Kyogle Readers & Writers
The Kyogle Readers and Writers (KRaW) is a community-led organisation that seeks to celebrate the very best of Australian story-telling in an effort to enhance the cultural life of our region. The 2024 Kyogle Readers& Writers Festival is being held Friday May 17th and Saturday May 18th.
Rick Morton in Conversation with Melissa Lucashenko
Saturday 9 November 2024
Join us for as journalist Rick Morton discusses his new book 'Mean Streak' with author and academic Melissa Lucashenko.
From award-winning journalist and writer Rick Morton comes 'Mean Streak', the gripping, utterly compelling and horrifying story of how, over the course of four and a half years, Australia’s government turned on its most vulnerable citizens through its Robodebt scheme.
Robodebt saw close to half a million Australian welfare recipients illegally pursued for money they never owed. It was described by Royal Commission's report as a ‘massive failure of public administration’ caused by ‘venality, incompetence and cowardice’.
Rick Morton has been a journalist and writer for over fifteen years. His first book, 'One Hundred Years of Dirt', was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and the 2019 National Biography Award, longlisted for the 2018 Walkley Book of the Year, and longlisted for both Biography of the Year.
KMI Hall
Creative Resilience with Sarah Daley
Monday 20 May 2024
Storytelling is an important part of being human. Humans have always created stories; to do so could be seen as an essential survival task. The therapeutic value of storytelling to process life’s traumas is central to creative psychotherapies. Join a workshop with local play therapist Sarah Daley to explore the therapeutic value of storytelling. In play therapy, toys become a child's words, and play is their language. This session shares the work of Professor Mooli Lahad, a trauma psychologist, bibliotherapist and play therapist who researched resiliency,coping and the importance of storytelling to recover from traumatic experiences. Using a combination of theory and experiential approaches, each participant in this workshop will be given the opportunity to create their own story and assess their own coping strategies according to Lahad’s BASIC Ph model of coping and resiliency.
Kyogle Family Support Services
Making it Good Enough To Publish - Melaina Faranda KRaW 2024
Saturday 18 May 2024
This ticket is valid for entry for one person to the 'Making it Good Enough to Publish' workshop with Melaina Faranda.
Kyogle Laneway Community Space
2024 Festival Pass - Kyogle Readers & Writers
Saturday 18 May 2024
This pass is valid for entry for one person to all events at the KMI Hall, Fellowship Centre, and Roxy Gallery on Saturday the 18th of May 2024.*
Check our program for details.
*Please note, the Roxy Gallery and Fellowship Centre stages have a smaller capacity. If there is something you don't want to miss at these stages, turn up early, as entry is subject to capacity.
Festival Precinct - KMI Hall, Roxy Gallery and Fellowship Centre
Basics of Self Publishing - Kylie Chan KRaW 2024
Saturday 18 May 2024
This ticket is valid for entry for one person to the 'Basics of Self Publishing' workshop with Kylie Chan.
Kyogle Citizen's Centre Bloore Street
Performance Poetry Workshop with Sarah Temporal
Saturday 18 May 2024
This ticket is valid for entry for one person to the 'Performance Poetry' workshop with Sarah Temporal.
Kyogle Laneway Community Space
La Fiesta at the Bowlo
June 3rd Doors 6:30pm. 7pm - Late.
Featuring: Lisa Sharpe, Odette Nettleton, Thor, and Jasmine Phillips.
Join MC Odette Nettleton for a night of belly-laughs, music, and a jar or two. This event will feature Lisa Sharpe’s one hour comedy show Roar, and music by Thor and Jasmine Phillips
Roar!
Lisa Sharpe is making a name for herself as a masterful storyteller and this time you’re gonna hear her ‘Roar’. The gloves are off as she makes you laugh, cry, and laugh again while she ducks and weaves through the biggest fight of her life, to figure out what keeps us getting up off the mat and who is really in our corner.
Warnings: Some swears. Mental health.
The Kyogle Bowling Club. Tickets $25/$20.
Gigorou
Doors 5:15pm. Event 5:30pm - 6:30pm.
Featuring: Sasha Kutabah Sarago, Dr Jenny Fraser.
Gigorou (jig-goo-roo) means ‘beauty’ or ‘beautiful’ in Jirrbal, the language of Sasha Kutabah Sarago’s grandmother. Growing up, Sasha didn’t feel gigorou. At a young age, she was told, ‘You’re too pretty to be Aboriginal’. Gigorou invites us to explore the interconnectedness of Aboriginal culture to resolve our relationship with beauty and ourselves.
