International Women's Day Event - Saturday March 9

An event featuring female writers will be held this Saturday at Azelia Ley Homestead, Manning Park in Hamilton Hill (close to Fremantle) as part of the celebrations for International Women's Day. I'll be there, in amongst the writers, some of whom will be giving talks, some holding stalls, and some, myself included, will be running workshops.

The event isn't just for women of course, and there are a wide range of activities planned that will be of interest to all.

The program is posted below:

  Nectar Fiesta Program

                                                                       10am - 4pm

9th March

2013

 Join us for a day of celebrating local women, networking, community building, writers, inspirations, stalls, music, dance, children’s entertainment,  great food and coffee.

v All Day- Ladybird Entertainment and Fairy Sandie with hoola hoops, face painting, skipping ropes and fairy magic.

v Azelia Ley Homestead Museum is open for a chance to visit the local history of Manning Park.  The museum will also have an amazing collection of vintage Pram’s on display, something not to miss!

v Massage Tent by the Challenger Institute of Technology Students by donation

 

Nectar Sand Sculpture by Tim Darby

Although he is more well know these days for his work in the sustainability area, Tim Darby actually started his career as a Sculpture. Lately he has enjoyed dabbling in this art form again working with sand, and has quickly become one of the best sand sculptures in WA. He is excited about being able to join in over the weekend of the Nectar festival to produce a work that reflects and celebrates women. Come and watch his work develop over the two days of Nectar and make sure you stay for the celebration when the sculpture is returned to a pile of sand!

Nectar Stalls

 

A wonderful group of women in small business, showcasing their wares, talents, and therapies.   Stalls include:-

 

v Xquisit, Mutima Beautiful baskets

v Loo Taylor, Anne’s Aprons and Baby Bibs

v Pasha Jewels, Hidden Pantry

v Delish Ice, Bon Pussy

v Australian Bush Flowers

v Anjel Ms, Big Bamboo Jewellry

v Village Café

v Nicci's Smalls,Kiki Design

v Delilah rose vintage.

 

Nectar Writers

Market Place - Azelia Ley Homestead Museum Verandah’s

1.     Liana Christensen

2.     Lucy Dougan

3.     Suzanne Covich

4.     Susan Midalia

5.     Tricia lee  

6.     Sarah Evans  

7.     Teena Raffa-Mulligan

8.     Vivienne Glance

A book stall featuring publications by local women writers including

Elanna Herbert (Frieda and the Cops), Rachael Petridis (Sundecked), and Vivienne Glance (A Simple Rain, The Softness of Water and The Cat in the Box), and others. Also the anthology Birdlife from publisher Lethologica Press. See http://www.lethologicapress.org

Workshop Space 

1.     10:00am  Pick a Woo Workshop  

Workshop 10:00am Do-It-Yourself-Publishing and the truth about Vanity Publishers.  How you can avoid the Vanity Trap and publish for profit and reach readers around the world.

Award winning local West Australian Author, Trade Publisher and founder of Do-It-Yourself-Publishing (Author Services Provider) Julie-Ann Harper has been involved in the publishing industry for over 16 years. Julie-Ann’s goal is to expose authors to the truth about self publishing and to avoid vanity publishing. Authors are then shown how to publish quality books, reach global audiences and maintain control and keep the profit with new publishing strategies.

Julie-Ann will give you a FREE 69 page e-book at the end of the workshop or you can just bring pad and pen to jot down some of the publishing pearls she will impart.  

2.     11:00am Iris Lavell

This workshop will take the form of an informal discussion and is aimed at people who are in the process of writing a book, or who are contemplating doing so. Participants are invited to bring either a small sample of their writing, a question, or simply their curiosity about how they might begin, or continue with something they have already started. The workshop will involve an exchange of ideas, information and understanding about the process of working on a large piece of writing whether it be a novel, a memoir, or a non-fiction manuscript.

3.      1:00pm Jaya

 In this body are gardens...

Seeds of inspiration for women who write (or want to)

Poet/storyteller Jaya Penelope will lead you through a series of reflections and exercises to open the doorways of your senses and uncover the stories and poems that nestle within the flesh of your body. A playful and safe space to discover the hidden treasures that seed your imagination as writer and woman. Pen and paper provided or bring your own...

4.     2:00pm Tricia lee

A Nectar Workshop In her Soul every woman is beautiful Come find your Sacred self

With Tricia Mary Lee

©     “Sacred Journalling”

©     Writing as part of your Sacred Feminine Journey

©     Your personal

©     “Wheel of Wisdom”

©     “Soul Gardening” and your Tree of Life

©     Creating Blessings for your self, your family, your community, …….. Our world.

Join Tricia on this Sacred Journey into the power of writing as a Sacred Healing Art.  Bring journal, pen, pastels and large paper.

