My writing group is right in the middle of a writing Festival at the moment, the Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words (Location). Today we had a visit to a small town in the Adelaide Plains, Mallala, which is home to both a fine country pub, the Mallala Hotel, and also to the Mallala Museum.
The Festival was launched on Wednesday night, followed by a talk about the importance of Oral History, by a member of the Gawler Oral History Group. This project is very focused and is intent on recording histories before the people involved are no longer able to tell their stories! This is such an important thing, so that history is not lost, but remains available to all.
Today’s event involved having lunch at the hotel, then going to the museum to explore the interesting historical exhibits on display. We then went back to the hotel to write about what we had seen at the museum, or to think about some other Festival event inspirations from the previous day’s event, which was a photographic exhibition, with five selected images each from three fine photographers.
At the event today, I put out the idea to those present that we could possibly put out an anthology containing both the words written, and the images that had inspired some of the words that have been written during the festival. Combining words and images has a long history, and many different kinds of writing can result, poetry, prose, novels, articles perhaps, who knows, inspiration is a many coloured thing!
So the actual Festival is branching out in interesting ways, connecting different people and groups, so that the appeal of it will broaden out in many directions! Inspiration, people, ideas, and enthusiasm, all coming together in the Gawler and Adelaide Plains region!
Tomorrow we have the great science fiction writer, Sean Williams, teaching us how to write for young adults, and then giving a keynote talk about ‘location’ in writing. Then there’s a yarning circle to talk about some important issues based around location, and going, who knows where. After that will be a talk from esteemed publisher Michael Bollen from Wakefield press, talking about location, and then another workshop by Katie Lowe (Fraser).
And that’s not all, there will be a forum with some writers talking about the importance of ‘location’ to them in their own considerations. Michael Bollen will be there to talk with writers about their current writing projects, if they wish to ‘pitch’ their book-in-progress, or book idea to him. A chance in a million, all at a lovely historical hotel, where wonderful wordy things happen, often!
And wait, there’s more – on Sunday, we will all meet up at the Gawler Community Gallery, to look at their work on exhibition, and then catch the train all the way to Adelaide and back to Gawler, writing creatively and perhaps reading out their brand new ‘ekphrasitic’ writing piece.
Then it’s another lovely lunch at the P/A Hotel, followed by the announcement of the winners of the Adelaide Plains Poets poetry competition with several of the awarded winners of the competition reading their winning entries. Then it will be time for the rest of the usual Gawler Poets at the Pub Poetry Reading, which takes place on the final Sunday of every month.
Sound interesting to you, it sure sounds interesting to me. I am proud to be the President of this small group of dedicated and creative writers, who help to get this wonderful Festival off the ground, and running well for it’s fifth year now, and the sixth year already being worked on!
I’m sure the crash will come on Monday morning after all of this, but I’m having a fun and fine time with words, and feel that everyone else involved is having a great time too! Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary thing, getting out there, involved with other writers is a wonderful thing!
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 