Sasha will be joined on stage by Dr Jenny Fraser, a Yugambeh poet and video artist who is the founder of Solid Screen which seeks to platform and celebrate Indigenous women filmmakers
Upstairs at the Roxy Gallery, Kyogle. Tickets $20/$15.
Patting the Shark
Doors 3:45pm. Event 4pm - 5pm.
Featuring: Tim Baker and Dr Sally Breen
Tim Baker was living the dream. A best-selling and award-winning surf writer with a beautiful family, a lifetime of exotic travel and a home walking distance to quality waves. That all changed on July 7, 2015, when he was diagnosed, out of the blue, with stage 4, metastatic prostate cancer.
Tim writes candidly and with a raw vulnerability about this perilous journey through chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation and surgery, and his own determined lifestyle strategies to maintain mind, body, and spirit. This is a story about facing your mortality, staring down your fears, and working out what really matters in life.
Tim will be joined on stage by the book editor Dr Sally Breen, who lives on and writes about the Gold Coast. Sally’s books have been widely published and include her noir fiction Atomic City and memoir The Casuals.
Upstairs at the Roxy Gallery, Kyogle. Tickets $20/$15
Writing Funny
June 3rd Doors 2:15pm 2:30pm - 3:30pm
Join Northern Rivers legends Mandy Nolan and Lisa Sharpe as they pick apart the craft of writing and delivering comedy. This event will, if their shows are anything to go by, full of belly-laughs and fun as they share some secrets of joke writing and some war stories from the road.
Language warning. Probably nothing too severe but jokes are jokes…
Upstairs at the Roxy Gallery, Kyogle. Tickets $20/$15.
Literature & Displacement
June 3rd Doors 12:45pm 1pm - 2pm.
Featuring: Omid Tofighian, Hani Abdile, Mohammad Ali-Maleki, and Huda the Goddess
Imagine having to leave behind everything you know. How would you make a new life in a foreign land?
Join us for a very special insight into how these writers have used their own creativity to make space for themselves and others in Australia.
Drawing on a rich heritage of resistance, intellectual traditions the panellists will reflect on becoming a displaced person and what they had to leave behind in their homelands; they also share with us how language and culture can inspire creativity and support people trying to find another place to call home.
Over 20 years on from the Tampa incident and the escalation in our harsh border policies, this panel will offer critical and creative insights on compelling issues related to forced migration and seeking asylum in Australia.
Upstairs at the Roxy Gallery, Kyogle. Tickets $20/$15.
The Last Outlaws
June 3rd Doors 11:15am 11:30am-12:30pm.
Featuring: Frank Lopez, Kaitlyn Sawrey, Katherine Biber and Aunty Loretta Ethel Parsley
The Last Outlaws pulls on the threads of one of Australia’s greatest misunderstood histories, moving beyond the myths to learn what the Aboriginal brothers Jimmy and Joe Governor faced in both life and death. Jimmy and Joe Governor were from Wiradjuri and Wonnarua country, and were the last proclaimed outlaws in Australia, wanted dead or alive. Australia’s budding Federation is the background setting to this remarkable story, tying the brothers to the inauguration of a ‘new’ nation and Australia’s dark history of frontier violence, racial injustice and the global trade and defilement of Aboriginal ancestral remains. Join Frank Lopes and Kaitlyn Sawrey, who will be joined onstage by Professor of Law at the University of Technology Sydney Katherine Biber and Aunty Loretta Ethel Parsley.
Warning-this panel will feature discussion of topics sensitive to First Nations People
Upstairs at the Roxy Gallery, Kyogle. Tickets $20/$15.
Creating through floods and fire
June 3rd Doors 9:45am 10:00am -11:00am
Featuring: Jessie Cole, Jarrah Dundler, Jimmy Malecki and Jeanti St Clair.
The 2017 floods, the 2019/2020 bushfires, the 2022 floods – the Northern Rivers has faced more than its fair share of natural disasters over the last five years. Can being involved in creative pursuits – writing, photography, filmmaking, podcasting – about one’s experiences, help people get through these trying times?