5.     3:00pm Sarah Evans  -  MEMOIR: MINE THOSE MEMORIES TO FEED THE MUSE

PROGRAM IN THE RED TENT….
 

 

10am                          Opening by Dr Carmen Lawrence

10.30am - 11.30am    Inner Sky Kavisha Mazzella

 

Inner Sky is a singing and silent meditation practice that goes for an hour. We sing a chant and as the last note falls away we let the silence be and become one with that ..sitting together is silent meditation for a few minutes ,we then  start another song and so on . We explore the relationship between music and silence .We go higher and higher with the music and deeper and deeper with the silence within.

12pm - 2pm   Nectar Poets and Writers   -  readings from local writers

v 12:00pm  – 12:15pm          nandi chinna

v 12:20pm  – 12:35pm          Jaya

v 12:40pm  – 12:55pm          Jennifer Kornberger

v 1:00pm    – 1:15pm              Susan Midalia

v 1:20pm    – 1:35pm              Liana Christianson

v 1:40pm    – 1:55pm              Suzanne Covich

2.30pm

Performed by husband and wife duo West O’ the Moon.

Embodied, passionate, erudite, women from different cultures across millennia have sought to find unique ways of expressing their experience of life and their relationship with the divine through the medium of  poetry.

Weaving together story, poetry and music, West O’ The Moon will perform some of the jewels from this underground tradition, as well as the stories from the lives of the ordinary/extraordinary women who created these poems. Focusing on the medieval bhakti poets of India such as Lala, Mirabai and Mahadeviyakka, this performance also includes some ancient poets from Western traditions, such as Sappho and the Shulamnite from the Song of Songs .

Accompanying these poems is the music of Branan Dubh, trained in North Indian classical singing his haunting music has an ethereal quality that supports Jaya’s unfolding of the poetry

3.30pm Afrotonic and Tendera

DANCE, VOICE, HARMONIES…PURE ENGERGETIC

Sacred Space Lounge in the Red Tent

11am- 1pm NewBorn Mothers with Julia Jones http://www.newbornmothers.com.au/

1pm-3pm Death Café http://www.passionatelifeconsulting.com/the-passionate-life-project.html

3pm – 4pm Kim OMeara Stories from Rwanda, hear Kim’s amazing experience and new life path after an extraordinary trip to Rwanda.

4.00pm

Event Close
Thanks for your support
Donations for Nectar to Women can be made through
http://fremantlefoundation.com/nectar-for-women-supporting-generations-of-women/

Motivation and Determination

Before a writer gains that first publication there are often subtle, and not so subtle, discouragements from people who might or might not have the writer's best interests at heart. For each 'fragile flame' (thanks Jewel) these faint puffs of hot air might be just enough to extinguish or delay the work of a writer with a sensitive disposition -  a disposition that sometimes translates to their writing in the most beautiful ways. But whether a hardy or sensitive soul, or of any other dominant disposition, is not the point. My belief is that the strength of literature exists in its capacity to employ multiple voices in as many ways as voices can be used. It can take the form of stories that are told and written down, those that are carefully crafted in the tradition of the great canons of literature, poetic prose, the romp, chick lit romance, action thriller, horror, speculative, sci-fi, crime, detective story, gritty realism, the profane or the profound.

Discouragement often comes in the form of scepticism as to whether the work is likely to attract a reading public, and therefore worth considering for publication. Worse still, this doubt might extend to whether it is worthy of publication, particularly as the ease of publication increases by the simple clicking of a 'Publish' button. As ideas change about the exclusivity that surrounds the act of publication, debates about worthiness have come increasingly to the forefront. All is distraction to the writing itself, and this is where a person needs to be very clear about why s/he is engaging in the activity.The interests of the writer might intersect with those of the commercial book industry, or the literary fiction industry, but in most cases they are not one and the same.

First things first. Before even allowing concerns about publication to come into it, there needs to be the absolute freedom to play with the work and to enjoy the process. To get excited about it. To fall in love with the writing all over again. Because, let's face it, most of us are not engaging in this enterprise with any delusions of making our fortunes. There are faster and more effective ways of doing that. A job. A promotion. An education. An entrepreneurial spirit. Writers might engage in these things, but they are not the writing.

So what have I found is needed to keep going? (And who am I? Just another of those voices expressing a viewpoint in the tradition of free speech. Use it or lose it. Use it, or lose the confidence to use it.)

• Clarity of purpose
• Freedom to fail... or to succeed
• A deaf ear to discouragement or white-anting
• An open ear to encouragement and constructive feedback
• Flexibility, willingness to change, learn, grow
• Don't worry about wasting time - time is not wasted
• Play
• Break the rules if it feels like that is what your work requires (sometimes it is better not to even know the rules. What rules? You'll learn them soon enough. Someone will let you know.)
• Enjoy the process - have fun
• Develop a consistent work habit
• Believe in your own process
• Keep going, but it doesn't have to be linear. Any scene will do.
• And be determined. Be very determined!

