Brisbane Writer's Festival Write Up

Last weekend was a big one in Brisbane. What with the Brisbane Writers Festival and Brisbane Festival on. The city and South Bank were jumping for a good four or five days across the two festivals.

I got to go to a lot of the writers festival, as I took the Friday off work. I did go to the reading at Greystone Bar at Southbank on the Thursday night, where Carl Cleves, Marie Munkara, Tom Cho and Christian Lander each gave a reading from their books. I particularly enjoyed Tom Cho and Christian Lander, both who are masters at the art of deadpan delivery. Lots of laughs to be had there.

Tom Cho at Greystone Bar

Christian Lander at Greystone Bar

My first event on Friday morning was the "Conversations With Richard Fidler" session that was live to air for ABC radio. The subject was "Not Tonight Honey" with guests Bettina Arndt and Linda Javin. It was fascinating to be behind the scenes for a live to air radio broadcast and a great topic of conversation. I found Bettina Arndt absolutely delightful, and Richard Fidler is always good value. Not so impressed with Linda Javin, but she did raise some interesting points.

Bettina Arndt

The next session I went to was local author Krissy Kneen in the Red Box theatrette. Krissy has written a sexual memoir, and boy is she a brave lady. She has really put her whole life out there and isn't afraid to talk about it. I admire that, even though her life and her values are somewhat different to my own. She really hit the nail on the head when she said that she didn't care if people didn't like her personally (or her lifestyle) but she felt it when they criticised her writing. I deeply admire that attitude. A fascinating session, and hosted by a friend of Krissy's, Benjamin Law.

My last session for the day was the "Creativity: Art or Science" with John Birmingham, Rowan Gilmore and Mandyam Srinivasan. A lot more scientific talk than I had anticipated, but I did really enjoy it and it gave me some good food for thought.

I had planned to turn up early on the Saturday morning, but was knackered so I stayed home and had a bit of a sleep in, and hit the 11.30am session first up, "Disco Boy: What's in a Name" with Nick Earls and Dominic Knight, hosted by a very sexy Scotsman in a kilt, who I have subsequently found out is one Lee McGowan. Lots of laughs to be had in this session, as is always expected in any session featuring Nick Earls.

Lee McGowan, Nick Earls and Dominic Knight

The next session I went to, "My Big Fat Eccentric Family" with Gary Bryson, Tom Cho and Catherine Therese turned out to be both the biggest surprise and the highlight of the entire festival for me. Gary Bryson read a fantastic passage from his book a fiction piece that is very reminiscent of his own childhood life in Scotland. Tom Cho gave some readings from his book, including his fantastic reworking of Dirty Dancing. But it was Catherine Therese that was the surprise and delight. Her reading turned into a performance piece and she's such a delightful creature, honest and true to herself, and the inclusion of Bryson and Cho into the piece was fantastic.

Catherine Therese

After that, I dashed over to the Breezeway to the "Adventurers: Moving On from the Boy Scouts" session with Chris Bray, Gary Weare and Andrew Westoll. We heard about their boys own adventures, in the Himalayas, Arctic and South American jungle. Inspirational to hear their stories and perhaps find my own adventures.

The final event for the writers festival for me was a major disappointment. I went along to "Strong Women Write Strong Women" with Tobsha Learner and Marianne de Pierres. I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if they'd had someone other than Tobsha Learner, who was more interested in talking about how successful she was rather than the strong women that she apparently writes. Marianne de Pierres would have been interesting enough to see on her own, she is a rare creature of Australian authors - a female speculative fiction writer. Very disappointing session to end on.

That said though, as a whole I really enjoyed the Brisbane Writers Festival 2009, especially as they've gone back to the format with plenty of free events available. The average person can't afford four days worth of events that start at $10, so I missed a couple of years there. It's good to be able to go and see writers from all over Australia and around the world strut their stuff.

Game On!

My friend Kylie B and I went to the Game On exhibit at State Library of Queensland today.  I got a free ticket last year when I went to the SLQ Unconference, and I've just been waiting for the opportunity to go.

Game On is an interactive exhibit on the history of video games.  As their tagline says, "Play your way through the history of video games."

I don't think I've ever had so much fun going to an exhibit in my life.  It's all there, from Pong through to the Nintendo Wii, and you can play about 95% of the consoles, handhelds and arcade machines there.  Kylie and I had so much fun playing with the Wii, I have decided to buy one myself.  I love the idea of a video game that actually requires activity and movement.  We played tennis on it and it really does feel like you're playing tennis.  I think even without anyone to play with, I could have fun in my living room just playing against the console.  But I fully intend to have Wii parties too.

As well as having all the games there for you to play, you can learn about the music of video games, how the stories and plots of the games are thought up (there is an awesome post-it-note storyboard for Grand Theft Auto), the artwork, the merchandising that goes with them and the actual history of the computing that goes into them.

If you are interested even in the slightest in video games I can highly recommend this exhibit to you, but get in quick because you only have until February 15th!

Something Is Lacking

I know that this is a blog about things I LOVE about Brisbane, but there is one little niggly thing that I have to bring to folks attention, in the hope someone out there can remedy it.

Fairly frequently, I have to go to State Library for functions and events. Recently when I went there for an all day event, I got there a little early, planning to have a cup of coffee there in that lovely open space in the entrance way before the event started. Unfortunately, I discovered that there at the Cultural Centre, around State Library, the Queensland Museum, the Queensland Art Gallery and GOMA, there is not a coffee to be had before 9am!!

None of the cafes open until 9am, not even just to sell coffees. That's an absolute crime. All those people who work in that area, all the folks sitting around using the free wireless access, people walking, cycling, jogging, pet-walking through the area, and of course anyone visiting those wonderful cultural resources first up in the morning, has to go down to South Bank or beyond to South Brisbane somewhere for a coffee.

That's just fundamentally wrong!

An apparently, they all shut bang on 5pm. So no coffee as you leave work or a venue either.

So I urge you, if you are reading this and you have influence over the cafes in the Cultural Centre, please, get them to open before 9am and after 5pm. Everywhere else opens at 8am at the very latest (most places 7am!) Alternatively, if you're someone who has one of those coffee cart businesses, or wants to go into business with one, there's your location. Even if you just have your cart there before the other places open and after they close for an hour each time, I reckon you'll make a motza.