The Sydney Writers’ Festival 2008
by HeathS
On the 20th of May 2008, our class attended the Sydney Writers’ Festival with many other students at the Riverside Theatre, Parramatta. The entire festival was active over a 6-day period, from the 19th – 25th of May. Writers such as Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, Nicki Greenberg and JC Burke entertained and informed the entire audience with their interesting – often humorous – commentary and reviews of their books. Even questionable comments were shared such as Dr. Karl’s yawning and the individual reactions to those who are using anti-depressants and the stage adaption of JC Burke’s ‘Starfish Sisters’. The entire session was of a light-hearted, yet knowledgeable and meaningful tone.
The first speaker – Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki discussed his passion for science, common myths, and conspiracies. However, his eccentric shirt caught the entire theatre’s attention. Firstly, he presented the common myth of ‘The Bermuda Triangle”, and made the inference that the Bermuda Triangle having any kind of ‘supernatural’ force behind it was as credible as man walking on the sun, and that word of mouth has twisted the truth of the actual ‘mysteries’.
Secondly, his humorous hypothetical of ‘ How to get rid of a trapped horse, with a pack of wolves approaching’ relaxed the audience, and spawned an ‘interactive’. In asking how to remove the horse, the main responses were either to leave it to be killed by the wolves or to try riding it to safety. Both these responses were incorrect, as Dr. Karl concluded that blowing it up was the best conclusion. He then revealed a scanned image of “How to detonate an animal” and showed the audience the images of how to ‘blow-up’ a cow, a horse and a dog. Due to time restraints, he was unable to continue his remaining information in depth, but still managed to inform the audience as to the biological consequences of yawning whilst taking anti-depressants.
The second performance was from The Australian Theatre for Young People which consisted of an adaptation of JC Burke’s ‘Starfish Sisters’ that lasted 15 minutes. Whilst a ‘modern’ piece, and an interesting reflection of the worst parts of society, the underlying political message being conveyed and the lack of plot could not be avoided. Firstly, the plot was not developed and was not substantial in any interpretation. Secondly, the underlying political message of a ‘Utopian society where all forms of idiosyncrasies and ailments were socially acceptable’ was completely idealistic, fictional and unrealistic. This ideology preaches an emotionally unstable and antisocial youth because of the fictional acceptance being conveyed in this novel.
The four main characters – the first of whom slits her wrists and hurts herself – is insinuated as being a realistic reflection of a quarter of the female population of Australia. The second girl is rich and wants friends, the third girl is young and annoying (but more talented than the others) and the fourth girl is the loyal friend who is only suffering because she doesn’t have electronics. This story is oddly familiar, as all these characters are unoriginal and the entire adaption is remarkably clichéd.
Although the adaptation of ‘Starfish Sisters’ was not generally appealing, the other book of JC Bourke’s that was presented was more interesting and incorporated a Psychic girl who likes vintage clothes. This story, “The Red Cardigan” was more original, yet immediate hints to already existing television shows and books were evident. Upon hearing the review of the book, “The Red Cardigan” – JC Burke, books such as “The Lace Maker’s Daughter” – Gary Crew and Channel Ten’s television show, “Medium” was spontaneously recalled to the audience.
The third speaker – Nicki Greenberg is a graphic novelist/cartoonist who has authored and illustrated the Graphic novel adaptation of ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Nicki Greenberg presented an interesting adaptation of the original novel into that of a graphic novel. Her descriptive insight into her ‘process of elimination’ stage of her illustrations was informative and reflected how hard a graphic novel is to illustrate. Her clever use of positioning the individual frames in the novel was interesting and instructed the audience on how visual literacy and Imagery are crucial in a novel, particularly in a graphic novel.
Overall, the speakers were highly insightful, informative and presented many different interpretations and adaptations of modern society and existing texts. The broad range of authors gave the entire audience a deeper understanding of their individual writing techniques and styles. We enjoyed aspects of all the speakers – some more than others – and concluded our own views of the authors and their books.
HeathS.
