This year’s Brisbane Writers Festival will provide a feast for writers and readers of all tastes and genres. Even those with a hankering for cosplay are catered for.
The 'Minds Wide Open' theme is certainly lived up to in the festival programme, which launched at the weekend. The festival has a number of highlights – far too many to list them all – but here are Festival Director, Julie Beveridge's Top 5.
'Dietland' – Sarai Walker
Sarai is a debut novelist from the States – and she is the hidden gold of the festival this year. I’ve been describing her book Dietland as Fight Club with women. On the surface the book seems like one woman’s battle over making the decision to have gastric bypass surgery or to try one more diet but it very quickly shifts into a dark and violent world.
'So, You’ve Been Publicly Shamed' – Jon Ronson
I am unashamedly enamoured of Jon Ronson. His book 'The Psychopath Test' is still on high rotation in my audio book list. 'So, You’ve Been Publicly Shamed' explores the culture of shaming that has emerged in social media and the demonising power of mob mentality. While the silent majority have been given a voice – they are using it to find fault in people and ruin lives. Ronson believes that we are using shame as a form of social control. I can’t wait to sit in a room with him!
'Craftivism' – Anna Branford
Children’s writer, crafter and activist Anna Branford is giving a lecture on 'Craftivism', a concept that connects the act of creating something by hand with motives of political resistance and the endeavour to effect social change. BYO Yarn Bombs!
'Breakthrough' – Jack Andraka
What were you doing when you were 15? I was hanging out in the urban tunnels of Devonport, Tasmania, listening to heavy metal music, smoking cigarettes in playgrounds and generally just being an awful coastal town cliché. Jack Andraka was creating a revolutionary discovery that ended in cheap and quick early detection test for pancreatic, lung and ovarian cancer – Andraka 1, Beveridge 0. At the ripe old age of 19 he’s appearing at the festival I run to talk about his amazing achievements. I think that makes it 1 all, right?
In Conversation With Lionel Corn
Closing the festival for us this year are the Chaser’s Chris Taylor and Andrew Hansen present an unsparing send-up of every earnest 'In Conversation' you’ve ever had to sit through. The inept moderator, temperamental microphones, and inane audience questions… all this and more will greet the famously prickly genius Lionel Corn as he takes the stage to discuss his life’s work.Brisbane Writers Festival will be held in and around Brisbane, 2-6 September.
