The full program for Constellations: Not Writers’ Week – a new festival organised in the aftermath of this year’s Adelaide Writers Week cancellation – has now been revealed, with more than 100 authors participating across 50 events in 19 venues.
‘When we set out to fill the void left by the cancellation of Writers’ Week, we did not expect such an incredible response,’ said author Jennifer Mills, one of the organisers. ‘It just goes to show how important books, writing and freedom of expression are to South Australians.’
The umbrella festival is decentralised and made up of events of every scale, from major programming at the Adelaide Town Hall to early morning swimmers meeting informally to share poetry.
The program is spread around Adelaide and surrounds, with events taking place in Stirling, Port Elliot, Port Adelaide, Glenelg, Hallett Cove, Prospect, Burnside, Goodwood and the Adelaide CBD.
Most events are free, with donations coming in to support the fair payment of participating authors.
A major headline event features Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah in conversation with former Writers Week director Louise Adler AM at the Adelaide Town Hall on 1 March, presented by AFOPA.
The 1100-seat venue booked out in three days, with hundreds more on the waiting list. Audiences are clearly keen to hear directly from the Palestinian-Australian author at the centre of Writers’ Week’s hasty cancellation.
Freedom of expression will be a theme across the festival, from journalist Peter Greste discussing freedom of the press to the forum When We Refuse: cultural boycotts, artist strikes and creative solidarity at Vitalstatistix.
First Nations-led programming is a significant feature, with Rivers of Reason: Blak & Arab Writers in Conversation to be held in the Adelaide Town Hall.
Rivers of Reason brings together a stellar line-up of local and interstate writers, poets and scholars, including Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, Dr Chelsea Watego, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Daniel Nour.
‘Poetry matters more than ever right now in these dangerous times,’ said poet Mike Ladd, who has curated the Constellations Poetry Reading at the Adelaide Town Hall. ‘We saw an act of political censorship, and that’s why I’ve asked a group of writers to read and talk about a poem from any era or place by a poet who has been censored or oppressed.
‘Yankunytjatjara poet Ali Cobby Eckermann will be reading from her collaboration with First Nations American poet Joy Harjo. John Coetzee will be speaking about and reading the poetry of Osip Mandelstam, a Russian Jew who disappeared into Stalin’s gulag.
‘And all the way from the West Bank we will be hearing from Najwan Darwish, a Palestinian poet who lives under illegal and oppressive Israeli occupation.’
The Australia Institute presents An afternoon with Yanis Varoufakis on 1 March, and a panel on Settler Colonialism sees Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, in conversation with historian Henry Reynolds and scholar Lana Tatour, facilitated by eminent jurist Chris Sidoti, at Elder Hall on 5 March.
Goodwood Books will host international, interstate and local authors in conversation, with all six events in the popular second-hand bookshop venue booking out quickly; featured guests include Natasha Brown, Natalie Harkin, Laila Lalami, Micaela Sahhar and Francesca Wade. On Peramangk country in the Adelaide Hills, Eva Hornung will discuss her latest novel with Matilda Books at Coventry Library in Stirling.
The festival kicks off on 28 February with a Children’s & YA Readers & Writers Day at Burnside Library and Ballroom, a full day featuring 19 popular writers of Children’s and YA literature.
‘By producing a dedicated Children’s & YA Day we are showing our young readers how much we value and respect them, showcasing the best of contemporary children’s storytelling and supporting the people who create it,’ said event organiser Bethany Clark.
Award-winning author Will Kostakis will be travelling to Adelaide to appear, and says events like this made his own career possible. ‘I’m here because of the generous advice an author gave me at a workshop at my local library, and because of the dozens of authors I saw on panels growing up,’ Kostakis said.
‘Festivals support readers, writers, booksellers … they are vital to the ecosystem. I’m in awe of the industry champions who’ve rallied to put this festival together on such short notice.’
