Overall Reflection - What counts??

This festival was beneficial to me and very easy to access on a weekend once a year in Mildura. I definitely will consider coming to the festival from now on as I have found an interest in both reading and writing that I hope to one day be able to pursue both as a teacher, professional and for recreational purposes for myself.

I had a lot of amazing discoveries within my own town throughout this experience, but more importantly I met some absolutely incredible people who I call friends. I would also recommend this subject to many students, especially for writers and teachers/educators to be involved in for their personal as well as professional development.

I found a new challenge and  new avenue of creativity. I have also been proactive in reading a lot more after the festival, as it has prompted me to be more active in reading and also inspired me to find the fictional style that I enjoy.

From attending this festival, locally in my own town has also prompted me to think outside the box and attend other arts festivals whilst I am travelling or also on holidays when the opportunity arises. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, the conversations, the food, the people and the knowledge that I gain from being involved in such a creative festival and event. I find learning with people who I enjoy being around and enjoy socialising with, allows for content and learning to be enjoyable rather then a chore. It also makes me more appreciative, of writing, of observation and also of life in general. To stop and analyse, take note and become more connected with my realisations, ideas and also beliefs of what change I wish to make in the world and also the teacher who I want to become.

Overall, a HUGE thanks to our amazing teacher Sue. She is an amazing role model for the profession I wish to go into, but her vibe and perspective always was a shining light when it come to discussion and also connecting everyone together throughout the event. Amazing people I wish to see soon!

Day Three - Mildura Writers Festival

The day consisted of great company, interesting sessions, awesome snacks and some purchasing of some exciting reads.

Our first session was with the Philip Hodgins Memorial Winner, Jan Owen who is just a lovely soul. Her session showed her true colours of being naughty and nice, with some of her poetry that was scandalous coming from a lady of her nature. It caught the audience completely off guard and really exposed her humour and wit. I was also very impressed with this session as she referred to me! Yep! ME! Starstruck.

Although she didn't mention my name, she did remember me and also make note of 'a young lady who is studying to become a teacher'. In response to a question asked about whether poetry should be celebrated on cultural events such like our American Neighbours, Jan responded that she spoke to me the day before and stated that all appreciation for poetry starts at school and our best practise would be for students to start young to learn their appreciation of the art. Whether it be to recite the verses of poetry when given and encouraged, or whether it is teaching and allow for students to create and play with their own poetry creation. The opportunity is the must!

Following this session was a fiction reading with David Malouf and Emily Bitto. Both read from their own fiction novels, of which I personally was so drawn in by Emily's fiction novel The Strays (Which I still cannot put down!!) as it properly transported me back in time. This also was a great time for both authors to associate their styles, expose their feedback and little tips and tricks of their craft as writers about what they felt was difficult or become easier with time and practise.

To conclude this session the indigenous awards were presented where a few familiar faces received prizes for their outstanding writing - particularly in poetry. This was presented by Tony Birch, and was a pleasure to see people locally being rewarded for their work that often goes unnoticed!
We then gathered for a lunch prepared and given to us by Stefano. In little wooden boxes, contained goodness with; vegetarian roll, a delicious quinoa, feta, spinach and couscous salad, a Mandy, and a little wooden fork to eat with. It was divine and we were very grateful.

Coming back with a full stomach, we listened again to Les with some more of his poetry writing. His humour and good laughs, as well as his poetry provided an entertaining session as he discussed what his inspirations are, what his motives are and where he writes.

The last session of the day for me, was involving Sunil Yapa and Tony birch, again reading both of their own fiction novels.
I thought this was an amazing pairing of writers and authors, speaking about their journey and their differences but also speaking from experiences and reality based on a fiction story.

This was one of my favourite sessions from the festival due to the conversation and level of enthusiasm and debate about how the authors can create.

Day Four - Mildura Writers Festival

Sunday with David Malouf at the annual lecture as well as an amazing lunch to follow upon our presentations and amusing questions to conclude the festival.

The lecture with David was powerful and very thought provoking in what is needed for a young writer to begin and how to create their writing. I found David incredibly inspiring in the way he spoke of his journey as a writer and how his work came about creation throughout the world. He has a way of taking a million words, summarising them into emotions and directly relating to what the audience wants to hear and say. In the best way possible of course. The lecture concluded and we were headed to the festival and finale lunch.

