has a focus on Australian literature, bringing in authors such as R.A. Spratt, Morris Gleitzman, Andy Griffiths, Garth Nix and Michael Robotham.
“The new Michael Robotham is something that he wrote … like 20 years ago, but when he shopped it around to publishers, they said no one wants to read Australian stuff, and so he put it away in a drawer, and wrote all these other things,” Bron said.
“Now he’s finally brought out that Australian book that he wrote so long ago, and juiced it up, and it’s ready to come out – I can’t wait to see what that’s like.”
There’s also going to be a strong focus on events for young adults and children, bringing all its programming for kids, teens and adults together in the Parliamentary Triangle for the first time.
As the world grapples with plummeting child reading rates, Bron said this was a great chance to expose kids to the wonderful worlds that lurk on every page.
“We take our kids out to sporting events, right? And we take our kids out to night markets and the balloon festival. I think that the Writers Festival is just as good … and then the kids see that we’re excited about books, and it helps build that love,” she said.
“[I took my 11-year-old daughter last year] and she thought it was really special, you know? We got a hot chocolate, we went to a poetry event where Omar Musa – who’s just won the Miles Franklin Prize – performed his poetry, and it just felt really good to see her experience that in the way that we like taking our kids to other events.”
The festival’s original core focus on politics, journalism and memoirs is still strong, but it is continually branching out to include all realms of literacy.
Australian comedian Judith Lucy joins the Festival program, as well as literary fiction stars such as Pip Williams (The Dictionary of Lost Words), Steve Toltz (A Fraction of the Whole) and Siang Lu (Ghost Cities).
Big conversations about politics, democracy, education, social equity, media, AI and technology will be led by George Megalogenis, Jane Caro, Waleed Aly, Niki Savva, Karen Middleton, Bill Shorten, Toby Walsh, Bernard Keane and Paul Barry – plus Marc Fennel and Matt Bevan will be in attendance.
Gabbie Stroud, Martin McKenzie-Murray, Kate Forsyth, Jack Heath, Chris Hammer and Amy Remeikis are also set to feature.
Festival artistic director Andra Putnis said the festival was an invitation to step away from screens and scrolls, and sink into the pleasure of the written word.
“People often tell me how much joy and relief books bring them. They share memories of favourite books read years ago and wish they had more time for reading,” she said.
“[This year’s theme] ‘For the Love of Books’ is about taking a stand and making that time.”
Bron described the theme as an invitation to come along and discover a wonderful community.
“Join the party for the 10th birthday, share our love of books, and get our next generation of readers along to share that bookish joy.”
The Canberra Writers Festival will be held Thursday 15 October to Sunday 18 October across the ACT’s major national cultural institutions and festival venues. Tickets and the full program can be found online.
Original Article published by Claire Fenwicke on Region Canberra.
