Festival Saturday was huge!
LOVE YA at the Brisbane Square Library converged into an apolcalyptic survival session (and Young Adult fiction love-in); Tom Keneally joked about luring his daughter Meg into the tormenting self-doubt of life as a writer by plotting on long family bushwalks; Luke Williams revealed the funny and heartbreaking aspects of psychosis as a double-edged sword; and Festival artists mused on the therapeutic effects of music on the mind and the soul. There was political chat, existential discussion about philosophy and cook book fun. It was truly day of exploration and extremes.
We also held a pop-up event to give the Right of Reply to the Festival's Opening Address - you can view it in full on our social media feeds. This served as a necessary reminder that BWF is a forum where strong viewpoints and challenging conversation can be aired with respect, inclusivity and open minds.
Right now, the SLQ is alive with the sound of Wisdom Tree Live and Festival favourite, The Great Debate, where funnymen Alexei Sayle and Dave O'Neil are battling it out for laughs in front of a packed house at The Edge.
Saturday's belly laugh came from Anna Daniels, who imagined having her book published will feel "unreal, like you've just had 10 Beroccas!" (Pathways to Publication session)
'Writing the lives of others first requires us to do some serious ethical listening. Thanks #bwf16 for offering this #RightofReply '
'Hard to prep for tonight's political burlesque when Brisbane is flirting thru window #bwf16'
'Watching teenagers fan girl over @misterkristoff at BWF 16 #loveya is bloody lovely! Their love is legit and their excitement is immense'
Here is our last Daily Dozen, a round-up of final events that we think you’ll love and that, amazingly, still have tickets available! You can book online, by phone, or in person at the peachy Festival box office during festival hours.
1. Nick Seeley's debut novel Cambodia Noir explores the dark corners of Phnom Penh. Join him for a conversation about writing noir set in a foreign land.
2. History buffs, assemble: David Dyer, author of The Midnight Watch, talks about the night the Titanic sank and the unknown story of the nearby ship that didn't go to its rescue. He's also on our panel about Historical Fiction with Sarah Drummond and Kate Forsyth. If Australian history is more your flavour, head along to Colonial Stories with Larissa Behrendt, Lucy Treloar, Inga Simpson and Meg Kenneally.
3. Elspeth Muir shares the story of her brother in her beautiful memoir, Wasted. A painful but important exploration of the place of alcohol in our communities.
4. Candice Fox, Kylie Kaden, Anita Heiss and Natasha Lester investigate some specific challenges of navigating a career as a female writer, whether in fiction, journalism, or the blogosphere.
5. Are the media reporting what we really need to know about politics and policy? Amid the constant cycle of polls, elections and sound bites, sometimes it's hard to know where to get quality and reliable information about what goes on behind closed doors. Sarah Ferguson, Margaret Simons and Sam Crosby discuss politics and the media in On the Inside.
6. If you read Matt Condon's explosive Three Crooked Kings trilogy about corruption in Queensland, you'll want to hear this tribute to Tony Reeves with John Jiggens. This is politics, State-of-Origin style, as Matt and John compare our state with our southern rival.
7. Blow your Festival budget at the bookstore but don't want to miss out on the last day of BWF? Fear not. Hang out in Kuril Dhagun and hear several fascinating authors back-to-back for free. Except, of course, you'll want to buy their books too after you've seen Sarah Ridout, Rajith Savanadasa, Shelley Davidow and Sarah Kanake. (Sorry, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff are booked out.)
8. It's too wet to get out in the garden this weekend, but Margaret Simons will take green thumbs on a journey through the seasons of her tiny inner-urban patch. She chats with Avid Reader's Fiona Stager.
9. Curious about Israel, its troubled history and its role in the world today? Join Jeremy Gavron to discuss modern perceptions of the nation and the state of anti-Semitism in Australia.
10. Have you heard the amazing poets we have at BWF this year? Choose from Brisbane's own Ellen van Neerven, Canada's Shane Rhodes, and New Zealand's Gregory O'Brien of see them all!
11. There are still three more BWF in the 'Burbs sessions to wrap up the BCC libraries program. Midge Raymond talks Antarctica and My Last Continent at Garden City; Lucy Treloar reflects on Australian history and Salt Creek at Chermside; and Michael Collins reveals family secrets in The Death of All Things Seen in Indooroopilly.
12. Have you spotted our Philosophers-in-Residence Professor Fred and Antonia Case over the course of the weekend? They've been on the ground, taking the pulse of Festival patrons and finding out the things that are getting people talking. They wrap it all up in a free Closing Address on Sunday afternoon. Join us to make sense of it all.
We're on the downhill run, so you'd better cram in as much as you can before stumps!