In 2015 the Eye of the Storm Writers’ Festival was held at the Olive Pink Botanic Garden over the weekend, with evening events at Totem Theatre, Epilogue Lounge and Montes.
The festival featured over 40 writers and storytellers from central Australia and beyond, who converged under the 2015 festival theme Finding Home.
Program update July 2015
Alice Springs or Mbantua is on the traditional country of the Arrernte people who are connected through kinship and ceremony with Aboriginal people throughout the region. In 2015 Eye of the Storm will feature Indigenous storytellers and writers from the region who will share stories of central Australia and talk about what home means to them.
Doris Stuart Kngwarreye, Apmereke-artwye (traditional owner) for Mparntwe, would like to invite participating writers and storytellers to join with her on a guided tour through her homeland, Mparntwe. Veronica Perrurle Dobson, recently awarded the 2015 NAIDOC Elder of the Year award for her contribution to the preservation of Arrernte language, will be talking about her books and is one of four writers you will meet if you go on the facilitated walk along the dry Todd River from town to the Telegraph Station, ‘Walking, Writing and Ways of Seeing’.
We’re delighted to be hosting winner of the 2013 David Unaipon Award Ellen van Neerven, novelist Jessie Cole and performance poet Candy Royalle, as well as Clare Atkins and Diane Lucas from Darwin. We’re stoked to have Kim Mahood at the festival this year, Craig San Roque and Rod Moss.
We’re excited to be launching Christopher Raja’s debut novel The Burning Elephant and Ali Cobby Eckermann’s new collection of poetry Inside the Mother as well as Meg Mooney’s new book of poetry Being Friends with Martha.
A highlight of Eye of the Storm 2015 will be the performance by Sudanese singer/song writer and storyteller Ajak Kwai of her solo show Of Cows, Women and War, outdoors under the stars at Olive Pink Botanic Garden.
We can’t wait to see Joshua Santospirito’s new graphic novel Swallows along with German artist Jan Bauer’s stunning debut graphic novel The Salty River (note the use of Jan’s artwork in our banner above!)
. . . And to hear about Mark Maclean’s year spent exploring the urban drains of Newcastle and Lorna Hendry’s trip around Australia in a 4WD with a camper trailer, a husband and young kids. A trip that started as a one-year plan and ended three years later.
4 weeks to go. Book your flights now… or fuel up your car and make the journey.
Eye of the Storm 