Brisbane Writers Festival

Walking in I come across the Angel's Place. A specially designed dome to house the story of Alexis Wright's "Carpenteria". There is a light and sound show, all decorated with the original art work of Gordon Hickey and some wonderful moving imagery.

I started the day early with "Stop Everything" - a lovely radio programme being recorded and presented by the very talented Benjamin Law and Beverley Wang. They were introducing us to two writers who write for the young ones among us. Jenna Guillaume and Oliver Phommavanh who is a teacher and a stand up comic. They both write fiction for young adults. I loved his book called 'Dont Follow Vee", an up- to- the minute story of a young girl whose mum records everything about her life on Instagram. The daughters mission is to stop her mother doing this ... 

Then off to Kuril Dhagan to hear about how Murri Country Radio on 98.9 FM grew out of a 20 minute slot to the Radio station it is today supporting and broadcasting for all Aboriginal and Torres Islanders. 

A session about Political Correctness proved to be surprisingly uncool as the panellists seem to be on edge and fed up with one another, a sentiment which was not lost on their audience. The only sensible message that came out of that session sadly was from Omar Sakr who urged us to be kind to one another and do no harm. We can all do that thankfully. 

Climate Change with Bob Brown, Amanda Little and Amanda Niehaus proved extremely interesting as they knew their subject and how to treat it, including telling stories and engaging people on a human level. I was particularly taken by Amanda Little who came from the States and whose book about the "Fate of Food" is a detailed and fascinating account into what we will be eating in a bigger, hotter and smarter world. 

Listening to what Neoliberalism is or was and its effects was enlightening and a little scary. Richard Cooke spoke of its followers in America and in a Trumpian world. Richard Denniss was more focused on the reality of Australia and Antony Loewenstein unravelled a whole world of frightening drug production, distribution and deaths. His answer to it - to create a Ministry of Happiness where some of people's problems are addressed with a few choice substances, rather than anti- depressants and medication, given that he thinks most drugs will be legalised in the near future. 

I ended the day with "Green Nomads", listening to a very entertaining account of Bob Brown and Paul Thomas talking about their journey into some of the wilder places in Australia and sharing with us the beautiful photos taken by Bob of some of those landscapes. Breathtaking. As was the view of the city as I made my way home, tired, strangely enough after sitting in a chair all day, but clearly weighed down by the complex issues presented and simultaneously buoyed at the solutions to some of them.