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Great Exhalations
I had awoken to find a sparkling crust had formed on one side of my pillow. Either two slugs had taken residence in my nose, or my flu was progressively worsening. I could feel the gridlock of snot in the freeways behind my face, so I think it was safe to say that my immune system would be earning it’s keep. During one of the most illuminating, if not necessary, talks of the MWF my sickness began to take it’s toll. I was finding it hard to balance the urgency of bodily functions and maintain the solemnity of the discussions. I was desperate to cough out the residue of my illness, but the talk on the writer’s role in political activism was so important, that I was loath to interrupt in any way.
As Pettina Gappah was commenting on the important role fiction plays in subversively bringing political agendas to the fore, my person began to buckle under the pressure of ick. I knew coughing out loud would detract from the discussion, so my only alternative was to cough out quiet. I did my best slow motion cough. A painfully slow lung heave that sounded like a toothless dog gumming a chew toy. My gurgling exhalations had gotten so bad that a woman passed me a tissue. I gratefully snatched it, emptying my throat into the ply. Then she gingerly offered me a blue biro. I looked down at the tissue, which looked an awful lot like a petition against the parallel importing of books in Australia.
My nose is still running, but nowhere near as fast as I am.
by Frenchelbow
Festival Blogger
Dead Under Fluorescent Lights
Nearly finished
Whilst Louise and her Tim-Tam-eating volunteers were spending their weekend stuffing envelopes to get Steve’s school program out in the mail today (yahoo!), I was blockaded in my office for a marathon long weekend of plotting and planning. And the result? The program is stunning. Can I say that about my own program? I think I can because the program’s strength is, of course, the writers who are taking part. And, this year more than in the past, I’ve had a gold-mine of new talent from which to choose. Fabulous young writers from Australia and elsewhere who are writing with breath-taking energy and originality. Many will be featured in this year’s festival – Steven Amsterdam, Reif Larsen, Wells Tower, Andrew Westoll, Petina Gappah and Evie Wyld are some of those bold young voices you’ll be hearing. In the last three years the MWF has seen debut authors blitz the festival’s best-seller list – Alice Pung and Nam Le both out-sold their more experienced colleagues and the festival is developing a reputation for being the best place to find new talent.
There has been a recent campaign to save Salt Publishing, a UK poetry publishing house which was started by John Kinsella and has many Australian poets on its list. The campaign “buy just one book” will save the press from its financial doom through the power of one. After you’ve bought one book from Salt turn your collective financial power to supporting debut writers. Next time you are in Readings make sure you include “just one debut author” in your take-home books. Be there at the beginning when a new career takes off. Be responsible for launching the great writers of the next generation. Get some zing into your life with the freshness of their writing. Impress your friends with your prescience and recommend a debut author as your bookclub ‘read’. Get hooked.
Rosemary
Fesitval Director
