I feel like I’ve gone to heaven (and there wasn’t even any dying involved).
The Wordstruck festival started today. Kate and Fiona (Farrell) greeted me with a hug, and after the session I had lunch with them (and Gavin Bishop, Robyn Belton, Fleur Beale…) and Shaun Tan, who is an absolute sweetie (and very spunky too). And Kate introduced me to everyone as “a fantastic/very good writer,” so I was glowing all over. And the food was lovely too (I had potato and bok choi soup with chilli).
I pretended to be a kid in mufti (or a teacher, or something that wasn’t a red thumb standing out) and went to the school’s sessions.
Shaun Tan explained how his illustrations come about (he wanders around photographing interesting plumbing…) He passed on a very cool quote (Picasso I think) about how art – and stories – are the lies that tell us the truth.
The high school session was the best. The theme was Freedom of Speech, and the speakers were Paula Boock, David Hill, Lynley Hood, Sam Mahon and William Taylor. They were all fantastic. David Hill talked about how, in Paula’s first book, she was persuaded to remove “the F word.” Paula stood up after him and said “David was absolutely right about Out Walked Mel… But the word was FUCK! (And all the high school kids burst into applause). Paula talked quite a bit about television script writing. Apparently, in every episode they have to include a “water cooler moment.” You know the ones, the bit that everyone in the office is talking about around the water cooler the next day.
And then I went to the 24 hour book sale in the regent theatre. Golly. My pack weighs a TON and I only spent $11. And some of the books are practically NEW!
And THEN I found this place called the Arc café. They have vegan food, couches and booths as well as tables, live music in the evenings and spoken word nights, free internet access, original artworks on the walls, GE free graffiti in the toilets, and a reading library. Could it get any better?
The only bad thing about paradise is the cold. And actually, it’s not really a bad thing at all. I’d much rather be cold than hot… It makes me feel alert, alive, inspired… life seems brighter.
Then there’s the fact that I keep getting lost. I spent an hour scrambling around in the greenbelt while night fell and mist swirled around. And I get lost in the streets too… I feel a bit like Alice, I keep setting out in what looks like the right direction, but I end up somewhere else entirely.
Tonight someone came up to me on the street corner and said “Fionnaigh?!” She looked so familiar, I knew I must have been friends with her at some point. We walked together for a while, talking about what we were studying and where we were living, and then we parted outside the university library. I have no idea what her name is or where I know her from. School, it appears, but which school? Primary, intermediate or high school? I’m such a doofus… especially when it comes to remembering people.
Well, better run. I’m meeting a couple of my friends from school/kindy for dinner (Thai) in a few minutes.
Xxx
Fi.
Kewl! Really good to hear that you are having such a great time! Sounds like lots of fun. Keep warm, and keep writing.
(Smooch on the forhead)
:)
I totally agree about cold. If I'm doing anything even vaguely brainlike I need to be slightly cold or I'm useless. COld makes me alert. Brittle sunshine and all that.
Yay that you found Arc. Its a wicked place. My mates that were at Dunners fairly much lived in it.