Mildura Writers Festival 2015

MILDURA WRITERS FESTIVAL 2015

16 - 19 JULY 2015 WWW.ARTSMILDURA.COM.AU

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WELCOME

Mildura Writers Festival 2015

BOOK ONLINE NOW www.artsmildura.com.au FESTIVAL OFFICE 41 Deakin Ave, Mildura Tel: 03 5022 9542 info@artsmildura.com.au FESTIVAL PACKAGE $350 (20% savings) 13 events including 3 lunches and 2 dinners. Workshop not included.

Students are FREE to all events that do not include a meal. Student ID required.

SATURDAY AT LATROBE PACKAGE $70 Includes 5 sessions and lunch ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Arts Mildura Director: Paul Lambeth Festival Artistic Director: Paul Kane Festival Chair: Donata Carrazza Marketing: Jess Avery Logistics: Danielle Hanifin Development: Rohan Morris 2

COMMITTEE Judi Harris, Michael Hogan, Stefano de Pieri, Win Scott, Brian Murphy, Helen Healy, Hilary Thiele REFUNDS Arts Mildura regrets that it is not possible to refund or exchange on completed bookings unless the event is cancelled.

VOLUNTEERS We thank the many volunteers that make this festival happen. If you are interested in volunteering please email info@artsmildura.com.au Arts Mildura acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the country on which our festival takes place and wishes to pay respect to their Elders, past and present, and the Elders from other communities who attend our festival events.

Videography by Simon Jackson Cover Photograph by Paul Lambeth Program Design by Rohan Morris Proudly Printed by Sunnyland Press

themselves, appreciating their talent and celebrating their accomplishments, and they, in turn, have responded with generosity and gratitude. This friendliness has characterised our audiences as well, which is perhaps the secret of our success, for I doubt there is another festival anywhere that is more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Accordingly, we welcome you to the 2015 Mildura Writers Festival and trust it will be as memorable and stimulating for you as all the others have been for us.

This year we are marking the 20th anniversary of the Mildura Writers Festival (the first took place in March, 1995, in the Woolshed at the Old Mildura Station Homestead overlooking the Murray River). Although the festival has grown and evolved since then (we no longer sit on hay bales), the essential features have not changed: it is still a lively and intimate gathering featuring the finest writers from Australia and overseas in a congenial atmosphere that is invariably warm and welcoming. The focus has always been on the writers

Paul Kane Artistic Director, Mildura Writers Festival

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I’m very proud to chair, I wholeheartedly thank Paul Kane and the team at Arts Mildura for the numerous behindthe-scenes hours they contribute to the success of the MWF; this year’s exemplary writers; and our committed audience members. To those of you who have wondered about, but never experienced this weekend in July, come along to a session or consider a festival package for the whole weekend – you’ll no doubt become a festival stalwart and we’ll welcome you warmly.

An interesting exercise would be to investigate the number of lives that have been touched by the Mildura Writers Festival in the last 20 years.

Whether profoundly or perfunctorily, the impact of this event has had meaning for many, engaging and enthusing us about writing, books and ideas. This year we welcome our first writer in residence and present our first Indigenous prize for writing in conjunction with PEN Melbourne: two very exciting additions to our usual program. Together with the committee, an upbeat and solid group 4

Donata Carrazza Chair, Mildura Writers Festival

The Mildura Writers Festival is an intimate literary event, attracting locals and visitors to the region. An established event, more than 20 years old, this festival maintains a high level of repeat participants, audience and authors. The enthusiasm for visitors to return is a strong indicator of a positive experience had. I would like to acknowledge the people behind this extraordinary event, responsible for generating the positive experience which is the Mildura Writers Festival.

To Paul Kane, Artistic Director, travelling

across the world each year from his home in New York, a journey he has made with Tina for more than 20 years. To Donata Carrazza, Chair of the Festival Committee for her unwavering commitment to stimulate the literary arts in our part of Australia. To the Festival Committee, Judi Harris, Michael Hogan, Win Scott, Stefano de Pieri, Brian Murphy, Helen Healy and Hilary Thiele, a small and highly skilled group of people working collaboratively to ensure the festival maintains its vibrancy.

