ABC Radio DWN 5 May : Bob Gosford talks with Leon Compton
ABC Radio ASP 6 May : Andrew McMillan with Barry Nicholls
ABC Radio : Wire MC and Choo on Drive
CAAMA Radio- Romaine Moreton and Natasha
CAAMA Radio : Wire MC and Choo Choo
Thankyou to all the writers, readers and sponsors who made Eye of the Storm: 2009, The Northern Territory Writers’ Festival such a success. Please keep an eye out on this website for Wordstorm:the Northern Territory Writers' Festival in darwin in 2010.
Peter Bishop Peter Bishop was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1959, Peter's family immigrated to Australia after his father was offered the post of the foundation professor of the classics in Armidale, NSW. Peter worked as a piano player and feature writer for the ABC. Peter and his wife Libby and children moved to the Blue Mountains in 1982. In 1993 Peter succeeded Rhonda Flottman as executive director of Varuna-The Writers' House, and has been working intensively with writers since then.
Mary Anne Butler Mary Anne Butler holds a Master of Philosophy [Creative Writing] and a Master of Arts Education. She is Chair of the Varuna Fellowship Selection Committee, Deputy Chair of the Arts NT Arts Grants Board, co-artistic director of Knock-em-Down Theatre and the recipient of a 2010 Bundanon residency. Mary Anne has had several plays and short films produced in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and her play Half Way There will tour to Cairns, Darwin, Alice Springs and Townsville in 2009.
Jennifer Byrne Over the years, Jennifer Burne has carved a reputation as a successful host and reporter on ABC-TV’s 7.30 Report, Lateline and Foreign Correspondent. Her work has been widely published and in 2003 Jennifer became senior writer at The Bulletin magazine. She won two national magazine awards: for columnist of the year and story of the year. While continuing to write, she hosted the ABC’s successful My Favourite Book programme and, from May 2006, will turn her energy to the First Tuesday book Club for ABC TV.
Choo Choo Choo Choo is a hiphop artist and rapper. Born in Argentina and raised in Australia, Choo has worked nationally and internationally with young people from many different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. He has performed across Australia and overseas showcasing his socially conscious lyrics.
David C Curtis David is a Tenant Creek writer who writes short stories that range from crime to bush adventures. In 2008 he won an NT Literary Award in the Indigenous section. One of his short stories has been selected for the forthcoming Indigenous Anthology, published by IAD Press/NT Writers Centre.
Jo Dutton Jo Dutton’s first novel On the Edge of Red (1998) was short listed for the Western Australia Premier’s Award. In 2003, she was a recipient of Varuna’s Development Program for a new work, Not to Scale. Jo’s work appears in Living Room (2003), The milk in the sky (2007) and True North: Contemporary Writing from the Northern Territory (2004). Her latest novel, Out of Place, was launched in Alice Springs, and during WordStorm 2006, and was shortlisted in the 2009 Territory Read -NT Book of the Year. She is currently working on a new novel that she commenced during a funded residency in Tasmania.
Ali Cobby Eckermann After 25 years of travelling around the NT, Ali Cobby Eckermann now resides in the ‘intervention free’ district of Koolunga SA. Renovations of the old General Store, writing poetry and prose and rural relaxation compete for her attention. Intervention Pay Day was the last poem she wrote in central Australia and won the NT Literary Red Earth Poetry Award 2008. Her first book of poetry Little Bit Long Time will be published early 2009 by Australian Poetry Centre in partnership with Varuna New Poets.
Kieran Finnane Kieran Finnane is a journalist and arts writer based in Alice Springs, who also writes poetry and short fiction. She is a founding journalist of the independent weekly, Alice Springs News, established in 1994. She contributes journalism and arts writing to national publications and her poetry and short fiction have been published in national newspapers and journals as well as in a number of anthologies. She is also the writer and director of the prize-winning film, Ocean, Ocean.
Jeremy Fisher Jeremy Fisher has extensive experience in the Australian publishing industry as writer, editor and publisher. He worked as an editor and publishing manager for nearly 30 years before moving into rights management and advocacy roles. In 1984 Fisher was awarded the inaugural Gold Medal of the Australian Society of Indexers (AusSI) for his indexing of The Australian Encyclopaedia, 4th edition. Fisher's writing encompasses fiction, poetry, prose, reviews and critical articles. His novel for young adults, Perfect Timing, has been his most commercially successful work to date and is currently being translated into Vietnamese. In 2004, Fisher was appointed Executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors.
Bob Gosford After a variety of careers in rock and roll, roadside labouring, dairying, the arts and the law, in 2006 Bob Gosford started writing for the online news journal Crikey and has been a regular correspondent since, concentrating largely on Northern Territory and Indigenous political issues. In September 2008 Crikey asked him to write a blog and The Northern Myth blog was born. He is currently working on a book on Australian indigenous bird knowledge to be published by CSIRO Publishing in late 2010.
