Nine virtual events to attend at Emerging Writers' Festival 2021

The Emerging Writers’ Festival is about to begin! This year’s festival will be held entirely online and will run from 16–26 June. You can view the full program here, with ticketing information available on each individual event listing.

Here are nine of our top picks from the program.


Writers’ Night School: Shaping Poetry

Calling all poets and wannabe poets! Book yourself into this intimate Writers’ Night School. In this limited capacity workshop, award-winning poet Evelyn Araluen will impart her wisdom and insights about the craft of writing poetry. Whether you have an established poetry practice and are looking to shape your first collection, or you’re just starting to experiment with wielding words and images – you’re certain to leave this session feeling inspired.

When: Thursday 17 June, 6.30-8pm AEST


EWF X Disability Justice Network: Dreaming Disability Justice

Imagine: disabled people finally have time to breathe deeply, to rest. Imagine we have made it to a future beyond eugenics, pandemics, climate disasters, ableism, and racial and colonial violence that uniquely impact disabled people. Imagine new systems of caring for one another; a new world. How exactly can we get there? Join five disabled writers from across so-called Australia in this storytelling event as they share their dreams of a future grounded in disability justice.

When: Thursday 17 June, 7-8pm AEST

This event will be AUSLAN interpreted and live captioned.


Late Night Literature: Tending to Joy at the End of the World

Log in for an evening of funny, meaningful and joyful readings to help get us through the apocalypse. Host Anthea Yang proposes that joy and poetry can be counter-cultural acts of resistance – an interruption of constant consumption, production and crises. These artists from around the continent will explore this from their own intimate spaces.

When: Thursday 17 June, 8.30-9.30pm AEST, Free


National Writers’ Conference 2021

On Saturday 19 June, the National Writers’ Conference returns to the Emerging Writers’ Festival. The Conference is a live online conference event, hosted on Zoom. Buy a conference pass to tune in live or watch on-demand later. Here are two conference sessions that have piqued our interest:

4 x 4 Rules for Writing

To kick off the Conference, our four festival Ambassadors will share their four favourite rules for writing. Whether you’re emerging, emerged or somewhere in between, these gems of advice are bound to get you inspired. This even will be hosted by EWF festival director, Ruby-Rose Pivet-Marsh.

When: Saturday 19 June, 9.45-10.45am AEST

Writing Character & Place

Tony Birch is one of the finest writers for many reasons – only one of which is for creating characters who stay with you long after you’ve closed the book. From narrating small children to middle-aged men and single mothers, Tony is known for skillfully crafting real people to care and root for. Learn from one of the masters of contemporary fiction about writing real, breathing, living characters – including place as character. Plus, get the chance to ask him your burning writerly questions.

When: Saturday 19 June, 11am-12pm AEST


A Meal at the Table

Save your appetite for a special six-course storytelling experience, enjoyed from your very own dining table. These talented storytellers will tantalize your tastebuds with tales, as they each cook and share their favourite meal and the personal stories behind them.

Come for a night of warm and funny stories about food, and leave with a PDF booklet of each of the writer’s recipes to cook, share and enjoy afterwards.

When: Sunday 20 June, 6-7pm AEST


EWF X The Intro Room: Sex Work in Space

A special storytelling event to look at the loss and creation of digital and IRL sex worker spaces, culture and community – and an evening to honour the stories of those with lived experience of working from the margins.

Join these amazing sex worker writers from across so-called Australia as they share their stories of losing and creating sex worker spaces and navigating between hyper-visibility and invisibility. Stay snuggled under your doona for a first-row ticket to this one – it’s a no-pants-required party!

This event will be AUSLAN interpreted and live captioned.

When: Monday 21 June, 7-8pm AEST


Amazing Babes

Calling all amazing babes! We are gathering some of our most adored artists to honour the babes that helped shape their lives in this intimate night of joyful storytelling. Wonder in admiration as we celebrate the many wonderful humans that our artists have chosen to applaud – from the fictional to the foundational and beyond.

This event will be AUSLAN interpreted

When: Tuesday 22 June, 7-8.30pm AEST


Lunchtime Literature: Writing Across Genre

Writing to conventions and reader expectations is valuable but at times genres can be restrictive or difficult to pin down. What happens when the line between genre and literary fiction is blurred? Join these writers as they share their process and experiences of writing across genre and forms.

When: Thursday 24 June, 12.30-1.30pm AEST, Free

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Cover image for Dropbear

Dropbear

Evelyn Araluen

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