Oh yes, and when the manuscript is finished, some appreciative readers would be nice. Certainly.

Book Review - Other People's Country

Not the cover - follow link

Before starting on the books from the Writers Festival I wanted to read a book written by Maureen Helen, who has presented at the Book Length Project Group and attends on occasions.

So glad I did! My take on the book is below:

Other People’s Country Maureen-Helen ABC Books, 2008.

First published in April 2008, Other People’s Country is a Memoir that tracks a short period in the author’s life when she found herself working as a nurse (or, for a period of time, the nurse) with the predominantly Martu population at Jigalong.

Jigalong is an isolated Aboriginal settlement in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, in the North-east of the state. It is desert country, hot, dry, largely treeless, and sometimes very cold at night. The housing conditions are very poor and the health conditions of the people are such that the mortality rate is much, much higher than that of the wider Australian community.

It took me about twenty pages to settle into this book, but by then I was well and truly hooked and found the story hard to put away. For me, the authenticity with which the author tracks her experiences, her ability to elicit the sensations and images of the environment, and to trace her changing responses to it, was all done with considerable skill and sensitivity. The experience is not sugar-coated, and the author is not always kind to herself (at times unfairly, I think), but I think this humility is necessary when discussing contact with a culture that is complex, many thousands of years old, and largely unknown by outsiders. In the past, the destructive colonialist tendency was to label, denigrate and destroy what was not easily understood.  Maureen Helen’s understanding of this is shared in an early chapter and provides a context for her interpretation and sometimes awkward responses to the situation in which she finds herself.

The book is easy to read, a transparently personal account, and includes all the joys and dramas that one would expect in a close, isolated community. If you are interested in the effects of culture shock, in what it might feel like to volunteer in a remote community, in the health issues that unfortunately have not significantly improved since the time in which the book was set (1990s), or if you just want a satisfying read that takes you somewhere you are unlikely to ever go otherwise, read it! It’s a good one, and easy to see why it was shortlisted for the Premier’s Award (History) in 2008, and on the long list for the prestigious Walkley Award in the same year.

Perth Writers Festival - Fin

Well that was worth doing. The weather was perfect, apart from the first evening which was just a tad warm and humid for the party, but a nice opportunity to put on a summer frock and sip wine with even warmer people.

In the end I came away with five new book purchases, which wasn't too bad given that I had vowed not to buy any more until I had finished reading the ones that I already have. Ah well, it's a long drought until the next festival, and sometimes books are hard to track down. Not the ones I bought probably, but in theory. I didn't get everything I wanted though. I'm looking to purchase China Mieville's (still can't do the accent) Embassytown. What I did come away with was Whisky Charlie Foxtrot a novel by Annabel Smith (Fremantle Press) about identical twin brothers who are estranged until a freak accident... looks good. I started reading it in the bookshop and I'm hooked already. No prizes for guessing the next ones: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, and In Other Worlds - SF and the Human Imagination. Yes, I know she doesn't need the book sales, but there you have it.

The other two purchases were surprises to me. Not the sort of thing that would normally draw me in, but listening to these two speakers in individual sessions, I couldn't help but buy the books. They were calling me. One was a memoir and the other a novel, both by soldiers who had served in 'The War on Terror'. The first is called Exit Wounds - One Australian's War on Terror by Major General John Cantwell with Greg Bearup, and discusses the emotional scars left by war. The blurb says: "Exit Wounds is the deeply human account of one man's tour of the War on Terror, the moving story of life on a modern battlefield: from the nightmare of cheating death in a field strewn with mines, to the utter despair of looking into the face of a dead soldier before sending his body home to his mother. Cantwell hid his post-traumatic stress disorder for decades, fearing it would affect his career." Yes, I say it should be required reading for every politician and foreign policy decision-maker.

The novel I bought was The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. The author holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry, and he served in the US Army in Iraq in 2004, 2005. In his talk he said that nobody comes out of a war zone undamaged. I bought the book because I walked in late, just in time to hear a passage read out from the book, and it moved me to tears. The writing is powerful, the subject necessary. What more could you ask from a novel?

I rounded off my day listening to the delightful Ramona Koval in conversation with John Freeman and Rachael Robertson. Too early for the closing address, but my brain was almost full and I needed to keep what was left to get myself safely home.

I'll keep you posted on the books.

Saturday at the Perth Writers Festival

Late again! After missing the first session, I caught up with friends who expressed their frustration with not being able to split themselves five ways so that they could attend all five sessions that they had marked in their progam for 9.30. They had chosen well with "The Frailty of Man" in which Major General John Cantwell and Kevin Powers discussed the true cost of war. Another two avid readers will now be able to gain a deeper understanding of the issues through the writing of these two authors.

