Born into care after his mother was forced to give him up, rejected by his adoptive foster family and finally released to his own care at eighteen, Lemn Sissay is a living example of the healing power of poetry. Interview by Katinka Smit.
Selina Tusitala Marsh is a Pasifika poet-scholar and the current New Zealand Poet Laureate (2017-2019). As the 2016 Commonwealth Poet she wrote and performed a poem for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, while she recently hosted a poetry event with Barack Obama. She spoke with Katinka Smit at Byron Writers Festival 2018.
As editor of the new anthology, 'Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia', Anita Heiss has successfully brought together diverse voices, experiences and stories from across Australia. Katinka Smit met her at Byron Writers Festival 2018 for a conversation about this groundbreaking publishing project.
Our official wrap-up gallery tells the story of the 2018 Byron Writers Festival in pictures
Byron Writers Festival (3-5 Aug), wrapped up a hugely successful 22nd year with more than 140 writers and thinkers from across Australia and around the world converging on Byron Bay to share remarkable stories in the glorious sunshine. Read our full wrap-up report of session highlights here.
Described as having ‘steeliness by the bucket load', the passionate Gillian Triggs has used the annual Thea Astley address to call for a regeneration of Australian society by applying ‘a human rights lens to everything’.
This session, chaired by Melissa Lucashenko, centered on the themes raised by the book Growing up Aboriginal in Australia, compiled and edited by Anita Heiss.
'I am not defined by my scars, but my incredible ability to heal': British Ethiopian poet Lemn Sissay in conversation with Adam Shoemaker.
The kids came out in force today for the Byron Writers Festival's Kids Big Day Out.
One role of the artist is to make the invisible visible. Art might not change the world, but it might transform the way you see the world, and that might make all the difference.
