Program & Events
| Program & Events |
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The full 2009 program is available for download here (pdf). Literary SoireeOn the evening of Friday 1 May (7 pm for 7.30 pm start), we kicked off the Festival with a Literary Soiree, at which we announced the winners of the Ada Cambridge Prize for Biographical Short Story Writing (Jackie Kerin and Simonne Michelle-Wells) and the Seagull Poetry Prize (winner Tracie McBride, runner-up Rose Lucas). Our special guest was actor/writer Alice Garner, who read from the winning story. The anthologies of short-listed and winning stories and poems were sold and attendees were able to chat to the writers and get their books autographed. Drinks and nibbles were available and admission was a gold coin donation. (Copies of these anthologies are now available for purchase at the Williamstown branch of Hobsons Bay Library - $10 for Beyond Words: The Ada Cambridge Prize for Biographical Short Story Writing 2009 and $5 for The Seagull Poetry Prize 2009: The Secret Life of Suburbs.) Participation sessionsThe participatory nature of our festival is something on which we pride ourselves, and the following sessions have become fixed on the program due to popularity: People’s Choice Awards (sponsored by the Port of Melbourne Corporation) The People's Choice Awards are amongst our most popular sessions each year. Writers can read a small extract from their own work and the audiences judge the winners. Two sessions were held in 2009 - the Prose Awards on Saturday 2 May and the Poetry Awards (poems had to have a nautical theme) on Sunday 3 May. A fabulous line-up of writers shared the magic of their written words. Others listened as the writers took us on their own personal journeys - thought-provoking, engaging, insightful, amusing - and then the audience nominated the readers whose work they had most enjoyed. Our regular MC, Philip Merifield, says, "As always, these were very entertaining events and it is extremely satisfying to see so many talented writers presenting their work with such passion and pride." Conditions: There was a limit of 4 minutes per reading, and spaces were allocated on a ‘first come, first served' basis. The winner of the Prose session was James Howard and the runner-up was Vivien Owens. The winner of the Poetry session was Margaret McCarthy and the runner-up was Rose Lucas. The Book Groups Our first Book Group discussion (Sunday, 1.00 pm) - on The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas - was led by Warren Whitney. As a result of our pre-Festival on-line poll (choices were: The Boat, Ghostlines, Watcher on the Cast Iron Balcony, and The Time We Have Taken), our second Book Group discussion (Sunday, 2.15 pm, led by Vin Maskell) was on Ghostlines by Nick Gadd. Workshops Workshops options were many and varied, including writing for children, writing for young adults, women's writing, writing for adults, scriptwriting, non-fiction and poetry. Participants were encouraged to bring pen and paper to the festival. See the latest Workshop Program here. Kids stuff Our own Andy Griffiths and Leigh Hobbs had the children entranced. See details of other children’s sessions here! Talks, panels, keynote speakersAs in previous years, our Festival was a mixture of activities. Confirmed speakers and presenters included:
Sessions included:
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