A Rock & Roll Writers Festival is the first and only literary festival in Australia dedicated to celebrating the interaction between writing and music, and ‘that special creative spark that exists between the two'.
The inaugural festival of 2016 featured a plethora of well-known Australian writers, artists and musicians, including journalists Kate Hennessy, Noel Mengel, Andrew McMillen and Bernard Zuel, authors Jenny Valentish (Cherry Bomb), Andrew Stafford (Pig City) and Nicole Hayes (One True Thing), Don Walker, Deborah Conway, Bec Mac (4ZZZ), BC Michaels (Dune Rats), Graham Ashton (Footstomp Music), John Busby (Busby Marou), Jess Ribeiro and Jake Stone (Bluejuice).
The 2017 festival features acclaimed authors, songwriters, journalists, commentators and broadcasters from Australia and overseas. Rolling Stone Australia editor Rod Yates, Flying Nun Records founder Roger Shepherd, prolific live music photographer Sophie Howarth, celebrated musical identities Adalita, Ngaiire, Kahl Wallis (The Medics), Joel Birch (The Amity Affliction), John Willsteed (Halfway, The Go-Betweens), Tim Rogers, radio stars Zan Rowe and Rhianna Patrick, and scribblers Nick Earls and Iain Shedden will be exploring the eternal symbiosis between music and writing.
The speakers will explore themes that traverse the intersection of music, writing and social commentary. How does art respond to social constraints to our right to be free? What role does sex and perceptions of masculinity play in song writing?
The festival will explore the most important cultural moments and influences that changed generations and gave rise to new movements, scenes and sub-cultures over the last 25 years, unpacking how these movements have affected subsequent music and literature (‘Were the '90s really our '60s?’).
There will be a session that examines the influence of women through their effect on writers’ lives, and a free panel for 14-17-year olds on the importance of creative expression, finding ways to channel feelings, desires and frustrations through the process of making art.
A Rock & Roll Writers Festival will be held at The Old Museum (Brisbane) 1-2 April.
