Image: Carolyn Martinez and Vivienne Wynter at Eumundi Writers Festival.

Unfortunately, the recent Byron Writers Festival was cancelled on the second day. I enjoyed the session on Day 1, Friday, 8 August with Michele de Kretser and Gail Jones chaired by Chris Hammer. Jones and de Kretser were very generous and honest in sharing their frustrations as well as the successes in their career and spoke about how they approach their writing practice. 

Last weekend 22-24 August I was involved in the inaugural Eumundi Writers Festival. This was a great event because everyone was warmly welcomed whether they were authors or audience.

I was a participant on three panels:

·       Memoir with Kristina Olsson

·       Characters Ageing Wisely and Loving It? with Nikki Gemmell

·       Kristina Olsson and I co-ran a session on A Strong Writing Practice with ABC presenter Sheridan Stewart. 

These sessions took place in the CWA Hall a compact space which was packed but also intimate and the audience were unabashed and actively contributed. This is always one of the highlights of attending writers festivals.

There were many events of interest including The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the livelihood of Writers and the Demise of Imagination, with Jemma Pollari, Dr Declan Humphreys, and Jack Carty. Jemma Pollari (Chair of Queensland Writers Centre) was especially knowledgeable and convincing. Some video of the event here.

Conversations about Nature and Change featured author Simon Cleary whose latest book Everything is Water charts an inspiring pilgrimage inviting his readers to connect with nature. There are many grim distressing tales about the environment, so I particularly enjoyed hearing about plans to populate a cod which is closely related to the Brisbane Cod. The Brisbane Cod is now extinct but used to inhabit the Brisbane River. Apparently, thousands of fingerlings of this near relative cod have been released into the river.

Carolyn Martinez, CEO Hawkeye Publishing, a trade publisher, gave an interesting talk about Getting Published. It was also great to get to know Vivienne Wynter who interviewed Carolyn. Vivienne is the publisher of The Pineapple, a cultural journal featuring constructive journalism.