Join Northern Rivers locals Jarrah Dundler (Fire Stories project) Jimmy Malecki (Director of Tinnie Heroes) Jeanti St Clair, (producer of Flood Stories), and Jessie Cole (author of Desire) as they discuss if sharing one’s story, photos or art with a wider audience, or being part of the audience itself, help?
Upstairs at the Roxy Gallery, Kyogle. Tickets $20/$15.
Behrouz Bouchani & Omid Tofighian in Conversation
Saturday 4 February 2023
Join us for a very special event as award winning writer and human rights advocate Behrouz Bouchani joins us to discuss his latest work 'Freedom, Only Freedom' with the books co-editor and co-translator Omid Tofighian.
The Fellowship Centre
Chris Manfield in conversation with Adele Wessell
Saturday 8 October 2022
One of Australia’s most celebrated chefs, Christine Manfield in conversation with Southern Cross University food historian, Adele Wessell, as they talk about her cooking career, her travels and her latest book, Indian Cooking Class, published by Simon and Schuster.
Christine will also be selling copies of her books at the conclusion of the event., Saturday 8 October at 2.00pm at Uniting Church’s Fellowship Centre, Bloore Street, Kyogle.
Christine has spent her life pursuing – and perfecting – her love of cooking, and her culinary work draws on the tastes and flavours of many cultures.
Her professional life as restauranteur culminated in three highly acclaimed restaurants: Paramount in Sydney, 1993-2000, East@West in London 2003-2005 and Universal, 2007-13.
As an award-winning author, Christine’s books, including A Personal Guide to India and Bhutan, Dessert Divas, Tasting India and Paramount Cooking, have spiced up the lives of keen cooks everywhere.
The Fellowship Centre
Workshop: Podcasting Parts 1 & 2
Saturday 14 May 2022
Presented by the host/writing team behind Spotify’s hit podcast Who is Daniel Johns? - Kaitlyn Sawrey and Francisco Lopez. Over 3 separate sessions over the festival weekend participants will learn about documentary and scripted podcast/audio production and will leave with practical skills to take into their projects. Please note that attendance at all 3 sessions is crucial for your learning journey. Check the program for times.
The Laneway Community Space
Sunday Pass
Sunday 15 May 2022
This pass allows the ticket holder entry to all three KMI Hall Main Stage events n Sunday May 15th
The KMI Hall Main Stage
Blackfulla Bookclub
Sunday 15 May 2022
Join us for a celebration of Blak writing as we wind down the festival.
The KMI Hall Main Stage
Delia Falconer in conversation with Nancy Cushing
Sunday 15 May 2022
Join celebrated Australian writer Delia Falconer, author of the highly acclaimed The Service of Clouds, Sydney & The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers, for a chat about her most recent work Signs and Wonders. Delia will be joined on stage by Nancy Cushing.
The KMI Hall Main Stage
Fundamentals of Film-Making
Sunday 15 May 2022
Celebrated local writer director Benjamin Gilmour hosts a one-off workshop on the art of screenwriting and shooting film. Participants will explore the fundamentals of filmmaking – the growing of ideas, the importance of story, character development and structure. Participants will then put their film knowledge into practice using a phone or iPad.
Optional – bring your own device/phone for the practical part of the workshop – those without a device can share with others as participants will
Kyogle Library
Creativity After the Fire
Saturday 14 May 2022
Just weeks after the bushfires a music festival was held in Ewingar, helping the community connect, and raise funds for their recovery. Around the same time two musos pushed their piano into fire-affected Nymboida where they wrote and performed songs, listened to stories of survival, and made a film about it all. Ewingar’s Hayley Katzen and ‘piano-pushers’ Grace and Hugh discuss art after the fires. A screening of 'Up Armidale Road' will follow the panel. Chair: Jarrah Dundler
Kyogle Cinema
Workshop : Powerful Stories in Tiny Word Counts with Dettra
Sunday 15 May 2022
Flash fiction is the art of crafting the biggest story you can within a limited word count, typically between 10 and 750 words. With so few to play with, there’s no room for lazy words. Exploring techniques and examples of the form, workshop participants will practice the skills required to craft compelling flash fiction. These skills are transferable and will help sharpen other forms of creative writing. Come along and discover why so many writers are getting hooked.
