fed square book market

This Saturday 5th July sees the relaunch of the Federation Square Book Market, featuring a new stall for independent Melbourne publishing. Present will be Torpedo, The Lifted Brow, The Sex Mook (and forthcoming Death Mook), Cherry Fox Press, Cloth Covered Button, Ampersand (once it’s printed) and a few others. By present I mean you’ll be able to buy those publications and meet the people behind them. We’ll have a stall there every Saturday, and be hosting little events too. First up is the Torpedo 2 launch, with 7 writers giving readings throughout the day. Find our stall in the atrium directly opposite the NGV bookshop, come and say hello, have a drink and bask in the new triangular format of the book market, whatever that means.

On Saturday, Torpedo will be launched and readings will take place in Cafe DeLuxe; session times as follows:

* 11am Ronnie Scott
* 12pm Neil Boyack
* 1pm Josephine Rowe
* 2pm Luke May
* 3pm Kris Allison
* 4pm Ruby Murray
* 4.30pm Jon Bauer

More info here

L.

best book launch idea ever?

I am kicking myself that I won’t be in town for this decadent vegan sugar extravaganza - at least, that’s how I imagine it will be… I also picture judge-bribing and sneaky underhand winning tactics - at least, that’s what I’d be doing if I was around to enter my super chocolate cake of amazingness:

Genius.

I’m loving the poster too, it was done by Jason Lingard who you will know (if you’ve been paying attention!) is the design guy behind The Sex Mook and, oh, pretty much everything Vignette Press does.

L.

creative commons conference

Registration for the upcoming Creative Commons Australia conference is now open. Building an Australasian Commons will be a showcase of what’s been happening around Creative Commons here in Australia and around the Asia-Pacific. The conference is free!

It will be held on Tuesday 24th June 2008 from 8.30am – 5pm at the State Library of Queensland, South Brisbane and is proudly supported by Creative Commons Australia, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, and the State Library of Queensland.

It provides an opportunity for those interested in the free internet to come together to exchange ideas, information and inspiration. It brings together experts from Australasia to discuss the latest developments and implementations of Creative Commons in the region. It aims to be an open forum where anyone can voice their thoughts on issues relating to furthering the commons worldwide.

The current programme detailing the array of presentations, workshops and round table discussions can be found online here. Attendance is free and open to all comers. However, places are limited, so if you’re interested in attending please register ASAP. Registration closes 9 June.

The conference will be followed on the day at 5.30pm by the second CCau ccSalon, a showcase of Creative Commons music, art, film and text from Australia and the region. This will be a great opportunity to mingle and relax after the day’s events while experience CC works in action.

events i would go to

… if I lived anywhere near where they happened.

Rosemount, WA: Cottonmouth
Performance-based project by and for emerging wordsmiths

Brisbane, QLD: Avid Reader events
Talking literature, talking books

Surry Hills, NSW: Interesting South
An unconference conference, a ‘theatre of ideas’ – very informal, with a very ‘open source’ approach

Got any more event gems? Pimp them in the comments below.

L.

next wave festival

When I first heard that Next Wave was hosting a performance at The Men’s Gallery, I rolled my eyes. I could just imagine all the festival-goers feeling dangerously hip, decked out in their frocks and pretending to be all au fait with the venue. To me, it seemed like a kind of lame attention-grabbing stunt. A show? In a strip joint? How wild!

But when I thought about it, I realised that The Men’s Gallery space is actually kind of ideal for a multi-genre theatre/performance/installation show. There’s a main stage and lots of smaller, intimate nooks and crannies. The space lends itself to the flow of traffic, lighting and effects are already in place, there’s a dressing room that will accomodate shitloads of artists and there’s a bar in almost every room. I grudgingly conceded that it was a pretty good idea, after all.

Until I read The Age on the weekend, where Jeff Kahn said this:

“The Men’s Gallery was just such an amazingly, forceful kind of environment that we felt compelled to explore it. Even in the empty space, you can feel the energy whizzing around the room. It was a challenge we felt we just had to take on.”

Hm. I’ve been in The Men’s Gallery when it’s empty, when the lights are on and ‘the girls’ have all gone home. And you know what? There isn’t an energy in the space at all. At night when the club is operating, there’s a sleazy kind of glamour and definite buzz, but in off-hours it feels hollow, smudgy, dirty, run-down and kinda gross. Like a deflated balloon or, as someone once put it, like a used condom with no jizz in it. And it stinks, literally.

So did Next Wave create an artistic rationale to justify a sensationalist move, or did the crew really see marvellous potential where I never did? I’m not sure. And I do wonder how the people who work at the gallery will feel about what is essentially a whole bunch of privileged tourists coming into their space, to reinterpet it according to their own moral and artistic values.

Or maybe I’m just overthinking things.

At any rate, the Next Wave festival means fun in Melbourne. The program looks hot and there’s a fair bit of text-based stuff that looks good. Check it out if you can.

L.

is viral blogging the way of the future?

It’s no secret that companies hire bloggers to post favourable comments about their services or products all over the interweb. I was surprised however, to find out that one of those organisations is this year’s Melbourne Writers’ Festival (MWF). MWF put a call out for volunteers to undertake the task of generating online promotion for the Festival by way of blog posts.

According to the position description key tasks include:

Regularly contribute to the 3-4 blogs supplied by the festival, at first by “leaking” names, news, dates and times.
Instigate discussion about the program from July 18 onwards
Discuss sessions attended during the festival
On the close of festival, place comments on blogs
Tailor responses to sub-market eg foodies, diversity groups etc

For their time (around 2-4 hours per week plus festival attendance), volunteers can expect in return:

Will gain experience in viral marketing
A reference on the successful completion of project will be provided.

