Dubbo and Orana region residents will have access to key events of the Sydney Writers’ Festival (SWF) after the Western Plains Cultural Centre was chosen as a Live and Local streaming partner.
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The centre will stream more than a dozen events on May 26, 27 and 28.
SWF artistic director Michaela McGuire said Live and Local was about making the festival “as accessible as possible for as many people as possible”.
“Not everyone is able to [visit Sydney for the duration of the festival] so it's a really lovely opportunity to engage in the festival without physically being there,” she said.
“Part of what makes writers’ festivals so nice is what is normally a very solitary pursuit becomes very public, and we can still get the sense of that even if the writers aren't in the same room.”
The SWF will be broadcast across 30 different Live and Local streaming partners this year, and it’s the first time Dubbo will take part.
This year’s festival examines the theme of refuge, Ms McGuire said, which people could relate regardless of where in Australia – or the world – they live.
“There's a whole host of events that are dedicated to analysing and discussing the various forces around the world that are driving people to seek refuge,” she said.
“But then the flip side of that is returning to reading and literature as a place of solace.
“I think these are all themes that are relatable to people all around the world … and I think they’re all things that people need to talk about.”
The Dubbo Program
Friday, May 26
- 10:00 – 11:00am AEST – A Murderer in the Family with Susan Faludi, Hisham Matar and Nadja Spiegelman talk to Michael Williams
- 11:30 – 12:30pm AEST – Deng Adut: Songs of a War Boy
- 1:30 – 2:30pm AEST – James Shapiro: The Year of Lear
- 3:00 – 4:00pm AEST – Susan Faludi: In the Darkroom
- 4:30 – 5:30pm AEST – Writing Race. Curated by Paul Beatty with Maxine Beneba Clarke, Anuk Arudpragasam, Ellen van Neerven and Roanna Gonsalves
Saturday, May 27
- 10:00 – 11:00am AEST – All the Girls to the Front with Jan Fran talking to Tracey Spicer, Yassmin Abdel Magied and Clementine Ford
- 11:30 – 12:30pm AEST – Dreams of Her Real Self: Writers on Helen Garner with Bernadette Brennan, Fiona McFarlane, Annabel Crabb, Benjamin Law and Rebecca Giggs
- 1:30 – 2:30pm AEST – Henry Marsh: Admissions – A Life in Brain Surgery
- 3:00 – 4:00pm AEST – Hisham Matar: The Return
- 4:30 – 5:30pm AEST – Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales: Our Reading Year
Sunday, May 28
- 10:00 – 11:00am AEST – Lauren Child’s Quirky Characters!
- 11:30 – 12:30pm AEST – Andy Griffiths – Are you ready to roll?
- 1:30 – 2:30pm AEST – Lion: A Long Way Home – Saroo Brierley with his mother Sue Brierley talk to Janice Petersen
- 3:00 – 4:00pm AEST – Clementine Ford: Fight Like A Girl
- 4:30 – 5:30pm AEST – SWF Gala: Maybe This Will Help – Ruth Quibell, Bill Hayes, Pamela Paul, Jamie Morton, Ivan Coyote, Sofija Stefanovic