BOOK WORMS
Little Eliza Davenport and Liam O’Nuallain get the good word on Somerset’s literature festival.
BOOKWORMS are writing a new chapter in the history of the Somerset Celebration of Literature, with more than 20,000 tickets sold to sessions across the three days of the event.
The rain didn’t stop students from 50 schools on the Gold Coast, Brisbane, NSW and Sunshine Coast from celebrating the 24th annual writers’ festival with big names like Benjamin Law and Yassmin Abdel-Magied hosting author sessions.
Aussie director Rachel Perkins also made a panel appearance ahead of next month’s star-studded Gold Coast Film Festival.
She talked to the audience about her latest flick Jasper
Jones, which she said was made with the same budget most Hollywood films allot to catering alone.
“Australia is following the American model of investing in development and investing in writers,” she said.
“Out of that time and money comes great work; we’ve become quite savvy with that in Australia by investing in great stories.”
She said the booming film industry on the Gold Coast was “keeping everyone in work” all over the country.
“The Gold Coast has always sustained the big Hollywood films, which keeps everyone in work,” she said.
“There’s an industry on the Gold Coast for people who want to work on the bigger productions that don’t have the technical challenges on smaller Australian films.
“People talk about there being a ‘brain drain’ in Australia because our doctors and filmmakers go overseas, but what you find is they come back. Toni Collete came back from LA to work on Jasper
Jones ... she had read the book and wanted to adapt it herself, but the rights had gone elsewhere so as soon as she heard the role was available, she changed her schedule around to be here.”