Five top tips for Melbourne Writers Festival 2020
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) looks a little different this year, transforming into MWF Digital and including conversations, workshops and podcasts (all online) from 7 to 16 August.
Over 100 of the world’s brightest writers and thinkers will converge under the banner of this year's theme: attention.
In this guest post, Associate Director Gene Smith shares his top five must-attend MWF 2020 events for State Library Victoria audiences.
Brit Bennett: The Vanishing Half
Saturday 15 August, 7–8pm
Book tickets for Brit Bennett
Brit Bennett’s first book, The Mothers, is a favourite. It’s one of those novels whose prose forms poetry. When I discovered that her second book, The Vanishing Half, was going to be out just in time for MWF Digital, I was compelled to invite her … and luckily for me and you, she said yes. The Vanishing Half spans decades and generations to weave a story that is ultimately about identity. As one reviewer wrote of it, they were 'reading not to find out what happens to the characters, but to find out who they are.'
An Evening with Elizabeth Strout
Saturday 15 August, 8–9pm
Book tickets for Elizabeth Strout
Olive Kitteridge is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from Elizabeth Strout, whose eponymous and cantankerous heroine reminds me too much of my late grandmother, which is just one reason why I love it so much. It’s a real treat to have Strout be part of the festival this year, mainly because she doesn’t often say yes to such invitations. My embarrassingly earnest letter to her somehow did the trick, though, and we’re delighted that she’ll be joined by State Library Victoria CEO Kate Torney to discuss the follow up to Olive Kitteridge, the aptly titled Olive, Again.
In Which Two Friends Discuss Reading
Sunday 16 August, 3–4pm
Book tickets for In which two friends discuss reading
It will come as no surprise that I, Associate Director at Melbourne Writers Festival, love to read. What I love maybe more than reading is hearing from others what they love so much about losing themselves in a good book. Two of Australia’s greatest writers and real life best friends, Charlotte Wood (The Weekend) and Tegan Bennett Daylight (The Details) come together in this event to discuss how reading can lead to a richer engagement with the business of living.
Patrick Radden Keefe: Following the Evidence
Sunday 16 August, 5–6pm
Book tickets for Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick Radden Keefe’s latest book, Say Nothing, was a gift given to me for my most recent birthday. I will admit that at first, I was unsure why it was bought for me — it’s a non-fiction history recounting the Irish Troubles through the eyes of three key IRA players. I wouldn’t say that non-fiction history is my favourite genre, or that the Irish Troubles was a subject I wanted to read 400-plus pages on. But Radden Keefe is such a paragon storyteller that he swept me away with his propulsive writing and I finished the book in only three days. He’s an old-school journalist with a flair for telling a good yarn, and his MWF event is not one to miss.
Jing-Jing Lee: How We Disappeared
Sunday 9 August, 4–5pm
Book tickets for Jing-Jing Lee
Longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, How We Disappeared is a profound meditation on trauma, truth and the stories we tell ourselves just to get by. Its author, Jing-Jing Lee, brings together her expert storytelling and the dark history of Singaporean 'comfort women' — women captured by the Japanese military in their 1942 invasion — to render this moving masterpiece of a book. This is one story you’ll need some time to sit with after you’ve finished reading.
More information
This guest blog post is written by Gene Smith, Associate Director, Melbourne Writers Festival.
State Library Victoria is a major partner of MWF Digital. MWF Digital is online 7–16 August, with tickets on sale now. Explore the full program.
Image: From left to right, the top image shows Charlotte Wood, Patrick Radden Keefe, Elizabeth Strout, Brit Bennett and Jing-Jing Lee.