Creative types share knowledge at inaugural festival
THE inaugural Sunshine Coast International Readers andWriters Festival springs to life from tomorrow until Sunday at seven venues in Coolum Beach.
More than 100 international, national and regional writers and creatives will be sharing their knowledge and stories with festival-goers.
This innovative new festival features not only big-book authors but also poets, slam poets, comic book writers, original singer-songwriters and music, children's picture writers, illustrators and publishers sharing their craft in presentations, panel discussions and workshops over three nights and two days. The festival embraces our rich Aboriginal heritage with Dreamtime stories, history talks and the Sunshine Coast's first-ever Gubbi Gubbi language workshops.
Our acclaimed surfing culture is embraced with surfing history panels and discussions, while our passionate care for the environment is demonstrated by panel presentations, a dune planting by Coolum and North Shore Coast Care, and information stalls by the Kabi Kabi Land Corp, Coolum and North Shore Coast Care, Surfrider Foundation Australia, Queensland Koala Crusaders and more.
The new SCIRWF festival provides an ongoing legacy for creatives on the Sunshine Coast and this year has sponsored four University of the Sunshine Coast creative writing students to not only present at our festival but also at Asia's biggest writers festival, the UbudWriters and Readers Festival, in Bali in October.
Next year the festival will set up bursaries and writing and mentoring retreats for emerging Indigenous writers and will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the naming of the Sunshine Coast in a big way. Visit http://sunshinecoastreadersandwritersfestival.com
Author Casey Ardron will be appearing at the festival Inc.