Ghosts of Festivals Past

One of my favourite writers, American novelist and short story master George Saunders, came to Sydney Writers Festival in 2019. I could have listened to George for hours and hours, just him, onstage. I find his writing so warm and hopeful and funny, even as he skewers those in power and points out human failures. You can listen here. At the signing table, George told me my dress was cool so of course I panicked and half-crouched awkwardly near his shoulder for a not-great photo. (Photo not shown.) Another highlight of SWF2019 was Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, also from America, also a brilliant short story writer. A former student of Saunders’, Adjei-Brenyah’s book is Friday Black. —LAURA ELVERY

I had a deeply moving experience at the Brisbane Writers Festival in 2019 at the panel for ‘Growing up African in Australia’ (Black Inc.) with then fellow black&write! intern, Allanah Hunt. At the festival, which was held at State Library, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Sara El Sayed, and moderator Kathomi Gatwiri spoke truthfully about their own experiences and those within the anthology. I saw my own life reflected in their words. It was a special moment that made me realise the community of people who share similarities to me is bigger than I thought. —JASMIN MCGAUGHEY

I had the best time at last year’s Queensland Poetry Festival! 2019 was the first year I had enough time to participate in workshops and spend quality time with my friends. On day one I attended Selina Tusitala Marsh’s workshop ‘Take a Chants on Me’, and got to collab with Brisbane-based poet and absolute genius Raelee Lancaster. I’m obsessed with Raelee’s writing (read her poem “Haunted House” in Fire Front: First Nations Poetry and Power Today) and am still so stoked about the poems we wrote together—I hope we’ll get to conspire again in future! —SHASTRA DEO