5 Questions with Lur Alghurabi
Lur Alghurabi is an Iraqi and Australian writer, poet and playwright, and Co-Director of the National Young Writers’ Festival.
She is winner of the AM Heath Prize for Prose and the Scribe Nonfiction Prize, and shortlistee of the Deborah Cass Prize. She has been widely published in Australia and the US, and is a recent alumna of the Oxford University Master's in Creative Writing with Distinction.
No.1
Hi Lur! Can you tell us what contributed to your decision to join NYWF as co-director?
NYWF is where I cut my teeth as a young writer, when I was writing exclusively for student media and had no knowledge of what a writing career could look like. Five years since I first attended, I’m still benefiting from the connections and insights I gained in that year whether in publishing, performance or writing.
With each year I attended, I felt my own thoughts around my work growing in boldness and autonomy. I think it’s a particularly generous and welcoming community, but one that also strongly emphasises the importance of sovereignty in terms of our own work, especially those of us who are on the margins of an industry that offers little equity. I wanted to be part of a program that spoke to the challenges we faced from a place of ambition and social change, and one that addressed the massive knowledge gap between early career creatives and industry veterans. NYWF is a festival where artists come in with plenty of generosity, and it’s the perfect group of people to do this kind of work.
No.2
Over the years, I’ve noticed that the NYWF programme has gone from strength to strength, featuring panels and events that move away from standard interview formats to those which are more dynamic and interactive—and not to mention, equitable. Do you want to speak more to this, at least in your experience programming the event this year? What was the process like for you?
The quality of the programme is a direct reflection of the quality of artists’ applications this year. We were very fortunate that artists came to us with strong, well-defined and creative pitches, and that they could trust us with these ideas to say what they really wanted, in the format they wanted. It’s been a massive exercise of putting the artists at the helm (it’s one of my favorite things about NYWF). But also, the team of staff we’ve had this year was also particularly collaborative, and everyone on the team put their wildest idea forward in terms of what they’d want to see in their ideal festival if sky was the limit, and we made all of them happen.
No.3
On that note, what were some challenges involved with co-directing this year’s NYWF?
We made a decision to make this an online festival as the NSW lockdown didn’t seem to be going anywhere soon, which was an extremely difficult decision to make. But I’m quite pleased with it; this highlighted a great number of issues concerning accessibility, especially for a festival with a limited budget to support artists.
Artists’ current precarious situations with employment, health risks, time poverty, or even communities that might be relying on them for support, make it quite difficult to take an entire long weekend off to attend a festival, as rewarding and wonderful as that festival may be. I’m happy that we don’t have to put people through that on top of everything else they are going through. Our heightened awareness of this thanks to the pandemic means we will think harder than ever about equity and accessibility. I’m looking forward to reflecting on this after the festival and seeing how we can improve this moving forward, even if this improvement is gradual.
No.4
We don’t often speak to festival directors in this interview section, I think due to the fact that POC programmers and directors are only starting to become more visible in the Australian literary sector in the last few years. As such, do you have any tips for aspiring festival directors/programmers?
My honest #1 tip is to have a day job. I’ve personally washed my hands of the industry compensating me adequately for pursuing my cultural capital like it was Iraqi oil, co-opting it into their brand and then selling it on to consumers for profit I never see. But working full-time in a corporate job has given me the freedom to go into this industry on my own terms.
I can’t in good conscience tell anyone to pursue this if they will rely on it to pay the rent. But if they have another income stream, then I can then say that directing this festival in particular has been the most rewarding volunteer role I’ve ever taken, and one that is set up relatively ethically, as far as volunteer roles go. September is quite intense, but throughout the rest of the year the workload is extremely manageable. Artists who’ve attended the festival for a year or two are in a really good position to apply, and I would recommend it very strongly.
That said, working full-time and then having a creative pursuit can be time consuming and tiring, but it doesn’t have to be. Lean into your circles for advice and support, ask questions, don’t go into the arts sector on your own armed only with your best hopes and expectations. There’s quite a few panels this year on the realities of this industry, so check them out to gain a better understanding. Again, it’s a really generous community. Tap into that as much as you need to, especially that much of this industry insight is available to you for free through festivals such as this.
Lastly, try and decentralise yourself in the process of directing. You could go into a programming or directing role with a certain vision of what the perfect festival could look like, but let the artists’ ideas humble you, especially ones who have experiences and come from communities different from your own. When platforming diverse voices, let that be on their own terms with their own vision, not yours. This makes for a festival of rich, nuanced and truly refreshing discussions.
No.5
What NYWF events are you personally most looking forward to this year?
I’m really looking forward to the first night’s debate: Writing is bad, be happy instead. I’ve been asking myself a lot lately where happiness comes from, and whether writing feeds into it or takes away from it.
English is cancelled is also another personal favourite; it’s a very strong line-up and I look forward to hearing about their experiences with creative freedom in Ozlit or beyond.
And to get us moving, we have a hip hop dance workshop because we’re all really, really tired of being in front of our screens, and I desperately need a little endorphin boost.
Find out more
The National Young Writers’ Festival (NYWF) is an annual gathering of young writers. A place to show work, share ideas, and learn. Programs are free, and made by and for young writers who create across stage, page, web and beyond.
In 2021, the festival will occur online. The success of #NYWF2020 has allowed confidence in an exciting & dynamic program that fosters the community spirit for which NYWF is known.
NYWF is so-called Australia’s largest gathering of young writers, with artists bringing their craft from all around (cities, regional, rural and our beloved regular cohort from Aotearoa). The festival showcases work in both new and traditional forms including zines, comics, blogging, screenwriting, poetry, spoken word, hip hop, music, journalism, autobiography, comedy and prose.
The festival presents ‘writing’ in its broadest sense through panels, discussions, workshops, launches, performances, readings, installations, and more. The program combines practical skill-building sessions with social events, interactive projects, writing showcases and collaborations.
See the full program here.