Williamstown Literary Festival wants you to
Choose your own Adventure!
The team behind the biggest literary festival in the western suburbs of Melbourne, has officially launched the 2019 WillyLitFest program and it is absolutely filled with choice.
Guest Blog Article by Melissa Longo from Inkcloud
On a rainy morning, in the heart of Williamstown’s historic maritime precinct, the Pirates Tavern at Seaworks provided the perfect location for the Williamstown Literary Festival’s program launch. As guests arrived, the rain subsided, allowing an enthusiastic crowd to gather along the docks.
The Hobsons Bay Mens Shed brought along a beautifully restored Morris Minor, allowing Mayor Jonathon Marsden, Tim Watts MP, former mayor and Festival President Angela Altair and festival favourite Andy Griffiths to have a little pre-launch joyride!
The team at Melbourne Seaplanes had generously offered to provide a joyride of the sky-high variety, but the weather gods were not playing nice….
Sometimes, plans fall through.
Sometimes, seaplanes don’t take off.
The show must go on, and go on it did!
Program Director, author and creative producer Stella Kinsella kicked things off in style, providing insight to a program that will inspire, provoke and delight. To hear her speak of her wonderfully curated program, highlighted the passion and tireless effort that went into its construction. The Festival will also spread its wings beyond the Town Hall, with satellite events taking place at the Williamstown Croquet Club, Sebastian Beach Bar & Grill and of course, the Pirates Tavern.
With speeches from Angela Altair, Mayor Jonathon Marsden, Tim Watts MP, Dr Rob Brown, festival patron Terry Bracks and the ever-entertaining Andy Griffiths, it was delightful to hear what this festival has come to mean to so many. It was also interesting to hear the ways in which each presenter interpreted this year’s theme…. CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!
As a child, the Choose your Own Adventure books were an endless source of entertainment and opportunity. Options at the bottom of the page, putting the plot in the hands of its readers – I was hooked!
Reading is the ultimate choice. We choose adventure with each turn of the page. Taken on a journey, with words and wonder. We become explorers; navigating, not with a map or compass, but with our imaginations – never truly knowing where we will end up.
It is with this spirit of endeavour in mind that Stella and the team behind the 16th Williamstown Literary Festival, invite us to take a leap into this great unknown….
The 2019 program – the first under Stella’s new direction – is a booklover’s delight. Covering everything from voices in politics and the media, the journey from screen to page, our obsession with true crime podcasts and our need to understand real life drama. For lovers of love and romance, survivors and champions, the young adults and the younger still. Literary luminaries from across the country, alongside the best of the west.
InkCloud is constantly singing the praises of our beautiful western suburbs. We believe that we are blessed with creatively enriching experiences, surrounded by the inspiring and the inspired – the Willy Lit Fest is the truest representation of this.
With veteran journalist and ABC stalwart Kerry O’Brien headlining, and a line-up that includes Clementine Ford, Christian White, Clare Wright, David Astle, Caroline Overington and local literary legends Leigh Hobbs, Claire Saxby and Andy Griffiths, plus the return of my personal favourite – Stereo Stories – what kind of Adventure will you Choose?
For the full program, head to https://www.willylitfest.org.au/home/program/ and be sure to start booking those early bird tickets!
Willy Lit Fest 14 – 16 June 2019
Tickets: willylitfest.org.au
or 03 9932 4074
Guest Blog Article by Melissa Longo from Inkcloud
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