‘Guwanyi’ - Indigenous Writers’ Festival

Alexis Wright, a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, is one of Australia’s best-known Indigenous authors. A writer, researcher and social commentator, she has been widely published, and her novel Carpentaria (Giramondo, 2006) won the 2007 Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, the Victorian Premier’s Award for Fiction, and the Queensland Premier’s Award for Fiction. Wright is just one of the writers taking part in ‘Guwanyi’: the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers’ Festival, on Saturday September 6, at the NSW Writers’ Centre in Rozelle (situated in the grounds of Callan Park).

The Festival will bring together and showcase many of the Indigenous voices writing in Australia today, including Tara June Winch, Richard Frankland, Jared Thomas, Leah Purcell, Ruby Langford Ginnibi, as well as South Sydney’s own Elizabeth (Goie) Wymarra and her 14-year-old daughter, Wandihnu, co-authors of the children’s book, Wandihnu and the Old Dugong, released in 2007 and published by Magabala Books in Broome.

The Festival, hosted by the NSW Writers’ Centre and proudly sponsored by Leichhardt Council, is a free event, with poets in the park, spoken word performances, music and art, diverse genres and perspectives.

To secure your place, please register online: www.nswwriterscentre.org.au  or by telephone on 9555 9757.

Photo: - Alexis Wright

Source: South Sydney Herald August 2008 www.southsydneyherald.com.au