Now, I don’t doubt that the volunteers who end up doing this will have a genuine interest in the MWF, but it does seem like a pretty cheeky way to gain promotion. Surely there are more transparent methods to market the Festival to 18-25 year olds (this is the audience MWF is seeking to increase through the viral web campaign). Facebook groups, e-newsletters (by subscription) and a MySpace presence are all legitimate ways to attract the attention of this age group, without treating them like idiots.

I mean, surely dear reader you would be suss if you saw a post on Locus that said: “Hey, I just heard David Sedaris is coming to a festival. Which festival? Why, it’s the Melbourne Writer’s Festival, tickets here…”

Perhaps I am being a little too harsh, but it just seems to me that this type of thing is reserved for creepy self-help services, Avon-style herbal supplement sales or financial scams. We all use the internet to promote our businesses, but I think when posting on blogs or forums it is important to give full disclosure about who you are and what your association is to the products/books/services you’re endorsing.

I’d be keen to hear from the Festival’s decision makers as to why they chose this path.

E.

thoughts on ewf

So the Emerging Writers’ Festival has been and gone. The festival sold out which is pretty amazing, though they re-opened door sales at about midday on Saturday so I think most people who wanted to go and left it to the last minute still got access. David Ryding, the Assistant Directors and all the volunteers put on an excellent and interesting festival. I was impressed.

Programming
I thought the programming was really diverse and interesting for it - the focus was firmly on the craft of writing and covered a real variety of genres, including theatre, lit fic, poetry, comedy writing, zines, performance and comics. And there was a good mix of panels, workshops and conversations.

One of my complaints about the MWF is that the pricing doesn’t allow me to pop into different sessions and discover new writers and ideas, but the weekend pass system of the EWF did, and it was great. (Unfortunately though I didn’t get to as much as I wanted to because I had panels on the Saturday and the zine fair on Sunday.)

A few of the panels got a bit contentious (sadly I missed them!) which means people were pretty engaged with the topics. And by all reports most panels had a lot of discussion going on in them, by the panellists and audience. Like I said, the variety of stuff on really seemed to work.

I thought having a final session where people can Q&A the festival director and suggest ideas for next year was an awesome idea, but sadly it seems like David Ryding and I were the only ones as he was the only person who turned up! (I was packing down at the zine fair.) I guess everyone put their suggestions onto the feedback forms…

Venue
The Town Hall is a pretty amazing venue but I still think its one failing is that it feels all closed off and inaccessible. The Porticoe Room was a central meeting point but it didn’t seem to be used much by festival-goers. The Town Hall doesn’t really encourage lounging around and mingling; it’s so formal. I loved the Scrabble and 48 Hour Play Generator at the BMW Edge though. That’s a great venue.

Festival Hub
The festival bar, FAD Gallery, was an awesome idea and made up for the lack of hanging out points at the Town Hall. On both days the bar was full of festival people, it was really fun and I met lots more people there than at the EWF. Some people complained about its vicinity to the Town Hall and I agree that it felt like a bit of a pain, but the bar was so cosy and writerly that I think it was worth it - plus I had some really good conversations with people walking to and from the bar, so it wasn’t all bad.

Ambassador’s Program
I think this was an awesome idea and seeemed pretty successful. A few ambassadors were more prominent than others but I guess you gotta expect that. Their session ‘Seven Enviable Lines’ was the festival highlight for me. It was really entertaining to hear their different (and same) points of view and advice… which included ‘don’t get drunk and be a wanker at public events’ (doh), ‘don’t wear your pajamas to work’ (doh) and ‘always be prepared for panels’ (doh).

Vibe
The atmosphere at the festival (and bar) was really vibrant and relaxed. I like these smaller festivals because they are all about discussion and the exchange of ideas, rather than the cult of the author, so it’s easy to be apart of the action.

Zine Fair
The zine fair was sadly much quieter this year than it was last year. I don’t know if that’s because of the cold or because it was Mother’s Day or because everyone ziney was at the festival panels but it just wasn’t buzzing.

‘It was good.’

L.

willy lit fest & clunes booktown

Victoria is book-tastic this weekend…

The Williamstown Literary Festival. Come along to this boutique Festival, a popular local cultural event focusing on literature, drama and writing which presents established and emerging writers and literary figures. Features Richard Franklin, Ian Hickinbotham, Michael McGirr, Clare Williamson, People’s Choice Awards and various workshops. Tickets on sale now through the Hobsons Bay Libraries on 9932 4170.

Also on is Back to Booktown 2008 - the Community Event of the Year! Booksellers from all over the country are coming to Clunes to offer their treasures; award-winning writers are joining us for the weekend. Enjoy the books, the food and wine, and much much more.

L.

writing is a business too

Arts Law Week – Writing is a Business Too!, with Joel Becker, Jeremy Fisher and Nic Pullen

When: Wednesday 21 May, 6:30-8:30pm
Cost: $7, VWC Members FREE, Rating All
Where: Trades Hall, cnr Lygon and Victoria Sts, Carlton

Authors often forget - or are uncomfortable with - the fact that it’s OK to earn a living from their writing, and that to be a freelance writer is to run a small business. Industry experts Joel Becker (Director of the Victorian Writers’ Centre) and Jeremy Fisher (CEO of the Australian Society of Authors) join Nic Pullen (Tresscox Lawyers) to discuss the detail of setting yourself up in a writing business. They speak from their own experiences as freelance writers and editors, and discuss the advantages and pitfalls of running a writing business in the ‘noughties’.

soup for all seasons launch

What: Launch of aduki’s second vegan cookbook, Soup for all Seaons by Las Vegan cooks Lia Vandersant and Liam Davies

When: Thursday 8 May @ 6.30pm

Where: Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets, 80 Smith Street, Collingwood

Vegan food and drinks provided

E.