Stan Grant: photo via NITV.
I was only able to attend the fabulous feast of words that is the Perth Writers Festival intermittently this year. This is such a busy time on the Perth arts calendar, what with the Fringe Festival and PIAF, to say nothing of the countless other events that are such a feature of Perth’s summer. However, on Sunday I tore myself away from the WA Society of Editors brunch in time to catch the tail end of an 11.00AM session of PWF 16 at the glorious UWA campus. Sunday is always ‘Family Day, and there were children everywhere, families bringing little ones as young as two or three. The dictum ‘Catch ‘em young and train ‘em’ is nowhere more important than in the encouragement of reading.
Titled We have to talk about this, my chosen panel’s blurb was a tad daunting, and I wondered if I would come out in tears. But as with Friday’s screamingly funny Facing the Fear (see my review of Day One) it actually proved to be highly entertaining, despite the sad-sounding subject.
Jane Caro’s memoir, Plain-speaking Jane, spoke of her battle with anxiety. Everyone gets anxious sometimes. Where is he? Why hasn’t he called? And how about ‘What if I get fired and can’t pay the mortgage?’ But a person suffering from serious anxiety doesn’t need a causative factor. As a fellow-sufferer, I would suggest that anxiety is just constant companion, depression’s sibling, bearing gifts of palpitation, headaches and tears.
And what about external factors, such as racism? Stan Grant, a journalist who belongs to the Wiradjuri people, felt compelled to write his book as a result of racist incidents in the Australian Football League.
In similar vein, Lindsay Tanner is interested in giving a voice to members of society who are often without one. A retired politician, Tanner is now in an excellent position to frontline the problems facing people who lack a voice. These three entertaining speakers chatted with Kathryn Shine about the importance of public conversation.
Stan Grant spoke of his wartime experience, which led him to understand the commonality of human experience. This highlighted Jane Caro’s battle with anxiety, an all-too-common factor in today’s society. Lindsay Tanner mentioned status as being foremost among human preoccupations. Sadly, one of the easiest ways, at least in our own minds, is to seek status by downgrading that of others.
How can we be better? Stan Grant said, ’Don’t allow others to define you’. Resilience, he believes, is an important characteristic to develop and sustain. Lindsay Tanner suggested that we continually ask ourselves ‘Who are we?’
Jane Caro suggested that it is hard to be proud of being an Australian at moment because of our treatment of refugees, and Stan Grant put in that fear of the ‘the other’ is endemic. We have taken in, so far, only 100 of the 12,000 refugees the government promised to admit. IN the same time frame, Canada has taken in 25,000. Let’s hope that we can follow Stan Grant’s advice to strive to be better.
‘Politicians,’ Jane Caro said, ‘are adept at driving fear. She went on to mention research that found rich people are less generous than poor ones, and the richer they are, the less generous they become. Definitely food for thought there.
Next I looked in on the panel called ‘Hugge’ which is a Danish term meaning ‘social cosiness’ or ‘well-being’. Authors Michelle Crawford and Pip Lincolne chatted with Geraldine Blake on the kind of homely writing that makes us aware of the value of togetherness and the appreciation of the little joys of life, such as the warmth of a wood-fired stove and the beauty of a burning candle. Perhaps the fact that the Danes, as a nation, burn more candles than anyone else in Europe, gives us a small insight into the meaning of ‘hugge’. Very appropriate for the ‘Family Day’ of the festival!
Perth Writers’ Festival 2016
18 – 21 February