At 10.30 we went together to listen to two wonderful Australian writers Natasha Lester (What is Left Over After, and If I Should Lose You) and Andrew Croome (Document Z and Midnight Empire). The session was called, "The Devil is in the Details" and the authors discussed the places that researching their novels has taken them. Natasha Lester's latest novel If I Should Lose You is one which concerns itself to a large extent with a mother-daughter relationship and the vexed issue of organ transplantation told from the point of view of a female heart surgeon. Andrew Croome's new novel Midnight Empire is about drone warfare, and his research took him to Las Vegas and a casino located in the desert next to a US military base. Both of these books will have to be on my rapidly growing 'to read' list. You have to pace yourself at these things. We needed time out to discuss and digest, so half an hour between sessions is not really enough.

My own first session ever at a writers festival was at 2.15pm in the Juliet Tent where people were able to sample wine as they listened in on the discussion between Amanda Curtin and me, a great indulgence where I was given free reign to talk about my book, the meaning of life, and writing generally, supported by an insightful writer and editor who asked some great questions. Amanda's first novel, The Sinkings was a deeply thought-provoking and beautifully crafted book that moved between the present day and early days of European settlement in Australia, following the fortunes of a convict, little Jock. Get hold of it and read it if you get the chance. It was encouraging to see all the friendly faces, although in the swimming sense of otherworldliness that took over my head, I experienced some difficulty placing and contextualising, so if I looked and didn't register, I beg tolerance. I missed the next session but managed to get back for the discussion with Emma Chapman (How to be a Good Wife) in the same tent. After hearing her speak, another book has gone on the list.

I caught some of Anna Funder and Robin DeCrespigmy (great, great, great) before dashing off for a salted peanut, coffee and wine dinner and a great night with Margaret Atwood at the Perth Concert Hall. Margaret Atwood and Jennifer Byrne. How could you lose? Two great plerkers (or more accurately plorkers - plork: to play and work; activity otherwise known as writing). The session will be televised on Australian ABC 1 - not the first Tuesday Book Club, but the other one. I, for one, will be eagerly looking out for the encore viewing.

Last day!

Wandering into events at the Perth Writers Festival

 A quickie, so I hope you will forgive any faux pas. I knew I'd have to pace myself on Friday, so I missed the 9.30 sessions and arrived around 10am to the pleasant, shady gardens of the University of Western Australia, where the Perth Writers Festival is held each year around this time.The weather was cooler today after quite a heat wave, so was perfect for wandering into some of the tents, rather than sticking to the air-conditioned buildings of the Octagon and Dolphin Theatres. Besides, I needed to check out the feel of the Juliet Tent (and yes, there is a Romeo Tent) as I have my interview in there this afternoon. Fortunately love was in the air, and I started the day with a love story - three in fact - featuring authors Mardi McConnochie, Susan Johnson and Jacinta Halloran. This session was followed up by some Critical Thinking featuring John Freeman, James Bradley, and Geordie Williamson in conversation with Stephen Romei - and yes the gender bias was noted by all panelists - the unspoken and probably unintentional message that love is the province of women and critical thinking the province of men. In fact there were two men in the tent who put up their hands to say that they wrote love stories, and one who elaborated to say that his were romantic rather than erotic. He said he suspected that many of the stories written for the popular romantic publishers were by men with female pseudonyms. In the Critical Thinking panel Geordie Williamson mentioned that they had noticed the all male makeup of the panel, but putting this aside, the discussion was lively and engaging. Maybe next year they can have an all male love story panel and an all female critical thinking panel.  Both were great regardless, and I came away from the second session with the feeling that the more experienced the critic, the more balanced (and probably kinder) their assessment of the book they might be reading. I had a long lunch with friends and finished my easy day with the Poets vs Novelists Debate, in which it seemed to me that they only proved what great poets novelists can be, and what great storytellers poets can be. Funny and fantastic. The evening was spent with the Raah Project in the Chevron Gardens - Wow! That covers it. A fusion of jazz, rap, twentieth century classical experimentation and a lead singer that in odd moments reminded me of Frank Sinatra. Now back to the festival - Day 3.

A great start!

The beautiful Ahdaf Soueif gave the opening address at the Perth Writers Festival last night to an enthralled audience. I came away inspired by the stories of great courage by young men and women, old women and ordinary people for whom art is a catalyst, and a conduit to freedom. The slides that she showed gave expression to the grief of ordinary people, honoured the young men who had given up their lives, or their eyesight, and gave artistic expression to great feelings of hope and determination to achieve a better life for all. And what a courageous and inspirational writer is Ahdaf Souief! If the length and strength of the applause that followed her presentation was anything to go by, she has had quite an impact on those present. Who knows how the art that arises after this festival is over, will be changed by her presence?