Kate Grenville Kate Grenville is one of Australia’s finest writers. Her early works, which include Lilian’s Story, Dark Places and Joan Makes History, have become modern classics and are admired by critics and readers around the world. Her 1992 novel, The Idea of Perfection, was a bestseller and winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, Britain’s most valuable literary award. In 2006 Kate Grenville was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for The Secret River, and the novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Kate's most recent book is called The Lieutenant.
Raised on a cattle station north of Alice Springs, Tanya grew up as a Central Australian bush girl. After studying law, she travelled to the Czech Republic after the Berlin Wall fell and communism collapsed across Eastern Europe. There she taught English, and inspired by the Czechs, their music, poetry, architecture and history, later wrote a memoir of her extraordinary experiences. Her memoir was finalised under the wonderful mentorship of Patti Miller, Lifestories, courtesy of the 2007 ASA mentorship scheme.
Kelly-lee Hickey Kelly-lee Hickey is a poet, performer and community artist. A fifth generation Territorian, her writing exploring themes of whiteness, identity and location has been described in The Age as ‘stark and sparse’. Her poems have appeared in Going Down Swinging, Voiceworks Magazine and Rattapallax, and have been performed at the Adelaide Fringe, Emerging Writers Festival and WordStorm. She co-directed the National Young Writers Festival in 2006 and 2007, the Darwin Fringe in 2008, and is a member of the National Young Writers Festival board. She now lives in Alice Springs.
Steve Gumerungi Hodder Steve Gumerungi (GUM-A-RUNG-E) Hodder, AKA MC Dibirdi (DIB-BIRD-E) belongs to the Lardil peoples of Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland. Steve has lived and worked in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) for over 20 years. He has performed hip hop spoken word around the country, including the National Young Writers Festival and Melbourne Writers’ Festival. Steve’s first foray into writing for theatre involved a collaboration with Jane Leonard to create Barracking, the ultimate sport meets arts comedy drama which has toured throughout the Territory. Barracking will tour to Melbourne, the traditional homelands of AFL to help celebrate Indigenous involvement in the game in May 2009, including a performance at Federation Square.
Dr Peter Holbrook Dr Peter Holbrook is a member of the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts and Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Queensland. He has a particular interest in issues surrounding the teaching of literature in schools and universities. His new book, Shakespeare's Individualism, is due to appear with Cambridge University Press in the U.K.
Yvette Holt Yvette Holt is a member of the Bidjara and Wakaman Nations of central and far north Queensland (Atherton Tablelands). She grew up in the Brisbane community of Inala, a graduate from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Yvette received the UTS Human Rights Award in the category of Reconciliation for 'her outstanding contribution towards the elevation of social justice for Indigenous Australians.' In 2005 Yvette won the David Unaipon Award, followed by the Victorian Premier’s Indigenous Writing Prize 2008 for Anonymous Premonition.
Linda Jaivin Linda Jaivin is an internationally published author of fiction and non-fiction (The Monkey and the Dragon, Confessions of an S&M Virgin), a translator from Chinese and a playwright. Her six novels include the comic-erotic cult classic Eat Me and The Infernal Optimist (short-listed for the 2007 ASL Gold Medal) Her newest book is A Most Immoral Woman (Fourth Estate, March 2009), a tale of sexual and other obsessions set in China and Japan in 1904 and inspired by a true story.
Kenny Laughton Kenny Laughton was born in Alice Springs in 1950. He is Eastern Arrernte, and is a Vietnam veteran. His books include: Not Quite Men, No Longer Boys (3rd print run), Aboriginal Ex-Servicemen of Central Australia, Touched by Fire, the Australian Experience in Vietnam as well as short stories in 'Skins' and 'Without Reservations, Indigenous Erotica'
Kenny has appeared at a range of national and International writers festivals over the past 10 years, including Canada, USA, New Zealand and Festival of the Dreaming.
Alison Lester Alison spends part of every year traveling to schools in remote areas, using her books to help children and adults write and draw about their own lives. After five years of illustrating other people’s stories she found herself getting picky with their texts and had a go at writing her own. Clive Eats Alligators was the result, and she has been writing and illustrating her own stories since then. In 1997 Alison's first children’s novel, The Quicksand Pony was published and The Snow Pony followed in 1999.
Lynette Lewis Lynette Lewis is a descendant of the Wambaya/Warrumungu tribes of the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory. She studied dance and music at The Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern and dramatic art at NIDA. She has had her work chosen to be published with the Indigenous Anthology of indigenous writing with IAD Press and NT Writers Centre and currently enjoys work with The Song Room in Melbourne.