If you attended the Festival the organisers would like to hear your thoughts. Respond to the 2008 audience survey by 11th July and you might win a prize.
June 11th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Excellent work Heath,
I envy your talent as a scholar and writer.
June 11th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Dear hagada,
Thank you for your kind words.
I am sure that with substancial topics such as this,
You would be able to write an article as long as this.
Cya.
HeathS
June 11th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Heath,
I know you were unimpressed with Starfish Sisters (the play) but I would recommend J.C.Burke’s earlier book “The Story of Tom Brennan” which is a powerful story of a small town community coping with the aftermath of a car accident. A great book about brothers. You can find reviews of this by using Book Review Finder at the top right of the blog.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Heath. I agree with Mrs Thomson. Can you please explain what the plot of ‘Starfish Sisters’ included and why you didn’t like it? Was it the way the play was presented?
Julian
June 17th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Dear All,
The plot of ‘Starfish Sisters’ by J.C. Burke comprised of 4 anti-social, dysfunctional teenaged girls. The First girl was too electronically focused, the second was a Younger Girl who was kind to everyone - even if they didn’t like her, the third girl was an anti-social, immature girl who believed that she would be able to make friends by having money, and the last girl was a Psychologically damaged, emotionally unstable girl who self-mutilates. And for some reason, the Fictional society is supposed to accept all these people and be ‘friendly’… Julian, you may be correct in saying that it was the PLAY that let the book down, but I still do not like the story.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Must make sure we get a copy of Starfish Sisters so we can all read it!
June 17th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Dear Miss,
I hope that was Sarcasm - otherwise I cannot understand why purchasing such a plotless, POINTLESS should occur at an all Boy’s school… But if you insist, then I support YOU purchasing the books.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I would be happy to read the play so that I can grasp a better understanding of this conversation.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Please excuse my poor grammar in the above comment. My statement still stands.
June 20th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Heath,
I was certainly not being sarcastic about buying Starfish Sisters. We can hardly discuss a book in any detail which none of us has read.
You intimate that boys have no interest in, nor anything to learn from books about girls. Should we dispose of The Diary of Anne Frank? Chinese Cinderella? Jane Eyre?
You have not read the book (nor any of JC Burke’s books) so your judgement is a pre-judgement, and perhaps a prejudice:
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin praeiūdicium : prae-, pre- + iūdicium, judgment (from iūdex, iūdic-, judge).]
- from The American Heritage Dictionaries, via Answers.com
June 20th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Dear Miss,
You have misconstrued my words. I am simply stating that this particular book should not purchase for the School Library. You have also falsely accused me of not reading any of J.C. Burke’s book (I have read ‘Nine Letters Long’) and did not particularly enjoy it. Furthermore, you have accused me as being Sexist and making the extremist assumption that we should (quote) “dispose” of books written by women. In addition, I have no where stated or made the inference that boys could not like books written by women. I repeat, I am simply stating that this particular book should not be purchased for the School Library.
mis·con·strue Audio Help /ˌmɪskənˈstru or, especially Brit., mɪsˈkɒnstru/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[mis-kuhn-stroo or, especially Brit., mis-kon-stroo] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object), -strued, -stru·ing. to misunderstand the meaning of; take in a wrong sense; misinterpret.
sex·ist Audio Help /ˈsɛksɪst/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[sek-sist] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective 1. pertaining to, involving, or fostering sexism: a sexist remark; sexist advertising.
–noun 2. a person with sexist attitudes or behavior.
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[Origin: 1965–70; sex + -ist, on the model of racist]
in·fer·ence Audio Help /ˈɪnfərəns, -frəns/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[in-fer-uhns, -fruhns] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. the act or process of inferring.
2. something that is inferred: to make rash inferences.
3. Logic. a. the process of deriving the strict logical consequences of assumed premises.
b. the process of arriving at some conclusion that, though it is not logically derivable from the assumed premises, possesses some degree of probability relative to the premises.
c. a proposition reached by a process of inference.
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[Origin: 1585–95; < ML inferentia. See infer, -ence]