A festival of literary ideas

AUTHORS, journalists, bloggers, documentary-makers and publishers from around Australia and overseas will get together later this month at the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival.

And according to festival director Michael Misrachi, it will be a “festival of ideas”.

Back for the fourth time, the festival will again be held at Shalom College at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, beginning on Saturday night, August 25, and concluding on Tuesday, August 28.

“This year’s theme is ‘Think words, talk ideas’,” explains Misrachi. “We’re really marking the fact that the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival is as much a festival of ideas as it is a festival of writing.”

Bringing the ideas to the table will be an eclectic range of talented writers.

“We’ve got big names from Israel like Tom Segev and Irris Makler, both award-winning writers and journalists,” says Misrachi.

“We’ve got beloved authors from the local community such as Arnold Zable and Joanne Fedler. We’ve got some of the most celebrated authors of this year, Anna Funder and Elliot Perlman. And also iconic Australians such as Ita Buttrose and John Bell. So the quality and the diversity of the writers who are participating is very exciting.”

Blogger and AJN columnist Kerri Sackville, who will participate in panels about memoir writing and motherhood in the 21st century, says she is “rapt” to be asked back after appearing at the festival in 2010.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to the two panels I’m on,” she says. “The line-up is great this year. I’m going to go to as many sessions as I can.”

Medical practitioner-turned-writer Peter Lantos, who is flying in from London for the festival, says it has an “excellent program”.

As diverse as the talent will be the plethora of topics covered in the numerous sessions available.

“The diversity of the sessions on offer is tremendous,” says Misrachi.

“We’ve got Israeli politics, we’re delving into other topical issues such as the American elections that are coming up and the issue of refugees, which continues to dominate the headlines in Australia and around the world.

“And then there are some other more sensitive topics … around Holocaust writing, fiction which is based on the Holocaust, including authors who aren’t Jewish themselves but have used the Holocaust as a setting or one of the main aspects of their novels.”

Misrachi says that discussion topics will cover a diversity of issues, including sex and motherhood.

The festival also has a heavy social media presence with a Facebook page, Twitter account and an official blog.

“People know they can start being part of the conversation and start getting into the festival spirit even before the festival arrives itself,” says Misrachi.

“The festival is for everyone who reads, everyone who thinks, everyone who is interested in ideas. You don’t need to be a bookworm to enjoy the festival; you don’t need to be an avid reader.

“We encourage people to come along to be inspired, to be entertained and to be challenged. And I think that’s what it’s about,” Misrachi enthuses.

“I think there are going to be a lot of sessions which will shed light on books that people have read and loved or didn’t love so much.

“It will introduce people to new books and new writers, and it will also challenge people to think differently about issues, think differently about ideas and think differently about the world.”

The Sydney Jewish Writers Festival will be held at the Eric Caspary Learning Centre, Shalom College, University of New South Wales in Sydney from August 25-28. Enquiries: www.sjwf.org.au.

REPORT by Gareth Narunsky

PHOTO of Arnold Zable