Three days on the Island: Emerging Writers’ Festival

www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au

The Emerging Writers’ Festival comes to Tasmania

Australia’s Emerging Writers’ Festival will travel to Tasmania for a three-day program of events celebrating the written word and offering professional development opportunities for writers from across Australia.

From Thursday 31 October to Saturday 2 November 2013, the Emerging Writers’ Festival will present a diverse program of discussions, performances, workshops and networking opportunities to enrich the experience of Australian’s writing community, in the idyllic surrounds of Hobart, Tasmania.

Emerging Writers’ Festival Director Sam Twyford-Moore says he is excited about the Festival’s first trip to Tasmania. ‘This will be a chance to bring some of the best of Melbourne’s literary scene to Hobart while celebrating local authors and creators. It’s the first time we’ve run one of our interstate events over three days, allowing us to exhibit a wide variety of writing styles. And with many of Australia’s leading literary magazines travelling with us – Meanjin, Overland, The Lifted Brow and Stilts – we’ll be able to connect writers with editors and publishers in incredibly exciting ways.’

This unique roadshow opens on Thursday 31 October with a Digital Writers Conference, an event that aims to bring writers from around the country together to discuss and share their work with audiences online. Discussions will cover new opportunities in the medium, the changing social media landscape and adapting content to an online channel. Panellists throughout the day will include Bethanie Blanchard (Crikey, The Guardian), Matthew Lamb (Island magazine), Benjamin Laird (web producer at Overland), Jennifer Mills (novelist), Connor Tomas O’Brien (Tomely.com), Zora Sanders (Meanjin), Jacinda Woodhead (Overland) and more.

Fittingly, the Emerging Writers’ Festival will spend Halloween night celebrating the horror genre. Graphic Content: An Evening of Visual Storytelling will bring together five visual storytellers to present their work on screen, accompanied by narration and a ghoulish DJ set. The night features Josh Santospirito, Briony Kidd, Leigh Rigozzi, Rachel Tribout, Chris Somerville and our international guest Andrea Hoff (Canada).

One of the Festival’s most popular night-time events will also travel to Tasmania for the roadshow. Mixtape Memoirs with The Lifted Brow will take place in one of Hobart’s most lively nightspots, The Grand Poobah. The popular literary magazine will present this free event featuring five of Australia’s best emerging writers, who will share the music that has inspired and influenced them.

On the final day the Emerging Writers’ Festival will present a special Young Writers Program, a free event bringing together two of the most exciting emerging writers’ collectives in the country – the Stilts Collective and Twitch. The day-long event will feature writing workshops, readings and pitch sessions, followed by a drink to close out the weekend.

The Emerging Writers’ Festival will be in Tasmania from Thursday 31 October to Saturday 2 November 2013.

To view the full program and to book, visit www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/events

About the Emerging Writers’ Festival

The Emerging Writers’ Festival is an independent arts organisation based in Melbourne, a UNESCO City of Literature. It exists in order to promote the interests of emerging writers across Australia – to improve their opportunities for professional development as well as their engagement with the broader public. Each year in Melbourne the Emerging Writers’ Festival brings writers, editors, publishers and literary performers together with the reading public for a festival that has become an essential part of Australia’s literary calendar.

EMERGING WRITERS’ FESTIVAL ROADSHOW – HOBART

THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER
DIGITAL WRITERS CONFERENCE
12.30pm to 5.00pm
MONA
$45 full/$40 concession (incl. Tasmanian Writers’ Centre members)

THURSDAY 31 OCTOBER
GRAPHIC CONTENT: AN EVENING OF VISUAL STORYTELLING
6.30pm
MONA
$15 full/$10 concession

FRIDAY 1 NOVEMBER
MIXTAPE MEMOIRS WITH THE LIFTED BROW
7.30pm
The Grand Poobah
Free

SATURDAY 2 NOVEMBER
YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAM: TWITCH MEETS STILTS
11.00am to 5.00pm
The Grand Poobah
Free