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! ...