The Write Around the Murray Festival will present the bulk of its program online this year as we, along with the rest of the world, attempt to come to grips with ongoing social disruption and uncertainty. We are planning a few fabulous live events too, should conditions allow, but we're hedging our bets to ensure the festival goes ahead.
The festival theme is Past Lives/Present Tense. We’re poised to explore voices and stories from the past in tandem with contemporary storytelling to ask questions about where we are, what we know and how to live in times of crisis and transition.
There was nothing especially prescient in setting this theme. In early February, the cracks in our social, environmental, political and economic landscape were already gaping, but we obviously hadn’t anticipated the degree to which we’d all be sitting on that razor-edge or ‘pivot-point’ between past and present, or just how tense our lives would become in the weeks and months to follow.
Thankfully, we are in a position to continue with Festival plans and offer precious pause to come together in cyberspace and engage with a fantastic line up of writers, thinkers and storytellers. Joining us is Kate Grenville, Benjamin Law, Lucy Treloar, James Bradley, Clare Wright and Tony Birch. Check the reading list below for a heads-up on who else is coming.
We invite you to take some time out (and in) with us to read and reflect, view history in a different light, imagine, re-imagine and create. You’ll be able to view our live-streamed events wherever you are.
