NT Writers Festival 2025: Theme Announcement
angkwerre-iweme | healing in the winds of change
Everyone is connected by our shared need for healing. Angkwerre-iweme is an Arrernte word and practice that describes the traditional healing method to clear us, cleanse us and bring renewal.
Bad things have affected everybody, but the winds of change are powerful. At the NT Writers Festival, 29 May – 1 June 2025, we will explore how healing and justice are connected. We will learn how people reading and writing in their own languages keeps them strong.
We will allow truth-telling to awaken our spirits. We will celebrate local writers and uplift the legacy of First Peoples storytellers. We will remember that healing comes from Country, and so does language: land is the biggest book of all.
This altyerre – or theme – has been chosen by Arrernte Elders and First Peoples consultants, in workshops facilitated and coordinated by Running Water Community Press. (Our heartfelt acknowledgement of Amelia Kngwarraye Turner, Sylvia Perrurle Neale, John Kemarre Cavanagh, Mali Mpetyane Cavanagh, Maureen Nampijinpa O’Keefe, Tisha Perrurle Carter, Bubalo Stuart and the facilitation of Olivia Nigro, for this generous process.)
Angkwerre-iweme means we allow the winds of change to whirl over us and through us, clearing the path to make way for healing. In the face of adversity and injustice, we come together in solidarity and look to the future, with powerful minds and awakened spirits.