The Melbourne Writer’s Festival was based at Federation Square, utilising most of its space to run simultaneous sessions for writers of all kinds. Keynote Addresses The 2008 Melbourne Writer’s Festival started with a bang as Germaine Greer and Augusten Burroughs each presented keynote addresses. Burroughs, of Running with Scissors fame, chatted with Jennifer Byrne about his upbringing, family and writing memoirs. Burroughs admits that at 42, he’s written more memoirs are usually due to writers of his age, but then not many have had his upbringing. He also spoke candidly about his addiction to alcohol, his recovery and his brother (who is also an author of a best-selling memoir) who has Asperger’s syndrome. Burroughs’s latest book A Wolf at the Table is darker than his four previous books and explores his relationship with his alcoholic father.

School Sessions By far the best value tickets are those for the school sessions. The only catch is you need to be available, during weekdays and school times. These sessions include great writers such as Melina Marchetta (Looking for Alibrandi), Rachel Cohn (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist), Alexandra Andoretto (The Shadow Thief), Alice Pung (Unpolished Gem), John Marsden (Tomorrow When the War Began) and Adam Ford (Man Bites Dog).

The writer’s discuss their backgrounds, their inspiration, and their books for audience members in their later high school years, together with members of the public. The questions from teenagers are often more insightful than one would think. The writer’s happily discuss their high school days, what drove them to write and reactions to their work. There’s also plenty of time for more personal questions at the book signing held outside the festival bookshop.

John Marsden held a particularly interesting session on storytelling and character driven narratives. He discussed status in society with a theatre full of school children, explaining how status is gained and lost, sometimes in a matter of moments. The importance of status cannot be underestimated in storytelling, and particularly in novels where the plot is secondary to the characters. In order for the novel to be successful, the main character must undergo a change in status – for example a son beating his father in tennis, or standing up to an abusive father shows how the son become of higher status than his father.

John Marsden told of his delight at terrifying others with campfire stories, but gradually he realised that in order to polish his stories, and make them permanent, it was important to put pen to paper. Each story is about life’s interruptions. It can be as small as an undone shoelace, or as large as a country being invaded, as in the story of Tomorrow When the War Began. Marsden’s latest book, the classic Hamlet, captures both interruptions (the death of his father and his mother’s second marriage) and a battle over status (to win control of his family from his stepfather).

Workshops For those who are starting out and looking to get published, I recommend The Whole Shebang. The one-day event includes presentations from authors, editors, publishers, journalists, freelance writers, the Victorian Writer’s Centre and the Australian Society of Authors, agents and many publishing houses.

It’s jam packed with great information and tips for when you first sit down at your computer to finding the right home for your work as well as how to balance your writing and life. This is an excellent value-for-money session, which will leave you enthusiastic to begin your new work or get back to that work in progress.

The best way to get up close and personal with one of your favourite authors is to take part in a workshop. My six-hour session was with Rachel Cohn of the US. She lead the nine member group though some her most inspirational pieces of writing and discussed overcoming hurdles in the way to publishing her best-selling teen books.

Reading through passages that focus on different aspects of writing was eye opening. The range of work Cohn selected covered all manner of scenarios and she provided a number of suggestions for overcoming problems faced by writers. Her ability to set workshop exercises was great for getting creativity flowing and bouncing ideas of Cohn (as the group leader) and other group members. Her feedback was well received and it was a great opportunity to mix with like-minded writers.

The festival offers workshops in many genres with a many national and international writers. Typically, workshops are six hours, with a one-hour break for lunch. It’s worth bearing in mind that workshops are only available to a limited number of participants so it’s advisable to book early.

Writer’s Sessions There are hundreds of sessions on offer at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival including book launches, city tours, author interviews and panels. It’s all about pacing yourself and identifying with the sessions most relevant to your interests.

There were a number of sessions that relate directly to Melbourne, including intimately including the city in novels. Everything from the changeable weather, to the intricate laneways and coffee culture can be used to turn a stark concrete city into a loveable character.

First time author Toni Jordan shared her experience of writing Addition. Addition's main character Grace suffers from a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Although Jordan doesn’t suffer from the disorder herself, she was able to accurately describe the condition so well that readers queued for hours to ask how she collected the intricate details.

Mark your 2009 diary now to take your place in the audience of next year’s writer’s festival. It’s bound to be just as mind-blowing as this year. It all begins on 21 August 2009 and runs until 30 August. See the website for further details – www.mwf.com.au

Image - A festival particpant takes time out at Federation Square Image courtesy of Mimi_K. Licensed by Creative Commons.