Singer, activist, writer and former politician Peter Garrett will be the big name drawing crowds to Wollongong Town Hall this Sunday.
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He’s the headline speaker at the “Live & Local” event of the Sydney Writers Festival.
It’s the second year Merrigong Theatre Company and the South Coast Writers Centre (SCWC) have taken the regional broadcast for the festival, live streaming interactive events as they happen in Sydney.
However Garrett’s inclusion will be live in the flesh, chatting with other writers and poets.
Rike Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis from the SCWC will be interviewing the Midnight Oil frontman onstage and is quite interested to know why he’s returning to his “roots” and producing music again.
While the exact questions are still to be formed, she said she was really interested in how much creativity underpinned his activism.
“I got interested in Aboriginal issues for example, because of the songs “Beds Are Burning”. I was [living] in Germany at the time and listened to this great song and found out what it was about. That [sparked] my interest ... and I ended up doing a PhD on the representation of Aboriginal art,” she said.
Ms Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis said music was a powerful tool and Garrett “did a great job” of opening up people’s minds to different issues.
“As a politician you can only do so much, but as a musician or creative person you have a diff way of channelling people,” said said.
Garrett’s not the only big drawcard at “Live & Local”, with veteran Kerry O’Brien, Annabel Crabb, Leigh Sales and Paul Kelly beaming into the hall via live streaming.
While Illawarra authors Ron Pretty, Allison Tait, Helena Fox Duncan and Sandy Fussell will be live and free in the Writers’ Lounge speaking about their works.
This year a workshop for young writers aged 12 to 18 will also run as a way to entice more youth to get involved in creative writing.
“The whole festival’s theme is around that idea of using books, writing and reading as a form of therapy and working through issues – whether they be political in nature or health,” said Ms Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis.
Session times
Main Auditorium
10.00am - 11.00am - Kerry O'Brien: Living with Keating
11.30am - 12.30pm - Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales: Our Reading Year *Sold Out in Sydney!
1.30pm - 2.30pm -Peter Garrett LIVE in Wollongong: Big Blue Sky
3.00pm - 4.00pm - Bob Brown: On Optimism Conversation
4.30pm - 5.30pm - Paul Kelly: Seven Sonnets and a Song
6.00pm - 6.50pm - 2016 Closing Address - Hanya Yanagihara: The Conversations Between
'Writers' Lounge' - in The Music Lounge
In-between sessions you can browse the book stalls and listen to published authors read excerpts from their books/writing
Session 1: 11.05am - 11.25am
Allison Tait: Trilogy Bestseller, The Mapmaker Chronicles
Type: Reading | Genre: Children's Writing/YA
Session 2: 12.35pm - 12.55pm
Ron Pretty: Creating Poetry
Type: Reading | Genre: Poetry
Session 3: 1.05pm - 1.25pm
Helena Fox Dunan & the Young Writers: YWG is the name, writing is the game!
Type: Reading | Genre: Young Writers
Session 4: 2.35pm - 3pm
Sandy Fussell: Picture Book: Sad, the dog
Type: Reading | Genre: Children's Writers
Workshop' - in the Ocean Room
Helena Fox Dunan is a writer, mother, artist and creative writing mentor living in Wollongong. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the US. The workshop will dive into creative writing processes and give participants inspiration to apply new techniques straight away.