The Business Hive
Lead the Way: Jean Hinchcliffe
Sunday 15 May 2022
Join us for a discussion of Jean Hincliffe’s ‘Lead The Way’, the DIY guide to leading your community to change, written by one of Australia’s brightest young stars. From identifying your cause to finding allies, planning a march, nailing your messaging, public speaking and working with the media, to the importance of self-care when you’re on your activist journey, Lead the Way guides you to start changing the world today. Jean will be joined onstage by Brisbane academic Belinda Eslick
The Supper Rooms
The Furies: Mandy Beaumont
Sunday 15 May 2022
Mandy’s writing is a contact sport, visceral, engaging and unapologetic. Join us as she welcomes her debut novel The Furies into the world. Mandy will be joined on stage by Lynnette Lounsbury.
The Fellowship Centre
True Friends : Patti Miller
Sunday 15 May 2022
Friendships are among the most important relationships in our lives, often outlasting love affairs, marriages, even, at times, family connections. The loss of a friend can be one of life’s most disturbing events, yet these ‘friend break-ups’ are little acknowledged in our culture. Acclaimed writer Patti Miller discusses her new work True Friends with Lynda Hawryluk, Senior Lecturer in Writing at SCU.
The Senior Citizen's Centre
Writing Nature
Sunday 15 May 2022
‘Nature’ is arguably as much a product of culture and history as it is an outcome of biophysical and ecological processes. This panel explores the ways in which our understandings and experiences of nature can be represented through writing at a time when we face a crisis in global biodiversity brought about by a range of factors but accelerated by global climate change. How do we find – or create – hope for recreating relationships with nature that are based on genuine care and respect.
The KMI Hall Main Stage
Workshop: Close to Home with Katinka Smit
Sunday 15 May 2022
The best historical writing imagines what it was like for those who lived then; the day-to-day lives that lived through historical events. But what if we are living in historic times? Can we write with an eye to future readers? Can contemporary literature document the present for later historians or writers of historical fiction?
The Business Hive
In Kyogle Tonight
Saturday 14 May 2022
Join ALDI’s answer to Judith Lucy, Kyogle’s own Odette Nettleton on stage with a casserole of comedians, festival guests and raffle draws. Thor Phillips and band will be joining in the fun.
The Roxy Gallery UQP Stage
Saturday Pass
Saturday 14 May 2022
This ticket grants the holder admission to the three KMI Hall Main Stage Events on Saturday May 14th.
KMI Hall Main Stage
First Nations Panel
Saturday 14 May 2022
Join two of Australia’s strongest female First Nations voices Chelsea Watego, Jackie Huggins and Merinda Dutton in an afternoon of truth-telling about the ongoing, and lived experience of colonisation.
The KMI Hall Main Stage
Workshop : Life Stories with Patti Miller
Saturday 14 May 2022
This workshop introduces the delights and skills of memoir writing and is suitable for both beginners and experienced writers as it goes to the heart of writing practice. We will look at how to access the creative ‘right brain’ via memory to find the texture of lived experience. BYO writing materials.
The Business Hive
Workshop: Graphic Novels (CANCELLED)
Saturday 14 May 2022
Learn about the fun and fantastic world of graphic novels, comics and sequential art! A fun and interactive workshop with Holly English that explores the world of alternative creative storytelling. Graphic storytelling can be about ANYTHING. Come and discover this exciting playground of creative freedom. As part of the workshop, you will make your own mini-comic to take home! (Please bring your preferred drawing/writing materials and notebook).
Kyogle Library
Workshop: Writing the Sensual World with Krissy Kneen
Saturday 14 May 2022
Whether you are writing a sex scene or just writing about someone brushing their teeth, your writing can be lifted from the mundane into something that is an immersive, sensual, whole-body experience. Through a series of exercises, activities, discussions and readings, this workshop will equip you with tools that will help you to see and describe your literary world in a more sensual light.
The Laneway Comminty Space
I Love Poetry and Rugby League
Saturday 14 May 2022
Writers often have to hide their love for the working-class game, lest they be tarred and feathered. Join us for a celebration of blood, sweat and words. And remember, to allow the ball to bounce, is to invite misery into your life.
The Fellowship Centre
This All Come Back Now
Saturday 14 May 2022
Come join us for a discussion of This All Come Back Now - the first-ever anthology of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander speculative fiction – written, curated, edited and designed by blackfellas, for blackfellas and about blackfellas. Dazzling, imaginative and unsettling, This All Come Back Now centres and celebrates communities and culture. It’s a love letter to kin and country, to memory and future-thinking.
