A new focus / Things change

Since writing my last post, I’ve decided to take a different angle with my blog. At the time, I thought the questions I was asking were interesting (and they are, to an extent) but since attending the festival events, I have discovered other things I can write about that are of greater interest to me. In terms of how widespread the Mildura Writer’s Festival is or is not, I have realised the following: it doesn’t really matter. At each event, the audience was engaged and inquisitive. As the writers were talking or reading from their works, the silence from the audience indicated their keenness to listen and even learn something. And I’m okay with that. As long as people are thinking, discussing, writing and reading, then that’s really all that matters. It doesn’t matter who it is, even if it is only a certain group of people, at least some people are out there being engaged, thoughtful and interested. If that is one of the aims of the festival, they have achieved it.

Now, onto what I actually wish to focus on: poetry. I’ve had a strange relationship with poetry. As a teenager, I used it in a therapeutic way. I wrote poetry to express how I was feeling. As you can imagine, much of this poetry was rubbish, filled with the angst of a teenager. Somewhere along the way, the angst I was expressing in my poetry turned to how I was expressing it in my poetry. I began to obsess over words and line and structure and rhythm and tone. Eventually, I stopped writing poetry altogether.

My relationship with poetry has been an odd one because I used to enjoy writing it but I never really liked to read it. This festival featured renowned poets on its schedule. Upon discovering this, I decided that I would like to read more poetry and see where it takes me both in understanding it and in my own practice of writing it. By focusing on poetry, I will reflect upon my engagement with poetry at the festival. This engagement included listening to poets reading their works and discussing the writing of poetry in general.

Initial thoughts / Better late than never

13/07/16:
I arrived in Mildura today and got a little lost but remained intrigued and excited for the Writer’s Festival. I explored the Arts Centre and, interestingly, couldn’t find any information booklets or even posters about the Writers Festival. This made me wonder how widespread (or not) the festival is. Is it only reaching a certain audience (writers, authors, publishers, journalists, bloggers etc.)? Does this create limitations? Are limitations a bad or good thing? Does the festival achieve what it wants to if it is just reaching the same groups of people over and over? I would like to explore these ideas further whilst I am here. My impressions so far are only quite limited. I guess I just expected some hype or excitement or buzz around town for the Writers Festival. Maybe that buzz is happening but only for some, a few. I will continue to observe throughout the festival and see what I find…