The luncheon was very sophisticated and casual to mingle amongst the writers and talk with them on a personal level. Presentations took place with a lot of laughter and some interaction with authors and writers as well as awards being presented to accompany their certificates.

The awards took place and at Stefano's Restaurant  27 Deakin, where we ate at a long table as a group together after our journey of the festival. It was a good time for us all to speak about our interpretations of the festival overall and particularly about our time spent with David Malouf.

Concluding our luncheon ceremony, we had an opportunity to meet personally with Sunil Yapa and Nick Gadd to speak with them about writing, where it's going, what questions we had to ask them and for them to also get to know each of us individually. Before our guests arrived, the majority of us were making the most out of the opportunity to conduct our own report and interview on the stage that was left assembled at the front of the room to run a little wild and get a thrill out of watching our own impersonation with comical improvised sketches before the authors arrived.

Sunil wanted to see what we all had to offer ... our names, our writing experiences so far and ... our spirit animals! This was a fantastic opportunity to bring up some different and individual concepts with the writers and discuss further interest points as well as encourage future writing. Sunil opted for me to check out Poetry Slams as I mentioned I was into rap music and was constantly thinking about how rap and hip hop can be classed as poetry and how I can learn from that.



Overall, an amazing ending to a brilliant festival with an extremely generous amount to offer in a very unique art form.

Day Two Mildura Writers Festival

We began by stopping traffic in the streets of Mildura, followed by some op shop bargains and a feature lunch with Emily and Tina. Followed by a poetry session with Jan and legendary Les Murray. Concluding the day was a session featuring David Malouf, Olga Lorenzo and Tony Birch.

This day as a whole will be very memorable to me for times to come as I found myself more and more interested with each of the speakers, each time. I will admit, I was absolutely exhausted in closing each day, however what was spoken about had large impacts on me and was very powerful.
I kept finding the festival, more and more engaging and connective to me the more I was there and attended throughout.

Beginning the day was a psychogeography tour around Mildura in search of looking for and being taught how to read 'ghost signs'. Ghost signs are often advertisements that are fading murals of an era that used to be previously. They are eroded and very beautiful, signage that has been painted beyond disbelief of possibly when they were created decades ago.
Nick Gadd who is the current Writer in Resident,

showcased this tour and encouraged the audience to create their own perspective on what each of the signs displayed had to offer. As a member of the audience, I picked up on a few hints after Nick had modelled how to 'read' the ghost signs effectively. However, it was so interesting to hear not only what others were searching and looking for but also hearing the tail unveiled behind each of the signs

and also the history behind Mildura that I never knew existed.

This was history in art form that was able to tell a book-like tail through the conversation amongst the crowd. Here are a few images that interested me upon the journey.

More information about this sign discussed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_%26_G_Mutual_Life_Assurance_Society 

Velvet Soap Information - 55 secs

http://dl.nfsa.gov.au/module/1204/  

After a spot of lunch at Sumo Salad, we headed to the brewery to wait for the next performance that featured Emily Bitto. It involved her speaking in conversation about her first published novel, The Strays (which I have brought and cannot actually put down!). It's subject is unusual and I sense it building to something pretty large, it's engaging and transports me back to the early 1900's running a muck with Lily and Eva. 

After this conversation, we headed upstairs of the Brewery to the theatre room where the first poetry session was going to take place which was mega entertaining and also question provoking for me to wonder and ponder as the writers spoke, about how it also connects to education. Where does the love of poetry begin? What do I need to do as an educator to teach poetry properly? 

I was for once, lacking confidence in asking in front of the audience and decided to catch Jan after her session for a quick question that really made a lot of sense to me. I had asked her about what the necessities are for beginners and also when teaching poetry ... her response, so humble and all round lovely, she suggested 3 things. Rhyme, Rhythm and encouragement to recite and learn poetry. I will remember these three things, as poetry as proven to me from the festival as an underpinning element to great writing. Something we should practise more to extend our pupils in their writing, their vocab and overall skills in literacy. 

Our day finished with a conversation with Olga, David and Tony. They are all very diverse and different authors with different perspectives however were all complimentary with their journeys as authors, writers and poets. 

