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Of course I wont be going over for the festival :(
However, if Patrick Ness was to make an appearance, I would book my tickets immediately :)
Fingers crossed this weather holds and I can walk across the harbour bridge to start and end the day!
Hmmm, I promised myself I was going to attend the fesitval this year. :(
Next year....
Next year....
Next year...."
Maybe we can set a goal to both go next year Gail, I'll meet you there! Would be fun! :)
Laura, I may see you there!
Yes - the two I want to go to are free, except I'm considering booking for the Tea Obrecht session. I usually try to go to anything on editing because there aren't that many offered, especially from an international perspective.
The sessions I attended were quite varied: 2 Thriller writers discussing the genre (I'm going to get one of their books from my local library, sounded great); a journalist who attended Julian Assange's trial discussing him, journalism and secrecy/privacy issues; Pitch sessions where people were picked from the audience to pitch their book in 2 minutes and then receive feedback from 3 international publishers; a discussion between a local publisher, a Norwegian publisher and a childrens' books author; a discussion between two editors from major publishers in the US & UK
All of them were free! Most were, if not totally enlightening, at least interesting. I'm going back on Sunday for mainly current event type sessions. Unfortunately the David Hicks session is totally booked out but they suggest queuing to see if there are any empty seats. From what I saw yesterday, queues form 45 minutes before sessions so I don't like my chances.
Okay, the festival is over. Anyone else go and what did they think?
I LOVED it inordinately. I went to 5 more sessions on Sunday and all participants had books out but didn't talk about writing at all, only about their subjects. It was more like back at Uni days listening to topic experts discussing a current event.
First up was the economy and the environment - basically, how many people can the planet sustain, at what level, how will the economy have to change because of the crisis of lack of resource.
2nd was China vs America in this region - as China approaches the level of economic strength of the US will they assert that power in the APAC region, would the US be able to stop them if it wanted to, how will countries like Japan, Korea and Aus who have strong US biases cope?
3 was the Israel question - a Palestinian (apparently Obama referred to him in this week's speech) and a Jew discussed Palestine and Israel (both on the side of Palestine but with different visions).
4 was a discussion on Democracy, the forms it takes, what it means for countries without democracies (like China) to be so successful financially and what the democratic wave in the mid-east might yield.
And finally, the best event I've seen in a LONG time (if ever) was David Hicks. It was his first public appearance since he published his book. It was a "discussion" (though really kind of an interview) with another author - a female journalist, pacifist who voluntarily became a human shield in the Iraq war. They agreed they had a lot in common. People saw them as naive, they had a passion for helping others, they were misunderstood. For the first time I heard Hicks' story and the explanation behind what he was doing which was really trying to help out in Kashmir as he had met some Kashmiries on his travels (he'd wanted to travel the silk route and went to Pakistan with the idea of starting from there) and heard their stories of murder, rape, torture... at the hands of the Indians. He joined a paramilitary group supported by the Pakistani govt to help them. He did some standard military training in the hills of Pakistan where the border with Afghanistan is virtually non-existent and was captured in a camp that was on the Afghan side. He never fired a shot, never trained with or met anyone from Al Queada (that he knew of), never had any plans other than going into to Kashmir to help the people there. Anyway, he talked a bit more about his past and some about his treatment at the hands of the Americans. VERY moving. He dropped out of school in the 9th grade but was incredibly articulate. A self-taught man. He was nervous speaking in front of 900 of us but did really well. He got a standing ovation (as did his father who was in the audience, two rows behind me with tears in his eyes). I've long thought regardless of what David Hicks did, he was treated in a horrid and illegal manner, now I think he actually did nothing wrong. I’ve got to read his book.
Sorry if that became more of a political rant than feedback on the festival, but it was an emotional session. But the whole day was really thought provoking and I ended up spending a few hours at the pub with friends I went with talking about democracy, governments, media, the environoment, justice…. Wow, a thought provoking event.
I'll be blogging about the event tomorrow once the fur-kid is worn out from fetch. thetysonadams.blogspot.com
Ah Tyson - I remember your question - a great one. The problem was you also asked a second question and that was the one the speaker chose to devote most of his answer to.
I had a chat with them both at the book signing about it. The problem with Tech is the lag period (as they discussed to some extent) and then the ability to address such a diverse and massive problem.
I've been talking about the flaw in economic theory for ages and it was great to hear someone else was taking it seriously.
Yes, they did talk about the lag in technology being able to fix the problem. What worries me is that the alternative of global governmental action on things like a cap and trade plus a true environmental costing scheme is hardly something done at break-neck speed and even if a deal was done and dusted tomorrow, the lag in actually implementing and then achieving results is HUGE. I came away from the session more convinced were are almost certainly doomed.
The analagy used in the session of our response to the climate being potentially similar to our rapid and drastic response to WWII when multiple governments band together and take quick decisions is hardly a comforting one. Hiroshima as a "solution" is the result of that kind of pressure.
http://thetysonadams.blogspot.com/201...
Oooo!! Jealous! ;)
http://thetysonadams.blogspot.com/201...
Porn Wars: http://blip.tv/slowtv/porn-wars-dines...
Curt Stager: http://blip.tv/slowtv/climate-whiplas...
The Porn Wars session was just annoying for the scientist in me. But yes, the rest of the event was great.
Aussie Readers
Authors mentioned in this topic
Philip Roth (other topics)Cassandra Clare (other topics)
Patrick Ness (other topics)
Ursula Dubosarsky (other topics)
Morris Gleitzman (other topics)
Who has something other than The Chaser circled in their list of events?
http://thetysonadams.blogspot.com/201...