With over half of us born overseas or having at least one migrant parent, and one in 30 Indigenous, there’s no better time than now for Australia’s first festival of diverse writers.
The NSW Writers’ Centre and Bankstown Arts Centre have put together a powerful line-up of high-profile and emerging authors, playwrights, journalists and poets from around the country. The Book Thief author Markus Zusak, spoken word poet Hani Abdile and Benjamin Law, journalist and creator of SBS’s The Family Law, are just some of the names who will be speaking on the day.
They’ll be tackling big questions like ‘who can write these stories?’, ‘what are the Indigenous stories all Australians need to hear?’ and ‘how do you write about family without offending your own?’.
The festival is free and runs all day, with a packed schedule of performances, readings, panel discussions, workshops for children and adults, plus opportunities for audiences to mingle with their favourite writers and purchase signed copies of their books.
Stick around until the evening because legend of the spoken word scene Luka Lesson will join the Bankstown Poetry Slam in a closing performance that promises to have audiences laughing and crying, all while clicking their fingers and stomping their feet.