BALLARAT Writers’ Festival organisers are confident the event has a place in the city’s growing arts culture.
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Festival chairman David Twomey said the inaugural Ballarat Writers’ Festival was always going to have unknown elements, being a new event, but there were definitely great foundations on which to make it grow.
“All the authors and people who presented said it was the best-run (writers’) festival they had been to, which was a bit of a surprise, being that it was our first one,” Mr Twomey said. “...It very definitely could be part of Ballarat’s arts history in the future.”
Lively debate on how to fix democracy headlined the two-day festival.
The event’s chairman David Twomey said the panel discussion was a fitting and well-received festival highlight in the two-day festival – and it got people really thinking.
Senator Sam Dastyari, social commentator Vanessa “Van” Badham and Indigenous blogger Nayuka Gorrie sparked interesting perspective on how, and if, democracy works.
Also among the impressive line up was literary power couple Graeme Simsion, bestselling author of The Rosie Project, and Anne Buist, who will talk about their new book Two Steps Forward.
Mr Twomey said submissions from the next generation of young writers was also impressive.
More than 50 entries from grade five and six pupils, writing what they like best about Ballarat, are on display in Collins Bookstores this week.
He said this included some impressive poetry and traditional storytelling.
Beginner and established authors had help on hand.
Buninyong-based book editor Alison Arnold, editor for The Rosie Project, and award-winning young adult author Cath Crowley led a session to help people find their voice in writing.
And with a few tips on how to get unstuck from the dreaded writer’s block.
“I think people can get a bit daunted when they do something like this for the first time or in sharing their work,” Ms Arnold said.
“We want to help them in finding their own voice and letting them tell their stories.”