Snapshots from Byron Writers Festival, 2024
Words can be limiting in describing experiences. I know that’s a strange thing for a writer to say. It’s how I feel when I try to explain the buzz from the Byron Writers Festival. I’ll try to share a few insights.
I loved the historical reveals, the clever conversations and the occasional burst of song. Indeed, I was chuffed to join Kate Ceberano, and hundreds of others in singing, ‘I will survive’, when we were exploring The Power of Creativity. Actor, author and all-round-lovable-larrikin Bryan Brown, observed ‘the warmth from the festival that makes you feel good.’
One of the hardest things about the festival is choosing between the sessions. There are five events running concurrently across seven slots each day. Topics discussed included: politics, poetry and pain; grief, grace, governance and grassroot activism; media, moguls and monsters. (There may be tautology in this last phrase). Also, writing crime and killing for country, and love, brotherhood and status anxiety, to name but a few.
Most patrons were grey-haired and left leaning. I was clearly hanging out with my tribe as I sat in in the winter sunshine, on Saturday anyway, nodding gently and occasionally chortling. I loved learning more about other writers’ processes for crafting characters and creating complex plots. As always, it was good to be introduced to authors I’d not yet been acquainted with. My pile of to-be-read books has grown exponentially because of my weekend at the beautiful Bangalow Showgrounds. It was time well invested and I’m already looking forward to next year’s conversations and to meeting more Australian storytellers.