More Alice Springs Writers Festival/Sydney Writers Festival

I so much enjoyed the Alice Springs Writers Festival. I remember it keenly. For me, it was a better experience than the recent Sydney Writers Festival, which has become such a big occasion in which writers tend to feel a bit lost.
In Alice, while the crowds and the events were small, us writers were able to talk together easily and communicate about common concerns. It helped that we were all isolated in the Centre. The country definitely was influential. I doubt anyone who was there will forget the Sunday evening reading by Arnold Zable at Simpsons Gap. We sat or lay on the sand of the dry river, listening to Arnold's words. Roos came up behind us in the dusk to listen too. Overhead the stars sparked in a clear sky. Words were the only sound echoing from the rocks.
Then the readings around the candle circles in the dark. Powerful stuff. I can still hear Yvette Holt's poems. I know I returned inspired.
While I enjoyed the Sydney Writers Festival , it didn't leave me with the same feeling. It didn't charge my muse. Maybe that's because it's really the Sydney Readers Festival. It's not for writers, it's about writers.
Alice was for writers. May there be more festivals like it.

Eye of the Storm: Alice Springs Writers Festival Northern Territory

John Maynard, Kate Grenville, Jeremy Fisher, Andrew McMillan and Kenny Laughton before their history panel at the Alice Springs Writers' Festival.

Tanya Heaslip reads from her mentored work in Alice Springs.

I spent May 1 to 4 in Alice Springs at the Northern Territory Writers Centre Eye of the Storm Festival. What a great event for central Australian writers.
I was able to work with Tanya Heaslip, winner of an ASA Mentorship on one session as well as chair another panel on 222 years in the telling with Kate Grenville, Kenny Laughton, Andrew McMillan and John Maynard. I was also on a panel on Pathways to Publication which looked at the strengths of Australian writing.
During the festival I went to the launch of Fishtails in the Dust, a compilation of extraordinary writing by central Australian writers from Ptilotus Press. It's well worth its $35 price. You may have to ask around for it, though. Dymocks Alice Springs have copies, but distribution outside the Centre has been tricky.
Contact the Press if you are having trouble finding a copy. A percentage of sales goes towards the Indigenous Literacy Project.