Byron Bay Australia

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Byron Bay Community Issues & News Tuesday, August 09, 2005 Byron Bay Writers Festival 2005 Once again, the Byron Bay Writers Festival, held over the first weekend in August, proved to be all it promised, and then some. The delightful venue at the Beach Resort and the almost faultless weather allowed for a thoroughly enjoyable event. I went with a VIP pass (by kind courtesy of byronbay.com pty ltd) and, for the fourth year in a row, submitted to a veritable invasion of ideas, opinions, analysis and anecdotes from a wide array of contributors and participants. Starting sublimely on Friday morning with the big questions of refugees, asylum seekers and social justice with Julian Burnside and Shahin Shafaei, we went immediately to the ridiculous with Peter Beattie. On the important subject of leadership, he had little to say except to brag about Queensland no long being the 'redneck state' but rather how he is transforming it with his gst gains to the 'smart state'. While his book got him an invitation to the Festival, luckily there is little likelihood of Beattie giving up his day job. It seems you can take the politician out of Queensland .... Back to Julian Burnside who, while not quite giving up his day job as a QC, has taken on the legal and moral rights of asylum-seekers. Burnside's gentle manner belies his fierce sense of justice and moral integrity. Eloquently complementing the moving, and at times funny, stories of Shafaei - who had spent two years in detention - he advocated human rights so rationally that it beggars belief how anyone can take the government's policies seriously. But of course he was preaching to the converted. Saturday's topics ranged from feminism to fundamentalism; from abortion to adoption (with some very personal revelations from Sandy McCutcheon), and from lyrics to language. So fluent and funny was the session entitled The English Language; the power and the pleasure that, when I spoke with Shane Maloney (creator of the Murray Whelan comic thrillers) on the way to the book tent afterwards he said it was as if Ramona Koval (who chaired the session) had offered him a pot and asked him to piss in it! I bought one of his books and asked him to write in it. That's what's great about this Festival, you can rub shoulders with literary luminaries (funny how they're always smaller in real life) whom you've only ever seen on a book jacket, and at the same time meet new writers given equal billing in the line-ups. These are always complemented by journalists, politicians and academics offering meaty fare on life's big questions. Some famous faces turn up in the sessions having made the switch to writing from another walk of life. One such for the last couple of years has been the ever-youthful Rob Hirst, Midnight Oil's drummer, who wrote Willie's Bar and Grill after performing in post-911 America. Sad as it was that John Clarke failed to show, Max Gillies more than filled the void and, with Guy Rundle, offered - to a packed marquee of die-hard fans - one of the funniest sessions of the festival. Max and Guy joined John Safran and the inimitable Wendy Harmer on Saturday night at the Humour: Scripted and Unscripted event at the Community centre. Wendy stole the show with her analysis of nags and nagging, which had us all squirming and smirking with recognition. From the gravelly-voiced Tom Keneally and the impressive Anne Summers to the bright young things such as Leigh Redhead and Sarah Armstrong who, through their insight and intelligence, made this a festival of humour and vision as much as literature, I loved it. Looking at the programme now, I can only lament that I was unable to attend all the sessions. I could have soaked up at least another week. Jill Eddington and her team at the Writers Centre are to be congratulated on the organisation, content, packaging and managing of this superb event. Katharine Myres posted by katharine @ 3:53 PM