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Tom Keneally at the Sydney Writers' Festival 2010
Last night I sat next to Tom Keneally at our writers’ festival dinner. He’ll be appearing at a session at 6.00 pm tonight. I’ve been fortunate enough to tour with Tom almost every year for the past six or seven. It’s lucky he’s such a prolific writer, otherwise I’d miss our trips each year. We have an established routine born from all the days and weeks we’ve spent together.
Each morning we open our respective cryptic crossword puzzles and begin work. Tom does the one in The Australian which is taken from an English paper. It’s ridiculously difficult. I do the one in The Sydney Morning Herald or The Age, which is much more my level. Tom is generally finished his puzzle in record time whilst I’m usually still struggling on 2 down. Tom, seeing my virgin page will look with interest and offer his services. My pride usually dictates that I refuse his first offer. His interest intensifies as he reads a clue over my shoulder and then asks again. When I finally acquiesce he ever so politely suggests the answer to a clue I’ve been working on for some time. Then he’s off. Within minutes I’ve read him the clues and he’s solved them all quickly and efficiently…
Other highlights for this weekend at the festival include appearances by Eric Lax, author of Faith Interrupted and Conversations with Woody Allen, Mimlu Sen, author of the Honey Gatherers and Su Tong talking about his book, The Boat to Redemption. As well, Wendy Harmer, Deb Abela, Tristan Bancks, Anita Heiss, Susan Maushart and Caroline Overington will be speaking about their latest books.
For more information please go to the Sydney Writers Festival website, www.swf.org.au
On Tuesday night there was the opening party of the festival. It was a wonderful event with a chance to meet new authors and catch up with colleagues in the publishing industry. I met one of the authors I’m looking after, Josh Neufeld on Tuesday night at the party.
Here’s a photo of Josh with me next to him and Alysha Farry on my left. Judy Jamieson-Green is standing to Josh’s right. Alysha and Judy are the publicity managers at RHA.
Josh is a graphic novelist and his book, A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge charts not only the devastation of Hurricane Katrina but the lives of those affected. What really struck me about the book is that I was aware of what happened during that time but never gave much thought as to what occurred afterwards. The seven people in A.D. all are haunted in various ways by the hurricane and flooding of New Orleans and Josh opened my eyes to what was truly a catastrophic event.
Also at the party was Su Tong pictured with his translator. Su Tong is perhaps best known for his novella, Raise the Red Lantern which was made into an Oscar nominated film. Su Tong’s latest book is the Boat to Redemption, a human comedy of the revolution.
Tonight we host our Random House dinner for our authors and I hope to have some photos from that evening to share with you.
Su Tong at the Opening Party
Reza Aslan at the Sydney Writer's Festival
The festival officially started yesterday evening with the opening address given by Reza Aslan, one of our authors who is discussing his latest book, No God But God.
In it, Reza Aslan lays out a definition of the movement behind and surrounding al-Qaeda and the like and the global ideology properly termed Jihadism. Basically, he’s asking: Why do they hate us and what do they want? Aslan answer is ‘Nothing. The Jihadists have no earthly agenda, they are fighting a metaphysical conflict, a theological war’. So how do we win a cosmic war? You’ll have to go along tonight to hear how. It promises to be a fascinating talk and tickets are still available. Go to the Sydney Writers Festival website to find out more.
On Monday night J M Coetzee won the Premier’s Award for Literature in the fiction section for his novel Summertime. Random House had many other authors shortlisted for awards – David Malouf for Ransom, Glenda Guest for Siddon Rock, Lincoln Hall for Alive in the Death Zone and Richard Guilliatt and Peter Hohnen for The Wolf
It’s the beginning of the Sydney Writers’ Festival and although it doesn’t officially open until tonight, we’re still incredibly busy. This year we have 20 or so authors appearing at the festival and there are only six publicists in the department to look after them. This may seem like a lot but in the past we’ve had up to 36 authors, so 20 is quite manageable!
For those who don’t know our role as publicists is to prepare every part of an author’s visit. This could include pitching them to the festival in the first instance through to booking flights and accommodation (especially if the author is touring to other cities after the tour). We also make sure they’re fully briefed about what is expected of them at the festival with regards panels and sessions and we slot in media interviews around their appearances.
Festivals are always a wonderful opportunity for readers to meet the writers, for panel discussions about a wide variety of subjects and a chance for writers to meet other writers. This generally happens during one of the many parties which happen that week, starting with the opening party on tonight.
During this week I hope to bring you the highlights of this festival combined with memories of festivals past and after 18 years in publicity, there are many of them… stay tuned!
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