Liminal's Top Picks — National Young Writers Festival 2021
From 30 Sep—3 Oct 2021, the National Young Writers Festival unites talented young writers to showcase their talents, tell their tales and share insights and experiences in an online program filled with discovery, learning, and delight.
Here are LIMINAL’s top picks for NYWF 2021!
Thurs 30 Sep 6-7PM AEST
Writing Is Bad. Be Happy Instead.
The average writer earns $4000 per year from their writing. That’s less than one jet ski. Is it worth it? We ask a handful of writers to settle this age old question once and for all.
with Dan Hogan, Guneet Kaur, Claire Sullivan and Danielle Scrimshaw
Fri 1 Oct 7-8PM AEST
Prison Lit and the Politics of Abolition
In this event two writers who explore the politics of incarceration discuss the history of prison literature as a political force for change, and the urgency of the prison abolition movement.
with Lamisse Hamouda and Katherine Back
Fri 1 Oct 8-9PM AEST
On Boba Activism
Five Asian Australian writers discuss ‘boba activism’ or superficial readings of race and representation in writing and cultural spaces. Together they suggest more meaningful forms of activism that look beyond the tropes of personal essays that prioritise the performance of one’s identity.
with Martin Reyes, Shu-Ling Chua, Patricia Arcilla, Gloria Demillo and Pavan Dutta
fri 1 oct 9-10pm AEST
Queer Eye For The End Times
Home-made pickles, remote cabins in quiet woods, bear hunting and a nice multi-tool. Are we talking about a weekend getaway for that nice queer couple who live across the road? Or is the end of the world just a little bit gay? Who knows, but our writers are here to talk about The End of the World.
with Justina Ashman, Alison Evans, Katherine Back and Rafeif Ismail
Sat 2 Oct 3-4pm AEST
We Don’t Need No Cold Drip, Thank You
Much like rising damp in a sharehouse, gentrification is creeping into working class arts spaces at alarming speed. As working class aesthetics and stories are coopted by the peers of genuinely working class artists and writers, the value and purpose of those spaces is increasingly diluted. In this panel a collection of working class writers discuss the function of working class arts spaces and why they must be protected at all costs.
with Dan Hogan, Taonga Sendama, Gok-Lim Finch and Pavan Dutta
Sat 2 Oct 6-7PM AEST
Anticolonial Asian History
Tune in for a crash course in Anticolonial Asian History with a crack team of excellent Asian Australian writers. Speaking to their personal ancestry and the interconnectedness of many Asian histories they discuss the continent and diaspora’s relationship with decolonisation, world peace, disarmament, and self-determination; including Bandung 1955, the first large-scale meeting of African and Asian nations, at which the term the Global South was formed to refer to the interconnected histories and destinies of these independent nation-states.
with Gok-Lim Finch, Natasha Hertanto, Patricia Arcilla and Panda Wong
Sat 2 Oct 7-8PM AEST
The Call is Coming Inside The House: First Nations Perspective on Horror
Writer Raelee Lancaster is joined by PhD candidate Alice Bellette to discuss finding comfort in gothic literature as First Nations writers and readers. Drawing on the brilliant work already being done by First Nations to subvert Western/colonial expectations of the gothic genre, they will consider the way gothic literature perpetuates harmful stereotypes and rhetoric that continues to disenfranchise First Nations people, and how First Nations writers are reappropriating the genre in a way that resists it.
with Alice Bellette and Raelee Lancaster
Sat 2 Oct 8-9PM AEST
English is Cancelled
Language is an extraordinary gift, and every single one is imbued with character, history, nuance and power. We move away from the colonial presumption of the supremacy of English, and invite writers to read their works that engage with other tongues. Afterwards they discuss the benefits of multilingual writing and the creative freedom and challenges it presents.
with Shu-Ling Chua, Dženana Vucic, Anita Solak, Noemie Huttner-Koros and Natasha Hertanto
Sat 2 Oct 9-10PM AEST
Panda and Haneen present The Real Deal: Laksa Masterclass 2021
It was a long cold winter of the soul in 2021. Prepare to warm yourself back up with a masterclass in making Laksa, the undisputed superior soup. Lead by two stellar Malaysian Australian writers, the exceptional Panda Wong and NYWF’s very own co-manager Haneen Martin, you can count on an evening of scintillating discussion, essential cooking tips, and good banter.
with Haneen Martin and Panda Wong
Sun 3 Oct 4-5PM AEST
Writing Bodies
In this panel, writers explore writing the body’s sickness, energy, discomfort, insecurity, disability, gender, physical appearance and all the emotions connected. Whether through prose poetry or a podcast, how does writing the body shape and develop our relationship with our physical self?
with Melissa McGlensey, Daley Rangi and Caitlin Ellen Moore
Sun 3 Oct 8-9PM AEST
Being Extremely Online: Representations of The Digital World
As we hurtle forwards into an increasingly digital future we find ourselves plugged into more information than any generation before us. The news, legitimate or otherwise, berates us from all angles; culture and content is ubiquitous. And one of the consequences is a glut of digital and internet themed art including Lauren Oyler’s ‘Fake Accounts’, Patricia Lockwood’s ‘No One Is Talking About This’, and Hari Kunzru’s ‘Red Pill’. Five talented, extremely plugged-in writers talk life on the information superhighway, and the ways digital connectivity is explored in art.
with Jared Richards, Michael Sun, Panda Wong, Nina Oyama and Durr-e-Adan Haque
Sun 3 Oct 9-10PM AEST
Imagined Homelands: No More Cardamom
How can diaspora writers reconcile a romanticised imagination of their homelands with the lived experiences of the people living there? How do we avoid ‘speaking over’ these lived experiences, or succumbing to tired expectations of how we can write about these homelands?
with Michael Sun, Gloria Demillo, Michelle Wang and Saanjana Kapoor