The Senior Citizen's Centre
Writing Close To Home
Saturday 14 May 2022
One last ‘To Do’ list for a dying mum. Finish migrants finding home on the isolated Abrolhos Islands. An exploration of how family trauma inhabits the body. Megan Albany, Emily Brugman and Jesse Cole’s works are all close to home in many ways. Join them in a conversation with local writer Jarrah Dundler.
The Supper Rooms
The Idea of Australia & The Unimaginable
Saturday 14 May 2022
What is the 'idea of Australia'? What defines the soul of our nation? Are we an egalitarian, generous, outward-looking country? Or is Australia a place that has retreated into silence and denial about the past and become selfish, greedy and insular? How do we face the future in light of the seemingly ‘unimaginable’ and recent natural disasters? Join Julianne Schultz on stage for a thought provoking discussion about how recent works with award-winning Bundjalung author Melissa Lucashenko.
The KMI Hall Main Stage
Workshop: Slam Poetry
Saturday 14 May 2022
Slam poetry gives you the microphone for two minutes and asks, ‘What's your story?’ Create a unique slam poem with prize-winning poet and educator, Sarah Temporal, in this fun and inclusive workshop. You will leave with a new spoken-word creation ready to enter the KWF poetry slam on Sunday.
The Laneway Community Space
Workshop: World Building, Place and Time in YA Fiction
Saturday 14 May 2022
A workshop to guide you through building an engaging, believable world within your young adult novel, looking specifically at world mechanics, visualisation of place and placing your story within a recognisable story-relevant time
The Business Hive
New Fiction
Saturday 14 May 2022
Join force of nature Mandy Beaumont, author of The Furies for a panel featuring three of Australia’s most dynamic writers as they discuss their recent releases.
The Senior Citizen's Centre
The Gap, Ben Gilmour
Saturday 14 May 2022
Join us for a chat with author, paramedic and film-maker, Ben Gilmour about his memoir The Gap — a no-holds-barred look at what happens after a triple-zero call is made – the drugs, nightclubs, brothels, billionaires,, emergency births and even a kidnapping. Ben will be joined on stage by Kevin Markwell.
The Supper Rooms
What Fear Was: Ben Walter
Saturday 14 May 2022
Ben Walter, fiction editor at Island and author of the acclaimed short story collection What Fear Was will be in conversation with Rohan Wilson about his strange, intensely moving writing.
The Fellowship Centre
Home / Cooking
Saturday 14 May 2022
Brought to you by Southern Cross University
During the pandemic, the boundaries between work and home blurred for many of us. While restaurants were closed, more people were eating at home and there was a surge in both ‘home cooking’ and support for restaurants through buying their home kits and takeaways. This panel explores the place of cooking, both at home and 'away from home', and the role that cooking literature has played and continues to play in shaping cooking (and eating) cultures.
The KMI Hall Main Stage
KWF Presents Mark Olive in conversation with Adele Wessell
Friday 13 May 2022
Join celebrated Bundjalung chef Mark Olive as he takes you on a journey through his love of country, cooking and native ingredients. Mark will be joined on stage by Southern Cross University’s Adele Wessel.
KMI Hall Main Stage
AAA
Friday 13 May 2022
Access to all author talks during the festival including:
All KMI Hall Events
All Fellowship Centre Events
All Senior Citizen Centre Events
All Supper Rooms Events
The Saturday 'Creativity After the Fire' event on Saturday the 14th of May.
Note this pass DOES NOT gain the holder entry into our workshops, or flood fundraiser 'The Princess Bride' on Thursday the 12th of May
Kyogle Writers Festival
Workshop: Narrative Poetry with Andrew Hull (CANCELLED)
Friday 13 May 2022
A facilitated session to learn from each other on how to retain a narrative focus in order to make your poetry more meaningful. Say goodbye to nonsensical forced rhymes, say hello to succinct, structured stories. Aimed at beginner to intermediate poets with a leaning towards the rhyming kind.
The Kyogle Library
Workshop: The Hero's Journey with Luca Collins
Friday 13 May 2022
The Hero’s Journey is a template for everything from legends and myths to Hollywood scripts and contemporary novels. We will explore its archetypes in this workshop, and how it can help you shape narratives in your own writing.
