Miles Franklin Award winner to headline Apollo Bay WORDfest

THE community will gather in Apollo Bay later this month for the town’s annual WORDfest, with several award-winning authors set to feature.

Now in its 31st year, the three-day event is supported by community arts and culture non-profit Apollo Bay Arts Inc. and will run from July 26 to July 28.

The theme for this year’s event is “Crisis and Hope”, which is inspired by the themes explored in the works of several of the event’s visiting authors.

Organising committee member Karen O’Sullivan said the WORDfest was shaping up to be a great event, with plenty of opportunities for attendees to share their love for the written word and foster a similar love in the next generation.

This year’s headline event will bring together 2023 Miles Franklin Award winner Shankari Chandran with local Apollo Bay author Ali Corke for an author panel session.

Bonded by a joint passion for sharing the stories of Sri Lankan Tamils and their plight to flee civil war and detention, the two authors have been corresponding via email for several years.

The festival, however, will mark the authors’ first meeting.

“Meeting Shankari in person will be a full circle,” Corke said.

“When I asked her if she would speak at the Apollo Bay WORDfest, she immediately said it would be an honour… and of course having the Miles Franklin winner is a huge honour for Apollo Bay.”

The duo will discuss Safe Haven, Chandran’s fourth novel, which was inspired by several high-profile Tamil refugees, including the story of Para Paheer.

Paheer is also the co-author of Corke’s debut novel, The Power of Good People: Surviving the Sri Lankan Civil War, which shares Paheer’s journey through war, the sinking of his boat in the Indian Ocean, his detention on Christmas Island and eventual sponsorship by Corke.

Ms O’Sullivan said the creativity of the surrounding community had helped to ensure the Apollo Bay WORDfest’s enduring appeal.

“There’s a lot of creative people who want to be involved in these types of cultural events, as well as a lot of people putting effort into bringing something like this to life.”

She said these volunteers were “happy to come together and share their skills” as well as their love of writing, reading, poetry and debate.

“For people to have a love of all these wonderful literary skills, the next best thing is to share it with others and to encourage others to become passionate about reading and writing and speaking,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

The event will begin with a number of junior-focused sessions on July 26, concluding with an evening filled with stand-up poetry and pies.

Through July 27, the WORDfest will host a series of author panels, with Anna Kate-Blair, Margaret Hickey and Geelong local Kgshak Akec scheduled to appear, before the community comes together for The Great De(bay)te, a “battle of wit and well disguised insults” that promises to leave attendees in stitches.

And for those interested in learning more about “the nuts and bolts” of reading and writing, author Margaret Hickey will facilitate a writer’s workshop on July 28, while author Rijin Collins will host a free book club gathering.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, head to apollobaywordfest.com