Liminal's Top Picks — Emerging Writers Festival 2021
From 16—26 June 2021, the Emerging Writers Festival unites talented writers to showcase their talents, tell their tales and share insights and experiences in an online program filled with discovery, learning, and delight.
Here are LIMINAL’s top picks for EWF 2021!
Monday 21 June, 8.30—9.30pm AEST
FREE
Late Night Literature: The Bogong: System Breakdown
Take a journey to the perhaps not-so-distant future with a lineup of brilliant First Nations talent. As technology continues to disrupt systems, these artists contemplate the collision of human and machine lives and what it all means for culture and society.
ft. Jannali Jones, Carissa Lee, Gary Lonesborough, Maddi Miller, Kalarni Murray, Nardi Simpson
Sunday 20 June, 6-7pm AEST
$17 full/$13 concession
A Meal at the Table
Save your appetite for a special six-course storytelling experience, enjoyed from your very own dining table. These talented storytellers will tantalize your tastebuds with tales, as they each cook and share their favourite meal and the personal stories behind them. Come for a night of warm and funny stories about food, and leave with a PDF booklet of each of the writer’s recipes to cook, share and enjoy afterwards.
ft. Hajer Al-awsi, MJ Bakewell, Cindy Jiang, Martyn Reyes, Panda Wong, and hosted by Sam van Zweden
Wednesday 23 June, 7-8pm AEST
$10 / No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds
EWF X Đất Nước Library Launch
The Đất Nước Library is a community-curated collection of stories with a focus on Vietnam and its diaspora. The library aims to encourage collective literacy, shared archives and connection. Celebrate the launch of Đất Nước Library with four different Naarm-based Vietnamese artists who will read and respond to texts from the collection.
Hosted by Đất Nước collective members
Saturday 26 June, 2-4pm AEST
Free, bookings essential
Writing Narrative for Games
So you love games and you love storytelling – how about levelling up and putting the two together? In this workshop find out how writing for games is different from traditional writing, including the role of characterisation and world-building in game storytelling. Have a play with your new knowledge with some guided experimentation to get you started on your game writing journey.
Hosted by Cecile Richard
Thursday 24 June, 5.30-7.30pm AEST
Free, Booking essential
Thursday Night Vibe: Safe Spaces
The Safe Spaces series aims to create a safe environment for Bla(c)k and Brown people to come together and share, learn, connect and collaborate with each other. The series takes place once a month, before Littlefoot & Company’s Spoken Word Night, and is presented in partnership with Way Over There Collective.
Curated as part of Thursday Night Vibe, this special iteration of Safe Spaces will involve a book share. Attendees are invited to bring along a piece of writing by a Bla(c)k or Brown author, be it fiction, non-fiction, poetry, a zine or anything between or beyond to share in a space that cultivates meaningful connections and celebrates artists.
Thursday 24 June, 11am-1pm AEST
Free, bookings essential
IRL Infoshop: Letter Writing to People in Prison
Interested in writing letters to people who are in prison? Come along to this online session to explore things to consider when writing to people in prison, and write one-off letters of solidarity to friends inside.
Saturday 19 June, 4.15-5.15pm AEST
$20 Full / $15 Concession
Literary Futures
Meet some of the booksellers, editors and other literary changemakers who are working to build a better literary future. These new industry legends are here to initiate reform and champion the stories that are too often excluded from traditional publishing. Come to reflect on where our literary landscape is now, and where we need to go next. Sometimes you need to build the future you want to see yourself – but often, you’ll find there are already people doing the work who want to help you too.
ft. Andrew Brooks, Dan Hogan, Tresa LeClerc, Grace Lucas-Pennington, Jing Xua Teo & Marina Sano
Thursday 17 June, 7-8pm AEST
$10 / NOTAFLOF*
EWF X Disability Justice Network: Dreaming Disability Justice
Imagine: disabled people finally have time to breathe deeply, to rest. Imagine we have made it to a future beyond eugenics, pandemics, climate disasters, ableism, and racial and colonial violence that uniquely impact disabled people. Imagine new systems of caring for one another; a new world. How exactly can we get there?
Join five disabled writers from across so-called Australia in this storytelling event as they share their dreams of a future grounded in disability justice.
ft. Julia Rose Bak, Margot Beavon-Collin, Vanamali Hermans, Tori Hobbs, Elena Macdonald, Muhib Nabulsi
Thursday 24 June, 8.30-9.30am AEST
Free, bookings essential
The Early Words with Jessica Yu
Get your brain ticking and flex your writing muscles with Jessica Yu. Cultivate your morning creative motivation with some guided writing exercises that are bound to get you inspired. Practice your writing and leave the session with valuable tools in your arsenal.
Sunday 20 June, 7.30-8.30pm AEST
Free
Lullaby
Sometimes all you want is to sip on a nice cup of tea and listen to a good story before bed. We invite you to put on your pyjamas and settle in for a cosy night of bedtime storytelling – with a twist. Escape the day with some of the best up-and-coming writers as they send you into a fantastical dreamscape with reimaginings of classic tales.
ft. Bryant Apolonio, Cheryl Ho, Jes Layton, Olivia Muscat, Merryana Salem, Melanie Saward