BLOG – WILLIAMSTOWN LITERARY FESTIVAL 2018

BY    Susan Davies

This is a brief description of some of the events that made up this year’s Williamstown Literary Festival; which took place from Thursday 14^th of June to Sunday 17^th of June 2018

2018 is the 15^th Anniversary of the founding of the Williamstown Literary Festival. It began when a small group of friends had a little idea, which has grown into a big hearted festival. From little things extraordinary things have grown and developed into a yearly weekend of conversation, learning and delight. Poets, performers and playwrights of every genre come together and turn little words into sentences; with more work they become biographies, novels and books of every kind.

A poetry bus took people to mysterious locations around Hobson’s Bay for poetry readings. Science, Death and Destruction, and Stories of Working Mums were all on offer on the Saturday morning. Novel writing, cartoonists and essays, and adventures with Alice Miranda; competed for attention with gardens and scary fairy tales. Unique stories of the West, like the Westgate Bridge, mixed with a historical biography about Elizabeth Macarthur and a session on Interviewing Techniques for Memoir and Family History.

There was something for everybody including: sessions with children‘s and picture book authors like Jacqueline Harvey, Leigh Hobbs and Sue Whiting; and sessions on  Adult Fiction, Autobiography, Biography and Citizen Journalism. There were also sessions on: Developing the Writer’s Craft and Career and the Writer’s Journal; and Sunday morning fun with Andy Griffiths.

All events were located at the Williamstown Town Hall or the Williamstown Library; which are both at 104 Ferguson St, Williamstown. Everybody talked about books and the enjoyment they get from reading. Some of the writers who appeared at the Williamstown Literary Festival include: Jenny Ackland, Greg Baum, Anne Buist, Josephine Cafagna, Bernard Caleo, Sheryll Clark, Kate Cole-Adams, Enza Gandolfo, Dennis Glover, John Harms, Leigh Hobbs, Barry Hill, Paula Keogh, Sophie Laguna, John Marsden, Ross McMullin, Graeme Simsion and Josephine Wilson

©Susan Davies 2018          spooky52librarian.wordpress.com

(Most of the details in this report came from the program published by the Williamstown Literary Festival)