Looking back, I found this day the foundations of the festival. We really got to know the authors well, about their journey, inspirations, their books and their dreams. This is where it all took off and that strange sense of knowing someone without actually knowing them took place. I knew what they were all talking about now! ... 

Mildura Writers Festival - Day One

A huge, invigorating day for a small, diverse bunch of La Trobe University Students.
It began in the room we referred to as the 'dungeon' which had minimal lighting and windows, but a room filled with a lot of thought, hope and interest in what our weekend was going to consist of and look like.

As a local from Mildura, I had no idea of what I was in for. I have experienced the corny quote of 'becoming a tourist in my own town', and have had my eyes opened beyond the street's I always travel and the same old story I follow everyday. Now I am involved, now I have a plan and now I am more appreciative of the event which is more associated with my interests than I would have even slightly considered.

Our first session of the day, consisted of some writing activities to get our minds thinking. Not only did I realise how inadequate my writing was and worse then I had expected, I was also slightly shocked as I believed I was a fairly creative person, yet I was struggling to let go and allow all to follow. We got into more conversations about writing, it's conventions and also allowed for our minds to really unpack the functions of what writing achieves and also what we believed writers did! ... This made a lot of sense to me as it was three fairly difficult questions that were posed however with all our knowledge, perspectives and idea's put together, it made more sense to see all avenues and also check out the bigger picture!  Here is just a snapshot of my answers!

What does a writer do? 
Inform, Knowledgable, Persuades, Describes, Communicates, Decides, Creates and Ponders.
Why is writing important?
Learning and educating, Enjoyment, Connects people, Involves people, Talents and Idea's go beyond ordinary.
What makes good writing, good writing?
Perspective, Opinion and engagement, Connection, Awareness and Appropriateness of voice and auditory voice.
Obviously as you can see we come up with a lot more together as a group!
Definitely scientifically proved that many heads is better then one in this instance!


We broke off for lunch, got to know one another over some food and drinks and also played a little pokemon while we were at it :)

We walked around Mildura and went down by the river to get to know the rest of us in the class and instantly knew we all had similar humour as we laughed for a good hour whilst bonding in some really, you-beaut sunshine!
We even picked the which birds best that matched our persona's according to how we viewed ourselves. Might not sound very interesting however it was a bloody good laugh!!

After lunch, something different happened. We all left (like ducks behind their mother) to visit the Mildura Arts Gallery. We were given the prompt to write with our senses about an artwork of our choice.
Instantly observing the artworks, I recognised a style that I was very familiar with. I chose to write a piece about what I gathered and took from the particular artwork. Below is the artwork I chose!

 

'A prism of triangular fun, rich, bold and colourful play. 

Stylised children merging on a side motionless to the sound of their quick feet. 

Wanting to configure viewing similar to a rubix. 

Summer fun with the scent of sprinkled water as the children ponder with the smooth gloss of just a single, red fish'

After conversing, it was time to retreat to home and prepare for our first Conversation and introduction to the Mildura Writers Festival.

Introduction to the Mildura Writers Festival
7:30pm
The first festival Author and Guest was Sunil Yapa who is a Sri Lankan American fiction writer and novelist. I quite enjoyed his performance and also his perspective of the number of debatable subjects spoken throughout this performance and recap on his Novel 'Your heart is a muscle the size of a fist' and quite frankly he turned me into this crazy person who is now 'MAD WITH HOPE'.
I tweeted numerous tweets of crazy-good quotes that this man reached out and spoke to the crowd. It was incredibly interesting and a fantastic way to motivate the audience for what is to come for the remaining of the festival. High hopes and I am definitely not mad about it!

Please note the quote from a friend: 

Then something even more magic happened...

Remember how I was saying about recognising a style I chose to write about? YEP!! 

This happened!! 

I was able to show Chris who is a previous teacher who I absolutely admire to no end, the writing that I had created about her artwork that I had chosen to character! I shared this photo on my Facebook and also had numerous of her previous students comment and also write many words of thanks, wisdom and gratitude towards Chris as their previous teacher and how grateful they are to have had her previously. 

I know this might sound dramatic ... but this was the beginning of something so REAL and I knew it!!