Kyogle Library
KWF and Arts Northern Rivers Present: I Hate Networking
Friday 13 May 2022
A surprisingly fun business workshop which combines education with the opportunity to practise networking in a safe and friendly environment, while embracing the discomfort of the whole process and having a laugh. I Hate Networking is designed to encourage creative people to get to know each other, while acknowledging the horror, and sharing a few tips at the same time.
The Roxy Gallery UQP Stage
Screening: The Princess Bride
Thursday 12 May 2022
A screening of a 1980s cult-classic about a farmhand on a mission to rescue his beloved Buttercup? As you wish! Come join us at Kyogle Cinemas for this truly inconceivable adventure.
All proceeds will go to Arts Northern Rivers Flood Recovery Appeal.
Please note all kids under 16 will need to be accompanied by an adult or guardian.
Kyogle Cinema
The Gap - Ben Gilmour
Monday 25 April 2022
Join us for a chat with author, paramedic and film-maker, Ben Gilmour about his memoir The Gap — a no-holds-barred look at what happens after a triple-zero call is made – the drugs, nightclubs, brothels, billionaires,, emergency births and even a kidnapping. Ben will be joined on stage by Kevin Markwell.
The Supper Rooms
Workshop : Powerful Stories in Tiny Word Counts with Dettra
Sunday 10 April 2022
Flash fiction is the art of crafting the biggest story you can within a limited word count, typically between 10 and 750 words. With so few to play with, there’s no room for lazy words. Exploring techniques and examples of the form, workshop participants will practice the skills required to craft compelling flash fiction. These skills are transferable and will help sharpen other forms of creative writing. Come along and discover why so many writers are getting hooked.
The Laneway Community Space
Saturday Pass
Sunday 10 April 2022
This pass gives you entry to all three events occurring at the KMI Hall Main Stage on Saturday May 14th.
The KMI Hall Main Stage
Nature Journaling
Friday 8 April 2022
tbc
Fairymont Look Out
Dobbell: A Life
Thursday 7 April 2022
tbc
The KIM Hall Supper Rooms
Dettra Rose: Workshop : Flash Fiction
Sunday May 16th 11:30am - 1:00pm
Flash Fictions are stories with plot and character development, conveyed in very few words.
Through discussion and examples of the form, participants will use writing prompts to practise the skills required to create compelling flash fiction. These skills are transferable and will help inform and sharpen any other form of creative writing.
Laneway Community Space
Brolga Pass
May 15th and May 16th
The Brolga Pass give you access to the six author events at the KMI Hall Main Stage. Please note, this ticket does not give you access to the Saturday night social event.
Kyogle Memorial Institute Hall
The OS Presents Art and Advocacy in the Country
Sunday May 16th 2:50pm - 3:50pm
Bec Tapscott and the Occasional Studio present Arts and Advocacy in the Country. Joining Bec will be Christabel Strehle, Andrew Johnston, Stuart Rees and Luke Vassella. Passion, poetry, music and visual art come together with a little talk on activism, or artivism, to give us something to think about, something to laugh about.
This ticket is included in the Brolga Pass, if you have purchased a Brolga Pass there is no need to purchase a seperate ticket to this event.
The KMI Hall Main Stage
KWF Presents Writing in a Collapsing Climate
Sunday May 16th 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Join Tim Cadman in discussion with three very different writers with different responses to climate change: Stuart Cooke, Linda Woodrow and Lisa Walker. Resilience in a failing world, eco-poetry and romance. What more could you want as the temperature rises?
This ticket is included in the Brolga Pass, if you have purchased a Brolga Pass there is no need to purchase a seperate ticket to this event.
Kyogle Memorial Institute Hall Main Stage
KWF Presents Ellen van Neerven at the Roxy Gallery
Sunday May 16th 12:15pm - 1:15pm
Join celebrated Mununjali poet and author, Ellen van Neerven for a reading and discussion of their work with RN's Daniel Browning.
The Roxy Gallery
Katinka Smit: Workshop: Writing from Place
Sunday May 16th 11:00am - 12:30pm
The best historical writing imagines what it was like for those who lived then; it is the day to day lives of the past that fascinate the most. Through a selection of sources, participants will understand what makes for vibrant historical writing, focusing on place and the body lived. Participants will then apply these principals in writing exercises, with an emphasis on creative writing, using local history sources. Suitable for poets, fiction and creative non-fiction writers.
