The Five Best Things to Do at Brisbane Writers Festival 2016
It's the most literary time of the year.
The Five Best Things to Do at Brisbane Writers Festival 2016
It's the most literary time of the year.
If you like reading, writing, talking or slinging about language in some other form, then you probably already have the 2016 Brisbane Writers Festival scheduled in your diary. Prepare for words, glorious words from September 7 to 11.
When it comes to events celebrating the written craft in Brissie, only the annual Lifeline Bookfest comes close to this feast of everything from prose to poetry to penning tell-all novels. Here, the pen is definitely mightier than the sword — and much more interesting too, given the array of topics touched upon at BWF 2016.
And given that choosing between dissecting crime fiction, exploring the art of reading, learning how to write your own cookbook and diving into supernatural stories can be difficult, here's our five top picks from the hefty letter-focused fest program.
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Since 2010, Ashcan Comics has been one of the leading voices in the independent comics scene. That’s not an easy feat — and neither is putting together ten issues showcasing local emerging artists and writers.
With their tenth edition due to launch during Brisbane Writers Festival, Ashcan has put together a retrospective exhibition of their past hits and highlights from the nine preceding printed tomes. And that launch we mentioned? It takes place in the same space on the same day; hit up the showcase from 9am, and the shindig at 3pm.
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4
Did the title of this Brisbane Writers Festival session make you think? Good. It should. Writing While Female tackles a topic that really shouldn’t still be an issue, with writers Candice Fox, Kylie Kaden, Anita Heiss and Natasha Lester sharing their experiences.
They know more than a thing or two about it, with outback thrillers, friendship-focused mysteries, indigenous non-fiction and tales of fleeing to the seaside among the group’s output. Even if you haven’t read any of their work, you’ll want to hear their thoughts about this important subject.
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3
You can tell a whole lot about this globe of ours from the movies. You probably shouldn’t, though — or you shouldn’t take it too seriously, at least.
The Feed‘s Marc Fennell both does and doesn’t — sure, he’s written an armchair guide to Earth as projected on cinema screens, but he’s obviously done so with a sense of humour. Questions such as “which nation is best equipped to survive an apocalypse?” and “which fictional country links Predator, Commando and Die Hard?” give that away, and we expect that hearing Fennell offer up the answers will be just as amusing.
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2
Every event at Brisbane Writers Festival is special, but some are truly one of a kind. Okay, so Twilight in the Red Box takes place on both Friday and Saturday, however it’s still something you won’t see elsewhere (even if you can see it at BWF twice).
Think of this as a conceptual event, an intersection of words and sounds in a filmic atmosphere in an electronic/contemporary classical music kind of way. We tried. Local composers Ben Heim and Connor D’Netto (AKA contemporary classical/electric duo Argo) have composed the music. Best-selling sci-fi book Illuminae provides the inspiration. When the two combine, expect an explosion of sound — and if that’s not exciting enough, this type of session is actually a festival first.
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1
Brisbane Writers Festival slots into the State Library of Queensland like a book being put back in its place on a shelf, however, the city’s biggest, most central repository of the written word isn’t the only place to have some fest fun. Yep, BWF in the ‘Burbs is exactly what it sounds like.
From Indooroopilly to Carina and Wynnum to Michelton, a selection of festival guests will grace suburban libraries to tell the stories behind writing stories. Speakers include journalist Caroline Overton and Irish author Michael Collins — and they’re just two of the 14 talented folks popping up around town.
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