Almanac Festivals: Adelaide Writers’ Week 2024 – ‘The Past is Not Another Country’

 

 

The Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) is done and dusted for 2024, and what a fantastic event it was once again. In fact, I believe it to be the best of the AWW’s I’ve attended over the seven or eight pilgrimages I have made to this wonderful event.

 

The weather, as always, was superb though it became very hot during the last couple of days. Thankfully the magnificent shade trees in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden and the shade covers in the stage areas were appreciated for their welcome shelter from the sun and heat, and for a place of rest and  recovery.

 

This year the theme for the week was ‘The Past is Not Another Country’.

 

 

 

 

Approximately 130 free sessions were conducted over the six days of the event at the Garden, with some ticketed events held at various venues around the city.  With 200 plus speakers and presenters it is without doubt a major event on the literary calendar. The organisers once again  excelled themselves with a brilliant line-up of local, national, and international writers including major heavyweights and drawcards such as Richard Ford, Jane Smiley, Mary Beard, Richard Flanagan and Thomas Kenneally to name a few.

 

With such events, and with so many major speakers and drawcards, it can be difficult to select the sessions you wish to attend as many invariable clash with one another but with the stages relatively close to one another it was easy to ‘flit’ between them.

 

I attended each day, enjoying a brisk walk from our accommodation in LeFevre Street in North Adelaide partaking a coffee and pastry along the way at a bakery Citrus Bob Utber recommended to me. Returning late afternoon after a long day of intense concentration and participation in all things literary was usually at a slower pace.

 

As always, the authors and speakers provided plenty of food for thought with their stimulating discussions about their ideas, their books, and the positions they present with regards to many issues.   The Gaza conflict undoubtably was the critical issue everyone wanted to address. Event director Louise Adler AM was praised and congratulated many times by speakers for her stance in not bowing to the undue pressure applied to her to withdraw certain writers from AWW. I think it is true to say a huge majority of the attendees also agreed with the stance she had taken.

 

There were many highlights for me. Richard Ford, Illan Pappe, Gail Jones, Richard Denniss, Yanis Varoufakis, Richard Flanagan, and Martin Flanagan were standouts. I was also pleasantly surprised by some sessions I ended up attending that I originally had no intention of going to – Wendy Harmer and William McInnes had everyone in stitches adding some light relief to the program.

 

 

Richard Ford with his interviewer Beejay Silcox

 

 

Richard Ford was one of the block-buster drawcards this year. A Pulitzer Prize winner as well as many other prestigious awards, Ford is a hugely admired and a widely read author especially of his Frank Bascombe series of books. My account of meeting Richard at the book signing after his second session and the surprise I received from him can be read Here.

 

 

Gail Jones

 

 

JM Coetzee

 

Gail Jones, one of Australia’s most respected and acclaimed writers must surely felt she had won the lottery with her session. It is not everyday you have one of the greatest writers of our times, who is a Nobel Laureate  for Literature and  the winner of not one but two Booker Prizes for starters, in JM Coetzee to interview you about your latest book was certainly a prestigious honour for Jones. It proved to be a brilliant decision to combine these two luminous, intelligent and articulate individuals both at the pinnacle of their respective fields together in conversation. It was electrifying and very stimulating. The deep and insightful questioning from Coetzee provided Jones the space to manoeuvre and expand upon the themes incorporated in her novel. It was a privilege and a treat to listen to the erudite discourse and interplay taking place between them.

 

 

Richard Dennis, Thomas Keneally, and Yanis Varoufakis

 

 

Richard Denniss, the Executive Director of the Australia Institute, was part of a panel discussing ‘Straight Talk’ with Joelle Gergis, Thomas Keneally, and Yanis Varoufakis.  To quote the program guide, because it states so profoundly what is at play when … ‘Politicians and commentators frequently use jargon to disguise self-interest as national interest, to make the absurd seem inevitable or the inequitable seem fair’ … we need individuals  to ‘call out’ the bullshit for what it actually is, and this fantastic and expert panel  were able so eloquently to invoke the need of speaking simply in complicated times to everyone has the opportunity to fully understand what is taking place in the world today. This was a most rewarding, revelatory and enlightening  session and afterwards I did not hesitate in buying both Richard’s and Yanis’ books and having them signed.

 

 

Martin Flanagan

 

Martin Flanagan bravely recalled not only his harrowing time and experiences at a catholic boarding school in Tasmania but also those of his fellow boarders where the predatory and manipulative priests discharged their power with a frightening influence over the students at the school. It  was quite chilling, heartbreaking, and confronting to understand the physical and mental abuse these young children suffered from their evil perpetrators.

 

The position and reasonings of  Professor Ilan Pappe with regards to the conflict in Gaza was quite an eyeopener. He spoke with history on his side, and emphasised that often throughout the sessions he participated in. Although of Jewish descent he clearly made the point Israel had overstepped the mark in Gaza. The blame for the conflict is not only with Hamas he said but also with extreme groups within Israel and all related to historical events.  He made his points clearly and effectively . If you have the opportunity to read his writings or view and listen to various media releases involving him you will receive a much picture of the situation in Gaza.

 

I have only presented a snapshot of the some of the sessions I attended however at You Tube to receive a fuller picture of the event there are a number of recorded videos taken from the East Stage that will provide you with a taste of Writers’ Week 2024.

 

Until next year.

 

 

 

All photographs CGR

 

 

More from Col Ritchie can be read Here

 

 

 

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