The Library
Workshop - Narrative Podcasting
Sunday May 16th 11:00am - 12:30pm
Interested in narrative podcasting but don’t know where to start? Podcast veterans Kaitlyn Sawrey (Gimlet, Spotify, triple j) and Frank Lopez (Radio National, Pineapple Street, Gimlet), fresh from New York, will help you figure out how to turn your idea into something that can hook an audience. They’ll reveal the process behind hit narrative podcasts, and participants will flesh out possible structures and story arcs for a series.
Please note, this workshop does not include tech advice.
The Business Hive
KWF Presents: Writing place in the Country
Sunday May 16th 11:00am - 12:00pm
ayley Katzen, an urban academic who settled down on a cattle property in Northern NSW, Jessie Cole, who lives in her childhood home in the rainforest, Scott Bevan, a Hunter Valley local with a connection to Lake Macquarie, and Jarrah Dundler, who lives and writes in his home town of Kyogle, talk about how place has shaped their lives and informed their writing.
The Richmond River Independent Stage
Scott Bevan Taking it Slowly- Journeys on Water and in Words
Saturday May 15th 11am - 12:00pm
Author Scott Bevan likes to go with the flow. Literally. He uses his kayak, Pulbah Raider, to explore places, to meet people, and to experience life. He has taken readers with him on paddling adventures in three acclaimed books: 'The Hunter', as he kayaks the river that flows through the region where he grew up; 'The Harbour', an exploration of Sydney Harbour, and; 'The Lake', a circumnavigation of Lake Macquarie.
Join Scott in conversation with old friend Professor Kevin Markwell.
The Fellowship Centre
Workshop -Self Publishing - Surviving the Amazon Ecosystem
Sunday May 16th 9:30am - 11am
Tim Cadman will run an introductory course to navigating the Kindle Direct publishing platform, and demonstrate how to create a title, upload, add cover and publish. For comparison he will also briefly introduce Ingram Spark, Amazon’s main competitor. Online publishing is not without its traps, and Tim will help troubleshoot based on personal experience of what not to do.
The Library
The Anti-Violence Alliance Presents: Women to the Front
Sunday May 16th 9:30am - 10:30am
Join us as Brisbane academic Dr Belinda Eslick guides us through an exploration of the best of contemporary Australian women’s fiction with authors Laurel Elvery, Mirandi Riwoe and Kristina Olsson.
This ticket is included in the Brolga Pass, if you have purchased a Brolga Pass there is no need to purchase a seperate ticket to this event.
Kyogle Memorial Hall Main Stage
The Kyogle Writers Festival presents: In Kyogle Tonight
Saturday 15 May 2021
The Kyogle Writers Festival presents: In Kyogle Tonight - a TV chat show without the bother of TV cameras. Hosted by Kyogle's Odette Nettleton, the show features stand up comedy by Alexandra Hudson and Ting Lim, a live 'Ask Odette' show and surprise guest authors from the festival line up. It's not a chat show without a house band and local legends The Barkers Vale Brothers are on board. This event is BYO. Food will be available from our food vendors on Stratheden Street. Doors open at 7:00pm.
KMI Hall Main Stage
The Kyogle Writers Festival Presents First Nation's Writers
Saturday May 15th 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Join us a RN's Daniel Browning discusses the best of contemporary First Nation's writing with panelists Nardi Simpson, Mykaela Saunders and Lisa Fuller. This event will also feature a reading from Ellen van Neerven.
This ticket is included in the Brolga Pass, if you have purchased a Brolga Pass there is no need to purchase a seperate ticket to this event.
Kyogle Memorial Hall Main Stage
Workshop - Laurel Cohn: Nail your story and your pitch.
Saturday May 15th. 11am & 2:45pm
It is crucial to pitch your project to others concisely. You may need a verbal pitch and one in writing. You may need a one-liner and a 500-word synopsis. The key is to know exactly what it is you are writing – harder than it sounds, but fundamental to developing your ideas. This two part workshop offers tips and tools to help understand your story and frame your work for different publishing opportunities.
Please note this workshop is in two parts - 11am - 12:30pm & 2:45pm - 4:15pm
The Business Hive
Gwen Gray: Writing Children’s Stories
Saturday May 15th 2:45pm - 4:15pm
This workshop is for anyone looking to explore their creativity, open their imagination and learn new skills to enable their hidden inspirations to start the journey to create a children’s story. Join me in a fun, interactive workshop with like-minded people.
