AWARD winning author and historian professor Clare Wright has been given the job of helping curate this year\u2019s Bendigo Writers Festival.<\/p>\n
The 2014 Stella Award winner and Medal of the Order of Australia awardee was invited by festival founder Rosemary Sorenson as the professor of public engagement for La Trobe University.<\/p>\n
Professor Wright said it was great being able to help with the line-up for this year\u2019s festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have had an enormous amount of fun putting together 17 panels under the La Trobe presents banner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a wonderful way for me to bring together a whole lot of circles in my world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is like my sweet spot Venn diagram of academia, the literary world and cultural policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Wright said she is excited for audiences to experience the panels she has put together, and how they differ from other festivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been curated in a quite broad intellectual sense,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some really interesting combinations of ideas to go a bit deeper than perhaps some other writer\u2019s festivals get to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis won\u2019t necessarily be about the sales of the books. It\u2019s about being able to expose people to an extraordinary range of thinkers, writers, speakers and creative talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Wright has been a guest and chair at Bendigo Writers Festivals in the past and she said she loves the event and its unique set up in town.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best writer\u2019s festivals are the ones that have multiple events, but they have them all in the one zone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWriter\u2019s love communicating with audiences, but here they end up meeting the fans in the cafes and it\u2019s amazing and it will all be happening on View Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Set for Thursday, 4 to Sunday, 7 May, the full line up and ticket sales for this year\u2019s Bendigo Writers Festival go on sale from 10am on Wednesday, 8 March.<\/p>\n
Already revealed for this year\u2019s event are local superstar authors Helen Garner, Thomas Kenneally and Victor Kelleher.<\/p>\n