Gina Chick, winner of TV series Alone Australia last year, will speak about her new memoir at the Headland Writers Festival on 20 October. Photo: Mark Rogers.
Every year the Headland Writers Festival brings the authors of some of Australia’s most talked about books to the coastal village of Tathra in the Bega Valley. This year’s authors include Gina Chick, winner of last year’s SBS TV series Alone Australia, Markus Zusak who wrote the international bestseller The Book Thief, crime fiction writers Chris Hammer and Hayley Scrivenor, and author/actor William McInnes.
People unable to travel to Tathra can livestream all the sessions held in the main venue, the Tathra Hall, for $40. Several sessions will be aired free at libraries in the Eurobodalla and Jindabyne areas.
Headland Writers Festival creative director Myoung Jae Yi said the team wanted to increase audience participation. “It is quite rare for authors of this calibre to come to this area and, as a bookseller in Bega, I know how rare it is to see them in person. This will enable more people to be there at the same time,” he said.
Mr Yi is passionate about Australian authors, particularly up-and-coming ones, so is grateful that the festival will introduce Kirsty Iltners. Her debut novel Depth of Field won the Dorothy Hewett Award last year. “It is almost the perfect novel,” he said. “I have a Headland book club and we are all just so besotted by this novel.”
Held across 18-20 October, the festival features more than 20 authors in three venues. The line-up includes poets, word and music performances, workshops and live music.
On Saturday 19 October the festival will take you 150 years back in time, decades before there were movies, when travelling entertainers visited southeast towns with the Magic Lantern Show. Another highlight will be the ABC’s Matt Bevan recording an episode of his podcast If you’re listening.
Kirsty Iltners’ debut novel Depth of Field won the Dorothy Hewett Award last year. Photo: Supplied.
Mr Yi said the theme of this year’s festival was arrivals and departures. “We are looking at the stories, the memoirs of how we got to where we are and what we’ve lost along the way,” he said. Gina Chick’s memoir will address this theme, as will a workshop performance of The Grief Monologues with actors Marti Keefer and Chum Ehelepola.
Mr Zusak has written a memoir of his family, Three Wild Dogs and the Truth. “I think that will be a really moving and touching session,” Mr Yi said.
“This year I think we have a wider range of authors picking up on different issues that are being discussed nationally,” he said.
For example, journalist Andrew Fowler, who wrote the book Nuked about the AUKUS submarine agreement. “He will be talking to Australian National University’s Professor Hugh White who is an expert in the field,” Mr Yi said. “The issue has pretty wide implications for Australia, including the funding of other areas such as the arts.”
Siang Lu, author of Ghost Cities. Photo: Andreas Weiss.
Also topical is Siang Lu’s book Ghost Cities. “It is a book of fables and myths, but you could see it as a parable of modern China and its politics,” Mr Yi said.
Forest Wars, written by environmental scientist and activist Professor David Lindenmayer, is another example. The book uncovers the destruction of native forests by government, corporations and the logging industry that is making bushfires worse, killing wildlife, and costing taxpayers millions, for the sake of box liners and exported woodchips.
For Mr Yi the big book of the festival is Bri Lee’s The Work. It is about the world of art and artists and art as a commodity.
There will be a crime writers panel discussion with Mr Hammer, Ms Scrivenor and Dinuka McKenzie, as well as the regular panel discussion held in conjunction with Writing NSW that helps aspiring writers to navigate their way into the publishing world.
On Friday evening there will be a free poetic experience at the Tathra Hotel with four poets including Canberra-based Jacqui Malins and Melinda Smith.
Mr Yi said the festival was about enriching people’s understanding of the world. “We have tried to create an open community of readers of all types and ages and we welcome everyone to come to see how the books they love are created.”
With that in mind, South East Arts, which presents the festival in partnership with Candelo Books and Tathra Hotel, has tried to keep ticket pricing very affordable. Prices have remained the same for the past three years. People can purchase weekend passes, day passes and tickets to individual sessions. There are also some free sessions. The Headland Writers Festival website has the full program and link to purchase tickets.
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