Shane Maloney Shane Maloney is one of Australia's most popular novelists. His award-winning and much loved Murray Whelan series — Stiff, The Brush-Off, Nice Try, The Big Ask, Something Fishy and Sucked In — is characterised by a strong sense of humour and an acute sense of Melbourne's political and cultural nuances. He has been published in the UK, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, Finland and the U.S.
The seventh and final Murray Whelan novel is due for publication in late 2009.
Kimberley Mann Kimberley grew up in Alice Springs. She has published 60 poems, one libretto, two plays and a short story. She works as a counsellor & lives by the sea with a beautiful green-eyed pussycat who traces fur circles round her ankles as she tinkers with poems..Awake During Anaesthetic is her first book.
John Maynard John Maynard is Professor of Indigenous Studies and Head of Wollotuka School of Aboriginal Studies at the University of Newcastle. He is an Australian Research Council post-doctoral fellow and the Deputy Chairperson of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and a Council Member with the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council (IHEAC) and NSW History Council. His traditional roots lie with the Worimi people of Port Stephens – New South Wales. He is the author of four books including Aboriginal Stars of the Turf and Fight for Liberty and Freedom. He was recently the recipient of the University of Newcastle’s Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award (2009) for Fight for Liberty and Freedom.
Najaf Mazari Najaf Mazari fled Afghanistan in 2001 after escaping the Taliban. He survived the dangerous boat trip to Australia, ending up in Woomera detention centre. Mazari now lives in Melbourne and, last year, was finally reunited with his wife and daughter. The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif is his memoirs.
Andrew McMillan Andrew McMillan retired to the Northern Territory at the age of 30, where he has since won NT Literary Awards for history and poetry, won the NT Short Story award, and published five books: Strict Rules, Death in Dili, An Intruder’s Guide to Arnhem Land, Catalina Dreaming and Tiwi Footy. His work appeared in numerous publications including The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Rolling Stone magazine. Andrew is currently working on his first novel and a book about the Roper River region in the Northern Territory.
Andrew is the winner of Territory Read-NT Book of the Year 2009 for An Intruder's Guide to East Arnhem Land.
Jennifer Mills Jennifer Mills is the author of the novel, The Diamond Anchor (UQP, 2009) and the chapbook, Treading Earth (PressPress, 2009). She was the winner of the 2008 Marian Eldridge Award for Emerging Women Writers, the Pacific Region of the 2008-9 Commonwealth Short Story Competition, and the 2008 Northern Territory Literary Awards: Best Short Story. Her work has appeared in Hecate, Overland, Heat, the Griffith Review, and Best Australian Stories 2007, and she is a regular contributor to New Matilda. She lives in Alice Springs.
Dr Romaine Moreton Dr Romaine Moreton is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at Umulliko Indigenous Higher Education Research Centre, University of Newcastle. Romaine is a writer of poetry, prose and film, her second poetry anthology titled Post Me to the Prime Minister published by IAD Press in 2004. Romaine’s directorial debut film The Farm will premiere at Message Sticks Film Festival 2009, airing on the ABC later in the year.
Shellie Morris Shellie Morris is an Indigenous Darwin-based singer–songwriter. Shellie won the 2004/ 2005 best female artist award at the NT Indigenous music awards and her performance highlights include performing internationally and nationally in The Black Arm Band, the Closing Ceremony of the Arafura Games in Darwin, the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and performing for millions including the Pope for World Youth Day 2008; and she has shared the bill with touring artists including Yothu Yindi, Grinspoon, Vicka and Linda Bull, You Am I, Tiddas, Jimmy Little, Bluehouse, Rebecca’s Empire and Magic Dirt. She was nominated for a Deadly Vibes Award in 2002. She also works with Indigenous communities and youth throughout Australia, helping young people to write music about their experiences.
Barry Nicholls Barry Nicholls joined ABC Territory Radio in November 2003 after working as a journalist for News Limited. A former schoolteacher, he turned to the fourth estate after more than a decade at Saint Ignatius’ College in Adelaide before completing a Masters degree in Journalism at the University of South Australia. A diehard supporter of the Sturt Football Club, Barry handled the Double Blues’ one-point loss to Norwood in the 1978 grand final badly. The match had such a devastating effect on him he wrote a book about it! Jack Oatey, John Wynne and the whole damned thing was published in 2002.
Leonie Norrington Leonie Norrington grew up in Barunga community and now lives in rural Darwin. Whilst being a prolific author, she is mostly known for The Barrumbi Kids series for children which was shortlisted for the 2003 NSW Premier’s Prize and the 2004 South Australian Festival Award. Leonie has also published two collections of Territory stories, Women’s Talk (1999) and Under the Mango Tree (2001), and has written a book on food gardening, Tropical Food Gardens. Leonie recently released a children’s picture book, You and Me: Our Place, which was shortlisted for the 2009 NT Book of the Year Award, and shortlisted for the Children's Book Council Award 2008.