To the participating writers, always generous with their time and skills. To Arts Mildura sponsors and volunteers, integral to the ongoing vitality of this festival. To audiences, many returning each year to experience the unique quality of this literary event and to the small band of merry staff, Danielle Hanifin, Rohan Morris and Jess Avery, energetically leaping into the task of presenting the festival. Best wishes to all for an enjoyable 2015 Mildura Writers Festival.

Paul Lambeth Executive Director, Arts Mildura 5

Thursday 16 July

Friday 17 July

Tracy Farr Writers Workshop: On being a writer 9.30AM - 10.30AM MILDURA BREWERY THEATRE CLUB 20 LANGTREE AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $20

Writing Across the Tasman: Tracy Farr, Writer-in-Residence 10.30AM - 11.30AM ADFA BUILDING 31-33 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $20, CONCESSION $10, STUDENTS FREE

Writing History: Tom Keneally in conversation with Stefano de Pieri 7.30PM THE MILDURA CLUB 85-91 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $20 $20 cheese platters are available for pre-order. Please call (03) 5022 9542 to place your order.

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In Conversation: Alexis Wright with Sheridan Stewart (ABC) 12.00PM FEATURE LUNCH, 1PM TALK MILDURA BREWERY 20 LANGTREE AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $35 Includes a drink on arrival and 1 course meal

Writing Life: Sharon Olds with Peter Goldsworthy 2.45PM ADFA BUILDING 31-33 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $20, CONCESSION $10, STUDENTS FREE Writing Poetry: Anthony Lawrence and Eileen Chong 4.00PM ADFA BUILDING 31-33 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $20, CONCESSION $10, STUDENTS FREE Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal Dinner 7.30PM 27 DEAKIN 27 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $80

Saturday 18 July La Trobe University Sessions BRIAN GROGAN LECTURE THEATRE 471 BENETOOK AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $15 (per session), $70 package (includes lunch by 27 Deakin) 10.00AM: AN HOUR WITH THE PHILIP HODGINS MEMORIAL MEDAL WINNER 11.30AM: FICTION READING: ALEXIS WRIGHT AND TOM KENEALLY 12.30PM: MILDURA INDIGENOUS WRITING AWARD, WITH ALEXIS WRIGHT 12:45PM: LUNCH 1.30PM: POETRY READING: SHARON OLDS, EILEEN CHONG & PETER GOLDSWORTHY 3.00PM: IN CONVERSATION: BARRY HILL WITH PAUL KANE 4.15PM: STORIES, LONG & SHORT: TRACY FARR & PETER GOLDSWORTHY 7

Saturday 18 July

Pen Melbourne

Festival Feature Dinner with pre-dinner remarks by Tom Keneally 7.30PM THE MILDURA CLUB 85-91 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $90 (Includes a drink on arrival and a 3 course dinner by Verdict bar and tappas) Music by Mildura String Group with Alison MacGregor.

PEN Melbourne and the inaugural Mildura Indigenous Writing Award The Melbourne Centre of PEN International is one of 145 centres worldwide whose members are united in a common concern for the art of writing and defending freedom of expression.

PEN Melbourne advocates on behalf of silenced and persecuted writers and promotes the role of literature in mutual understanding. PEN works for writers in prison, women writers, indigenous writers and writers in the Asia and Pacific region.

This year PEN Melbourne is delighted to announce the inaugural Mildura Indigenous Writers Award in association with the Mildura Writers Festival. The award is open to local indigenous writers of 18 years and over and will be for a short fiction of up to 2000 words or a poem on any theme. Alexis Wright will present the awards at the festival.

Entry forms at www.artsmildura.com.au www.melbournepen.com.au

Sunday 19 July La Trobe University Lecture: Sharon Olds, A life in poetry 11.00AM BRIAN GROGAN LECTURE THEATRE LA TROBE UNIVERSITY MILDURA 471 BENETOOK AVE, MILDURA FREE Festival Finale Lunch 12.30PM SEASONS MILDURA CORNER LANGTREE AVENUE AND SEVENTH STREET, MILDURA TICKETS: $70 8

Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal Dinner The Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal is awarded annually to an Australian writer whose work best reflects the high standards and distinguished literary accomplishments that Philip Hodgins consistently advocated and exemplified in his poetry.

The 2015 judge is Judith Beveridge, who will present the winner with a unique medal created by Mildura artist Jim Curry and a cash prize of $3000.

The evening includes remarks by the winner and readings of Philip Hodgins’ poetry by his daughter, Helen.

FRIDAY 17 JULY 7.30PM

27 DEAKIN 27 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA TICKETS: $80 Wine provided by Chalmers Wines.

MEDAL WINNERS

2014 Lisa Gorton 2013 Frank Moorhouse 2012 Robert Gray 2011 Gail Jones 2010 Don Watson 2009 Peter Steele 2008 Sonya Hartnett 2007 Inga Clendinnen 2006 Stephen Edgar 2005 Judith Beveridge 2004 Luke Davies 2003 Clive James 2002 Chris Wallace-Crabbe 2001 Carmel Bird 2000 Peter Porter 1999 Alan Gould 1998 Kate Jennings 1997 Bruce Dawe

JUDGES

1997 - 1999 Les Murray 2000 - 2002 Jan Owen 2003 - 2005 Peter Goldsworthy 2006 - 2008 Alan Gould 2009 - 2011 Morag Fraser 2012 - 2014 Chris Wallace-Crabbe 2015 - 2017 Judith Beveridge 9

WRITERS PROFILES Judith Beveridge

Judith Beveridge is the current Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal judge. She has published six books of poetry, including Devadatta’s Poems (Giramondo, 2014) and Hook and Eye: A Selection of Poems in The Braziller Series of Australian Poets (Braziller, USA, 2014). Her awards include the New South Wales Premier’s Prize for Poetry, the Victorian Premier’s Award for Poetry, the Queensland Premier’s Poetry Prize, and, in 2005, the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for excellence in literature. At present, she teaches post-graduate poetry at Sydney University and serves as poetry editor for Meanjin.

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Eileen Chong

Eileen Chong, a Sydney poet born in Singapore, has lived in Australia since 2007. Her first collection of poems, Burning Rice (2012), was runnerup in the Anne Elder Award, highly commended in the Australian Arts in Asia Award, and shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Other awards include the Poets Union Youth Fellowship in 2010 and appointment as the Australian Poetry Fellow for 20112012. Her second collection, Peony (2014), was published by Pitt Street Poetry.

Tracy Farr

Tracy Farr is the inaugural Mildura Writers Festival Writer-in-Residence. A novelist, short story writer and former research scientist, her debut novel, The

Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt (Fremantle Press, 2013), was longlisted for the 2014 Miles Franklin Literary Award and shortlisted for the 2014 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards and the 2014 Barbara Jefferis Award. Born in Melbourne and growing up in Perth, she has lived since 1996 in Wellington, New Zealand. She is presently working on her second novel.

Peter Goldsworthy

Peter Goldsworthy, poet, novelist, essayist and librettist, has won many literary awards across a wide range of genres, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize; the 1988 Australian Bicentennial Poetry prize; the FAW Christina Stead Award for fiction; and a Helpmann Award, with composer Richard Mills, for the opera Batavia.

His 1995 novel, Wish, was recently rereleased in the Text Classics series, and his 1989 novel, Maestro, as an Angus & Robertson Australian Classic. The Rise of the Machines and other Love Poems, his first collection of poems in fifteen years, was recently published by Pitt Street Poets.

Barry Hill

Barry Hill has won Premier’s Awards for poetry, history, non-fiction and the essay, and in 2009 was short-listed for the Melbourne Prize for Literature.

His publications include the awardwinning Broken Song: TGH Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession (Knopf 2002); Necessity: Poems 1996-2006 (which won the ACT’s 2008 Judith Wright Prize); Lines for Birds, a collaboration with the painter, John Wolseley (short-listed 11

for the 2011 Queensland Premier’s Award; Naked Clay: Drawing from Lucian Freud (short-listed for the 2012 UK’s Forward Prize); and, most recently, Peacemongers, hailed as ‘an amazing tour de force.’

Spielberg Academy Award-winning film Schindler’s List. In 2014 he published the final volume of Australians, his trilogy of Australian history from its origins to the present.

Tom Keneally

Anthony Lawrence, born in Tamworth, New South Wales, in 1957, has published fourteen books of poems and a novel. He is the recipient of many awards, including The New South Wales Premier’s Award, The Judith Wright Calanthe Award, The Newcastle Poetry Prize and the Gwen Harwood Memorial Award. His most recent collection, Signal Flare (Puncher & Wattmann, 2013), was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards. He lives at Kingscliff, on the far north coast of New South Wales, and teaches Creative

Thomas Keneally, one of Australia’s best known and most loved authors, has published more than thirty novels, dramas, screenplays and books of nonfiction. He has won many awards for his work, including the Miles Franklin Award, the Los Angeles Book Prize, the Royal Society of Literature Prize, the Scripter Award of the University of Southern California, the Mondello International Prize, and the Helmerich Prize. In 1982, he won the Booker Prize for Schindler’s Ark, later made into the Steven 12

Anthony Lawrence

Writing and Writing Poetry at Griffith University, Gold Coast.

Sharon Olds

Sharon Olds, born in San Francisco, has lived in New York City for fifty years. The acclaimed author of ten books of poetry, she has received many awards for her work, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the T. S. Eliot Prize, and the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. She teaches at New York University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing and has been involved with NYU’s outreach workshops, including the Goldwater Hospital workshop and the workshop for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Alexis Wright

Alexis Wright, a member of the Waanyi nation of the Gulf of Carpentaria, has actively worked for Aboriginal concerns and rights in Australia for many years.

Her books include Plains of Promise, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize; Grog War, a study of alcohol abuse in Tennant Creek; the short story collection Le Pacte de Serpent; and, as editor, Take Power, a collection of essays and stories celebrating twenty years of land rights in Central Australia.

Her most recent novel, The Swan Book, won the Association for the Study of Australian Literature Gold Medal, and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. In addition to her literary work, she has organised two successful Indigenous Constitutional Conventions in the Northern Territory.

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EXHIBITIONS ON DURING THE FESTIVAL Wallflower Photomedia Gallery

Stefano’s Gallery 25

THE COMPLEX PAIN ART PROJECT PRESENTED BY LOWER MURRAY MEDICAL LOCAL 25 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA OPENING 6.00PM THURSDAY 16 JULY 16 JULY TO 16 AUGUST

DEEP NORTH - MATT STANTON 3 JULY TO 31 JULY 41 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA OFFICAL OPENING FRIDAY 3 JULY

The Art Vault

ERASURE - ROBERT HAGUE 43 DEAKIN AVE, MILDURA OFFICAL OPENING 15 JULY at 6.00PM 15 JULY TO 3 AUGUST TAKEN TO ANOTHER PLACE - PAUL LAMBETH 43 DEAKIN AVE, MILDURA 15 JULY TO 3 AUGUST

Image: One Hundred Days, Nic Plowman, 2011

Whitecubemildura

Image: Robert Hague, Blue Claude Stone - lithograph. 70(h) x 70(w) cm

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JULY: DONNIE BYRNE, GEOFFREY BROWN & ETHAN BYRNE ARTIST WALK: SATURDAY 4 AT 10AM 27 DEAKIN 27 DEAKIN AVENUE, MILDURA 1 JULY TO 29 JULY

Mildura Arts Centre

199 CURETON AVENUE, MILDURA BARK CANOE: A CULTURAL JOURNEY THROUGH GENERATIONS 9 JULY TO 6 SEPTEMBER BLAST IT! THOUGHT I WAS DEAD. MILDURA ARTS CENTRE COLLECTION 9 JULY TO 13 SEPTEMBER A recent discovery at Mildura Arts Centre unearthed the script for a play dealing with the life and work of the Anglowelsh painter Sir Frank Brangwyn RA (1867–1956). The opening two sentences uttered by the play’s main character, the aged Brangwyn, are the inspiration for this exhibition which brings together art, text, and a dash of the dramatic.

Writer-in-Residence The Mildura Writers Festival Residency is an initiative of Arts Mildura and the Mildura Writers Festival. We invite writers working in any genre to propose a project that will enhance the regional or national cultural landscape.

The residency is located in Mildura, Victoria. Located in the heart of the Mallee, which extends beyond the South Australian and New South Wales borders, this region has long provided artistic inspiration to writers, visual artists, filmmakers and musicians. Mildura, itself, sits on the edge of the Australian desert along the Murray River. It is less than two hours drive from Mungo National Park in the World Heritage Willandra Lakes Region.

The successful applicant will spend the month of July in residence in Mildura pursuing his or her project but also interacting with the community and participating in the Mildura Writers Festival.

Image: Sir Frank Brangwyn RA (1867–1956), Sketch for Daily Telegraph Mural in London, ca. 1925–1933. Photo: Krystal Seigerman.

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UNIQUELY AUSTRALIAN STORIES

22 Deakin Avenue, Mildura | 5023 0211

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Mid-year intake – commencing July 2015 Designed for emerging writers and editors, professionals looking to improve their

Why SuniTAFE? – Delivered by professional writers and editors – Workshop delivery to suit individual interests

Delivery is through face-to-face workshops,

Keep me informed! or to be included on our email list send your details to create@sunitafe.edu.au.

Hannah Burke (03) 5002 1530 create@sunitafe.edu.au

Learn more at sunitafe.edu.au Mildura Campus Benetook Avenue Mildura Victoria 3500 T: 03 5002 1530 E: create @sunitafe.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Code: 01985A / SuniTAFE TOID: 4693

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Proudly hosting the 2015 Philip Hodgins Memorial Dinner in Gallery 25 on Friday 17th July.

We warmly welcome all guests and writers to this year’s Mildura Writers Festival.

Join us for quality Vittoria coffee, breakfast and lunch.

Monday – Saturday 7.00am – 3.00pm

Sunday 8.00am – 12.00pm T: 03 50213627

Mildura Palimpsest Biennale #10 is an experiential contemporary art event presenting site-specific new works by 75 artists from many nations across Australia and around the world in Mildura, Australia.

Opening Long Weekend Experience - October 2-5 2015

www.mildurabiennale.com 20

THE ART VAULT

exhibiting local, national, indigenous and international artists in three gallery spaces Artist in residence program & 10 studio spaces

1000’s of artworks paintings, prints, and ceramics by some of Australia’s most collectible artists for sale online 43 DEAKIN AVENUE MILDURA PH 03 5220 0013 info@theartvault.com.au www.theartvault.com.au

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Sponsors

Arts Mildura welcomes sponsor and donor enquiries and has deductible gift recipient status for donations to the festival and to be fully tax deductible. Contact Arts Mildura on 03 50229542 for further information or to make a donation.

Arts Mildura presents a vibrant program of arts events over a calendar year, made possible by the generosity and vision of many sponsors and supporters.

Program details are correct at the time of printing but are subject to change where necessary and without notice.

2015 FRIENDS OF THE FESTIVAL

Joanne Farell, Denise McCarthy, Laura Cook, Samantha Cherry, Ron Povey, John Arnold, Chris Riordan, Fiona Davis, David Stone and Viesturs Cielens.

SUNRAYSIA PRINCIPAL NETWORK

To become a Friend of the Festival, please see Arts Mildura staff at the event or contact the Arts Mildura Office.

PATRONS Special thanks to Brian Murphy 23

MILDURA WRITERS FESTIVAL

16 - 19 JULY 2015 WWW.ARTSMILDURA.COM.AU

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