Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Literary Festival Galore

Go north to the sun this winter. The first Whitsunday Writers Festival will be held at beautiful Daydream Island Spa Resort July 23-25. Meet authors, publishers, and journalists in an intimate atmosphere. Programme includes welcome cocktail party and gala dinner under the stars.

See http://wowfestival.blogspot.com for more details and bookings.


Also check out


WORDSTORM Literary festival

http://www.ntwriters.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=43



Anthony Lawrence Workshop report by Lori Hurst

WITS proudly supported Dr Sylvia Kelso who was instrumental in bringing award winning poet Anthony Lawrence to Townsville. Thank you McDonalds, Townsville City Council and FALS for your financial support. Perc Tucker Gallery generously offered a room for the Friday evening Poetry Reading. Surrounded by a thought-provoking, photographic display we, the audience, were transported into the world of poetry. As an art form poetry enriches our lives. Anthony was introduced by Don Gallagher who described him as a poet who speaks to men. With his usual dry humour Don apologized to any in the audience who considered that a sexist remark.

Anthony has the rare gift of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. Those of us who attended the Poetry Workshop on Saturday the 10th, were given the opportunity to share his views and knowledge. The first half of the session we listened, jotted down notes and asked questions- for the second half of the workshop we were turned loose in the beautiful bush surrounds of James Cook Universtity to actively demonstrate what we had learned.

I haven’t miraculously become a gifted poet. What I gained from the workshop was a different perspective on how a subject can be viewed from many different angles, and the confidence that I too can express myself through the medium of poetry.

If in the future we can get Anthony back to Townsville for another workshop, I would highly recommend anyone interested in writing poetry to attend.