This is the Writers Bloc Guide to the 2016 This Is Not Art Festival.


The This is Not Art Festival is almost upon us! This means the Newcastle Young Writers Festival is nearly here! Which means that a whole bunch of young, brilliant minds and/or bodies are going to descend on the coastal centre of Newcastle to have their minds renovated in the best and most fun way possible.

What will you need to bring? Nothing, except a spirit of adventure! And maybe the World Health Organisation guide to emergency rehydration! And our humble suggestions of some things you might want to check out along the way.

Enter the Labyrinth: NYWF Ball Saturday 1 October 20:00 - 24:00

Some people come to NYWF to learn, some to network, some for the wide-eyed exploration of all things young and literary – or so they say. Really, everyone knows the reason we converge on NYWF once a year is to get good and weird and fabulous at the annual ball, which this year, celebrate the magic of Labyrinth, and history's most sexually confusing bad guy

 

Writing for TV – Saturday, October 1, 2016  16:30

The thing about writing for TV is that it is about the best-paid gig a young writer could hope for. Learn what it's all about with screenwriter, Magda Wozniak. She has written for Neighbours and Home and Away and worked across several other television script departments. Her first short, Stuffed, was nominated for an AWGie Award and screened at festivals internationally. 

 

Debate: Fact vs Fiction – Saturday 1 October 17:00 - 18:00

A comedy debate about fiction vs non fiction in writing. Does "the truth" really exist or is it just a construct? Claire Sullivan, Dave Warneke, Emma Marie Jones battle it out - alongside our very own Content Director Liam Pieper and Agony Uncle Patrick Lenton!

Will there be hilarity? Probably! Will Patrick outgun Liam live onstage forcing a humiliated Liam to fire him? Only time will tell!

 

First Nations Poetry as Resistance – Saturday 1 October 18:00 - 19:00

Poetry as a platform forfor activism - as told by some of our finest Indiginous writers. Join Summer May Finlay, Laurie May, Ellen van Neerven, Alison Whittaker as they discuss poetry and its potential to respond to injustice and discrimination and the space within the Australian literary landscape for Aboriginal writers to subvert the narrative.

 

Debate: Self-Publishing: Punk Rock vs Pathetic – Sunday 2 October 17:00 - 18:00 

Self-publishing has gotten a bad rap for a long time, but it hasn't always been this way. Virginia Woolf used to publish her own books, after all. And let's not forget that E.L. James, author of 50 Shades of Grey started out self-publishing, and now she sleeps in a castle made of money, while major-label authors get by on royalties of 10% of the poor books. 

Who's better off? Who gets more creative satisfaction? Or contro? Most importantly, who is more rock & roll? Find out here:

 
 

Late Night Readings: Sex, Death, Sunday 2 October 22:30 - 24:00

The only way to ring out the festival is to drag your dried-out husk to the Late Night Readings, everyone's favourite NYWF institution. The theme is Sex, Death and Money, is going to get a little bit sad and a little bit racy. So don't forget those tissues - and maybe something to fan yourself with.


 

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The Writers Bloc is a community for writers. We provide free anonymous workshopping, advice, events, opportunities, and a paid publishing platform.