Have you heard the news? There’s a brand-spanking-new event for writers happening this semester at QUT, and I’ve sat down with two of the project leads to find out exactly what’s going on. So, read on if you want to get all the details for the upcoming Writers Grove festival!
So, who are you, and what’s your role?
Peter: I’m Peter Fotheringham, Artistic Director, along with…
Tori: Tori Brown. I’m also an Artistic Director.
Nice to have you guys here. So, what is The Writers Grove?
Tori: We are a student-grown, one-day writers festival running on the 23rd of October from 9am to 5pm—tickets go live real soon.
So, what kind of things are people going to be able to do or see at the festival?
Peter: Our original plan, as a whole cohort, was to do something that was for students. Knowing the publishing industry more, getting to know your craft better, that was our main goal originally—when we were trying to think of panels and workshops and stuff to do.
Tori: Especially focussing on the Brisbane literary scene and contributing to the growth of that. So, we have a whole day of panels planned: fantasy, Australian landscapes, memoir, a couple of specialised workshops run by our facilitators. Really just something for everyone.
Did you want to talk about those workshops? I heard through the grapevine that there’ll be an ekphrastic poetry workshop…
Tori: Yes! With the one and only Jarad Bruinstroop, one of our lovely and beautiful unit coordinators, alongside Mindy Gill. We also have a zine making workshop with the brilliant Rae White. Then, there’s our special guests: Mirandi Riwoe, Kári Gíslason, Rohan Wilson, Angela Slatter, Greg Bourke, Melissa Sharman, and more.
Amazing! What else was on the workshop offerings, if I may ask?
Peter: We have an Australian Landscapes panel and that will lead straight into the Australian Landscapes workshop. So, you get to listen to the professionals, hear their take on our unique setting and how the Australian culture influences their writing. Then, actually apply it yourself like straight afterwards.
And then we have the ekphrastic workshop with Jarad. I’ve done an ekphrastic workshop with him before at Garden’s Point, and it was really eye opening. That one incorporated different art sourced from the old government building. For this one, we’re getting the artwork from our partnership with Post Datum.
Tori: Post Datum! They’re going to be running an art gallery for us, so Jarad’s going to be able to pull from their collection. Then next is Rae’s workshop, and then our student workshop facilitators coming together on their own crafted workshop.
Sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun and good value for QUT students!
Peter: Yeah, I think it will be really good for anyone who’s a student, especially the Poetry stuff. It’s one of those ones, the ekphrastic one, that’s really fun to do. There’s no rules. You’re doing it in response to art, and I found it really, really useful myself when I was doing the Poetry unit last year. It makes you appreciate poetry more because it can be so polarising. You either love it or hate it, but I think this workshop will make you love it.
It’s definitely something that helps win people over to poetry. So, how does it feel to be on the ground floor of a brand-new project for the creative writing degree?
Peter: Scary. [laughs]
Tori: Stressful. There has been very limited help offered by QUT for the project.
Have they helped in any other way apart from giving you some money and just being like, “off you go!”
Tori: Well, it’s Week 8 now and we have only just been able to secure a grant from QUT. Up until now we’ve been told that we have no budget, and we have to print a reader; we have to seat 100 guests in a room and have at least three people in every panel. We’ve managed. We’ve booked over 15 artists overall. So, it’s been tough, but we really want to keep the price of our tickets low, so we’ve been fundraising through our GoFundMe in the meantime.
Peter: Yeah, because we’re not looking to make any money. We just want to be able to pay the artists and put on a good show. Whatever that takes.
Tori: Any money we make we’re spending because it is not guaranteed that QUT will keep the profit we make for future projects. So, our attitude is anything we get goes towards paying the artists and is going to be spent on the day to give our guests the best day possible.
Peter: We’ve got it set up like, the budget is this imaginary thing that we have. The number changes every week depending on what happens with fundraising, but we have so many ideas that as soon as we hit milestones, we can then implement them. And we’re working on loads of different things that as soon as we get the spare money, it can then be allocated to the next thing up on our tier list.
We’ll definitely be utilising every single penny. We have so many good ideas from everyone who’s working on it.
I’m sure that’s not stressful for you guys either, with an imaginary budget that gets bigger or smaller depending on how you look at it.
And I’m sure you’re also up to your eyes in project management for this year’s event, but have you given any thought at all about what this project might look like in the future with subsequent teams?
Tori: We’re trying to set up as much as we can for the next team. So, we’ve made a lot of accounts and passwords and Gmail accounts, and we were talking about the possibility of even setting up a bank account, because the only creative writing project that has a dedicated bank account is ScratchThat. So, we’ve been working in conjunction with ScratchThat a lot as the ScratchThat launch will be on the same night. We’ve even made bookmarks that are double-sided. We’re all one group. We’re all one creative writing cohort. So, if there’s any money for that, we want to share it with ScratchThat. And if that means that future projects that keep up that relationship, and ScratchThat and Writers Grove ends up solidifying, there’s a good coalition to be formed there.
It helps build that community in our cohort!
Peter: Yeah, everyone working together. It would be the most amazing thing to be able to come back next year and actually attend it as a guest.
Tori: Yeah.
Yeah.
Tori: Yeah
Peter: Yeah.
And to be graduated.
Peter: Exactly.
Victory lap.
Tori: To come back in 20 years and be like, yeah, we started that.
Peter: This was built on my blood, sweat, and tears!
Every time I see Rohan look at ScratchThat his face just screams “oh my God, it’s my baby, what’s going on? It’s all falling apart this time!”
Now, is there anything else you guys want to talk about regarding the writer’s Grove which I haven’t asked you about?
Peter: Just keep an eye out, get some tickets and come down on the 23rd of October, 9am to 5pm. Even for just one of the panels or events that interests you—you’ll definitely get something out of it.
Tori: And we have Drag Bingo.
That’s big.
Tori: And prizes!
That’s the big draw.
Tori: And then Drag Bingo ends, and it goes straight into the ScratchThat launch.
Peter: That’s the big finale, I’m so excited.
Tori: 9am to 4pm we learning, and then 4pm onwards, we party!
And bring your non-QUT friends too?
Tori & Peter: Yes!
Well, I think that’s all we have time for today. Thank you both very much for coming in.
Peter: Thanks for having us.
Tori: Thank you!
If you somehow missed it in the interview, The Writers Grove festival will be held on the 23rd of October, from 9am – 5pm. And there’s Drag Bingo!
