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