Established in 2012, the Bendigo Writers Festival is an annual end-of-winter event that celebrates and promotes the art of writing and storytelling.
It is a gathering of writers and creative thinkers from diverse backgrounds to exchange ideas and engage with audiences.
The festival organisers pride themselves on promoting literacy and lifelong learning.
Cultural tourism also plays a significant role, helping to boost local economy, provide a sense of community, and offer a platform for emerging and established authors to promote their work.
In October 2019, the City of Greater Bendigo and the broader region was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy – the first in Australia – recognising its rich food culture, commitment to sustainability, and its connection to First Nations’ culture and knowledge.
“Therefore, gastronomy has been one of the important pillars of the festival, hosting and organising special events to reflect on how our culture and heritage is represented in the food we grow, eat and share,” the festival website declares.
This year, the festival is taking place from Friday 15 to Sunday 17 August, starting with the Foodshare Pop Up Book Fair in the heart of the town’s precinct.
Every purchase of the thousands of preloved books will help to fight food insecurity across Central Victoria.
On Friday, there were e a series of special events for school kids, where some of Australia’s best-known illustrators will share their tips and techniques for creating illustrations.
There will be discussions on the joys and challenges of writing verse novels, and how personal experiences can inspire and shape the stories we share with others.
On Saturday, an impressive array of authors are revealing the extraordinary stories behind their books.
These include the impact of lockdowns on vulnerable people, the creation of spirited women characters, writing cozy crime novels, representing human rights in non-fiction graphic narratives, and what it means to write about Chinese diaspora – just to name a few.
Throughout the weekend there will be gastronomy-related author talks and expert panels, starting with a session on the unique nature of indigenous food.
A highlight is the intricate world of cookbook publishing, while a separate panel will explore how the Australian palate has evolved over time and how that impacts the choices chefs make when designing menus and opening restaurants.
There is even a session called “To Meat or Not to Meat”.
Meanwhile, this reviewer is drawn to the festival’s “Cities of Literature Book Club”, which features books from seven literary cities around the world.
These are: Christophe Blain and JeanMarc Jancovici’s World Without End (Angouleme), Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind (Barcelona), Ian Rankin’s Midnight and Blue (Edinburgh), Emma Neale’s Liar, Liar, Like, Spit (Dunedin), Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart (Dublin), Victoria Amelina’s Looking at Women, Looking at War (Lviv), and Kev Lambert’s Querelle of Roberval (Quebec City).
The Bendigo Writers Festival website: bendigowritersfestival.com.au/
