Adelaide Writers Festival

Adelaide Writer’s Festival – Day 1

/ brisbanefrannie / 2 Comments

Oh Adelaide you have turned in some great weather for the first day if the Writer’s Festival. Not too hot, not too cool.

We made a few plans over breakfast and walked down Melbourne St towards the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden.

Adelaide is a beautiful place to walk. It’s mostly flat, lots of parklands and a lovely river flowing through its centre.

We had an unhurried walk towards the river crossing on the footbridge arriving at Adelaide University.

Installation outside Adelaide University

Arriving at the entry gate I realised I had left my phone – and more importantly my covid certificate back at the house .

A little shuffling …….A paper sign in and I was in.

First session was Annabel Crabb. For those who don’t know her she is a lawyer, political journalist turned media personality, author, Podcaster , mother and great friend of Leigh Sales of 7.30 fame.

She is also a talker or as she admits is a babbler. She talked with another friend Miranda Murphy who stood in for Leigh Sales and is the editor of their book. Well Hello.

The book sounds great. It’s full of stories and recipes and funny stories.

Annabel kept us entertained for the full hour.

Coffee called so we took a break and explored the festival site. There are many more people here this year. In fact they were queuing at the entrance waiting to get in.

The next session was Christos Tsiolkas and Charlotte Wood. Christos is perhaps best know for his books The Slap and Barracuda – and both have been made into TV series. His latest book 71/2 is something different. it’s fiction but based on his own life experiences. It called auto fiction a term which he himself didn’t fully understand! In it he finds himself cut off from the world and becomes lost in the beauty of his surroundings.

Christos is friends with Charlotte Wood another well known highly awarded Australian author. I’ve read her books The Natural Way of Things and The Weekend.

Her latest book explores creativity.

Two talented authors talking about creativity and writing.

We enjoyed lunch under the trees taking in from afar the talk with Clem Bastow and Emma Jones. Both authors have written about their late diagnosis with autism.

Our last session was Liane Moriarty. Very well known for her popular books Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers she is a down to earth lovely person.

Her books – and there are many are very popular here in Australia. Her latest ‘Apples Never Fall’ is another well told story set in Sydney.

We decided to leave and walk back in the sun to get ready for a 6.30 Fringe Festival performance of Soul & Blues. Only it sold out ! So I’ve booked tickets for tomorrow night.

We spent some time choosing a few Fringe shows and booking tickets!

Tonight dinner at The Lion. My sister in law Marg, daughter Vashti and little Florence met us for dinner. Such a great catch up.

Hotel on Melbourne St.

Arriving in Adelaide

/ brisbanefrannie / 4 Comments

Please Adelaide don’t rain. We have had way too much rain in Brisbane. It seems strange to be leaving when so many people are still cleaning up after the floods. Our thoughts are with you all

But here we are in Adelaide, ready to enjoy the Writer’s Festival. I loved it so much last year I talked a few friends into coming along with me.

An early start to avoid traffic, we had time for coffee before boarding. An easy 2 hrs later we landed in beautiful Adelaide.

Ros and I had found a great little terrace house in North Adelaide . This area is full of heritage, gorgeous stone terrace houses. The streets are lined with the most beautiful trees ready to change colour as Autumn arrives.

Our house is a charmer.

We quickly left bags and headed around the corner to a great little pub. The Kentish Arms. We sat outside and enjoyed a Gin & Tonic and a few shared tapas plates. This could become our ‘local’. Shortly after the Friday afternoon crowd started to arrive. It’s obviously a popular place.

The afternoon sun started to come out so we started exploring the streets while walking towards O’Connell St.

They don’t call Adelaide the city of churches for no reason.

The Adelaide Fringe Festival has started and there are lots of shows on offer. Comedy, singing, dance burlesque, bands …….We hope to get to a few, in between the Writer’s Festival. The first was a quick look at the O’Connell Twilight Fringe.

Jill waving to a friendly local

Laden with shopping bags we headed back to our lovely house – with a quick dash to The Kentish Arms for a bottle to share.

Dinner in our courtyard and we are feeling very happy to be ready to enjoy the Writer’s Festival.

What book have you enjoyed reading lately?

I’ve just finished The Island of Missing Trees by Turkish writer Elif Shafak. Set in Cyprus it was a fascinating read, where a fig tree is one of the main characters in the story. Elif is speaking at the festival. I loved it!