The Library
Workshop - Graeme Gibson Creative Non-Fiction
Saturday May 15th 2:45pm - 4:15pm
After an exploration of turning facts into story, this highly participatory workshop will unpack the most famous writer's adage of all: "Show, don't tell". This is suitable for memoir, biography, personal essay or whatever your creative non-fiction interest is. Bring an idea or an empty slate and see what happens.
Laneway Community Space
Workshop - Vincent Stead : Performance Poetry
Saturday May 15th 2:45pm - 4:15pm
Join local poet Vincent Stead in this workshop for aspiring and experienced poets.
The Occasional Studio
KWF Presents Mandy Beaumont
Saturday May 15th 2:45pm - 3:45pm
Join Mandy Beaumont as she discussing her celebrated short story collection 'Wild, Fearless Chests' and her upcoming novel 'The Furies' with Dr Lynette Lounsbury.
The Richmond River Independent Stage
KWF Presents Melissa Lucashenko
Saturday May 15th 1:15pm - 2:15pm
Melissa Lucashenko will be in conversation with Lynda Hawryluk about her Miles Franklin Award winning novel 'Too Much Lip'. They will discuss how writing intergenerational stories often illuminate larger truths, and talk about how both place and people have come together in Melissa’s prize winning narratives of Bundjalung and Australian life since her first novel was published in 1997.
This ticket is included as part of the Brolga Pass.
Kyogle Memorial Hall Main Stage
Workshop - Lynette Lounsbury: YA Character and Voice
Saturday May 15th 11am - 12:30pm.
To write engaging young adult fiction it is vital to create authentic characters. This practical workshop digs into what makes a character believable and their voice compelling. You will have the chance to tryout and refine different voices and characters for your YA novel and to share your ideas with other writers.
Lynnette Lounsbury is a writer, educator and producer. Her publications include Afterworld (Allen and Unwin), We Ate the Road Like Vultures (Inkerman & Blunt)
Laneway Community Space
Workshop: Song Writing with Thor Phillips & Brendan Smoother
Saturday May 15th 11am - 12:30pm.
Join award winning songwriter and performer, Brendan Smoother, along with producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Thor Phillips, for an insight into songwriting and music creation. In this workshop they will be sharing our experiences and methods around lyric and music creation, songwriting collaboration methods, registering your songs, and ways of getting them out there. We will also be performing some of our own works and talking about how they were written and the stories behind them
The Occasional Studio
KWF Presents - How local histories shape country Australia
Saturday May 15th 11am - 12:00pm
Understanding local history is important, but how are local histories shared? Indeed, what is history and how do interpretations change over time? Who is a local and who speaks for a place? Join Rob Garbutt, Jo Kijas and Andrew Johnston as they grapple with these questions in a panel anchored by Graeme Gibson.
The Richmond River Independent Stage
KWF Presents Professor Stuart Rees
Saturday May 15th 9:30am - 10:30am
Join us as Professor Stuart Rees AM discusses his most recent book, Cruelty or Humanity, in conversation with Dr Richard Hil. Stuart's book identifies the nature and extent of cruelties, perpetrators and victims, causes and cultures. Non-destructive, life enhancing alternatives are explored, using poetry, music and other art forms to explain and illustrate.
This ticket is included in the Brolga Pass.
Kyogle Memorial Institute Hall Main Stage
Graeme Gibson - Writing for the media
Friday May 14th 1pm - 4pm
Understanding media requirements are crucial to getting published. This workshop explores and offers the opportunity to produce a media release and a news report. It will also apply aspects of creative non-fiction to a short feature article. This is suitable for stories of place, people or events, whether current or historic.
The Richmond River Independent Stage
Artist Pass
Monday 15 March 2021
Artist Pass to the Festival.
This pass includes entry to all of the events at the KMI Hall MainStage.
KMI Hall Main Stage
LCS Four (CANCELLED)
Saturday 13 March 2021
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Laneway Community Space
Business Hive 3 (CANCELLED)
Saturday 13 March 2021
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The Business Hive
Stretch Your Legs - Artist Walk
Saturday 13 March 2021
Sponsor here. Join local author for a stroll around our beautiful little town - who knows who you might bump into on the way
John Bull Second Hand and Vintage