Maureen Nampijinpa O’Keefe Maureen is an art and cultural adviser at the Arlpwe Art and Cultural Centre. Recently Maureen’s poems will be published in the Indigenous anthology soon to be launched in Alice Springs later this month. Later this year Maureen hopes to be doing full time research on her family history. Maureen is an up and coming writer and artist.
Rosemary Plummer Rosemary has been writing poetry,short stories and the odd essay since 1992. She has had her work highly commended from 1999-2000 and has won a literary award in 2000.she has had a joint publication with fellow writer Jan Hill called two Cultures meet and has also written a piece called Silently published for Education purposes.
Dani Powell Dani Powell grew up in Queensland and has been living in Alice Springs for the past ten years. With a primary focus on performance-making, her writing has often held a pivotal role in the work of her company red shoes. While undertaking post-graduate studies in performance-making at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2003 she wrote and directed upon a river, then we might sleep and the weight of a sleeping child. Last year Dani was selected for the Macquarie Group Foundation LongLines Prose workshop at Varuna Writers’ Centre. Two of her pieces of prose appear in Fishtails in the dust: writing from the Centre.
Mardijah Simpson Mardijah Simpson is a member of Ptilotus Press, a community enterprise in Alice Springs, which published The milk in the sky: writing from the Centre in 2006 and will launch Fishtails in the dust: writing from the Centre in May this year. She has had poetry published in Landmark, Northern Perspective, Yellow Moon, Overland, Poets Union anthology, Living Room, and broadcast on ABC Radio's Poetica. She also writes for national art and tourism magazines She has five children, ten grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and counting plus a Masters of Adult Education (UTS).
Mei Lai Swan The branding ‘unique’ is bandied about far too often when it comes to musicians and the art they practice – but in the case of cellist-songstress Mei Lai Swan it’s entirely appropriate. Originally from Melbourne, she moved to Alice Springs for a brief stint in the desert and 3 years later has only just set off again, taking her lyrical avant-pop out to the wider world. Her debut EP ‘The Morning Tree’ (2007) won her a Triple J Unearthed award and saw her touring the country throughout 2007 and 2008. Currently working on her first full-length album, she’s joining us back in Alice Springs for a special solo performance at the NT Writers Festival.
Warwick Thornton Warwick’s career started as a cameraman for CAAMA in 1990 and he graduated from the AFTRS in 1997 with a BA in Cinematography. Later that year, he shot his first feature film Radiance. The following year he shot the films My Bed Your Bed and Promise. Other DOP credits include Queen of Hearts, Beck Cole’s Flat, Plains Empty and First Australians. His debut feature film, Samson and Delilah, recently premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival where it won the prestigious Audience Award.
Warwick has written and directed several short dramas, Nana, Green Bush, Mimi and Payback. His films have screened extensively at festivals in Australia and overseas.
Warwick is from the Kaytej nation in Central Australia and lives with his family in Alice Springs.
Michael Watts Michael Watts is a poet and playwright and lives in Alice Springs. His plays have been produced in Alice Springs and at the 2002 Adelaide Festival. His plays include Under the Rain Tree (Araluen Theatre Co, Alice Springs 2003), Train Dancing and Not Like Beckett (selected for the 2005 ANPC Conference). He was the visiting Australian playwright for the 2005 Banff Playrites Colony
Wire MC Wire MC is a descendant of the Gumbayngirri nation (located on the north east coast of New South Wales) with an Aboriginal conscience that acknowledges all First Nations across Australia. Wire MC sees hip hop as the “modern day corroboree” for young Indigenous Australians, who are looking for a way to express themselves and their culture in a positive way.
Arnold Zable Arnold Zable is an award winning writer, storyteller, educator, and human rights advocate. His books include Jewels and Ashes, (Scribe, 1991) which won five Australian literary awards, and depicts his journey to Poland to trace his ancestry. Wanderers and Dreamers, (Hyland House, 1998) is a book of tales that depict the history of Yiddish theatre in Australia. Zable¹s best selling novel, Cafe Scheherazade, (Text, 2001) depicts the lives of former refugees who now meet in a coffee shop in a seaside suburb in Melbourne. The Fig Tree, (Text, 2002) is a book of true stories set in Greece, Eastern Europe, inner Melbourne and outback Australia. His novel Scraps of Heaven, (Text, 2004) is set in the post-war immigrant community of the Melbourne suburb, Carlton. His latest novel Sea of Many Returns, was published by Text in June 2008.
We need willing and dedicated volunteers to help out at the festival. Assistance with setting up, stage managing, driving guests, and many more exciting tasks. Volunteers receive a four day pass as well as a warm fuzzy feeling!
To register your interest call Michael (08) 8952 3810 or email
Eye of the Storm image: Mparntwe Storm (detail) (c) Pamela Lofts 2008 Represented by Helen Maxwell Gallery E:
