It was a strange series of events. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had this sense that Chinese New Year was imminent. I went and bought a packet of dims sims and springrolls on Thursday. On the way back to the car I passed a travel agent, out the front was a brochure stand and I picked one up on trips to China. (This is something sadly outside of my current realm of possibility but I thought I might enjoy the photographs.)

The next day I realised I wasn’t sure when exactly Chinese New Year was taking place so I Googled it. I discovered that the Sydney celebrations (apparently the biggest of their kind outside of Asia) started that night. I’m not a spontaneous person. But that day I was. I booked a hotel room for the night and was on the next train to Sydney.

I’ve always been quite enchanted by Chinese New Year. Calendar new year – with its preoccupation with alcohol and fireworks – doesn’t hold much interest for me. But there’s something about the food and the atmosphere and the culture of Lunar new year celebrations that fills me with a child like excitement.

Belmore Park was full of little market stores with lanterns hanging from the trees, the smell incense and delicious food filled the air.

Of course it’s the Chinese Year Of The Rabbit and I was particularly delighted by this sculpture created by Kassandra Bossell. It’s a frame that holds transparent water bottles to create the rabbit you see below.

The celebrations in Sydney continue until 13th February. I wish I could be there for the Twilight Parade happening this weekend but it wasn’t meant to be.

Check out more Chinese New Year celebration photographs on my Flickr page.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

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Writers’ Festivals are a great opportunity to hear authors talk about their books and their creative process. I was fortunate enough to attend events from the Sydney Writers’ Festival and Brisbane Writers’ Festival for the first time last year. It is an experience I’d highly recommend to anyone interested in reading or writing (or, ideally, both).

These dates are shamelessly acquired from the Sydney Writers’ Centre blog:

Adelaide Festival Writers Week – 28 February to 5 March 2010
Perth Writers Festival – 26 February to 1 March 2010
Darwin Writers’ Festival – 13 to 16 May 2010 (I’m waiting on confirmation of dates and details for this one but keep an eye on the NT Writers’ Centre website.)
Sydney Writers’ Festival – 17 to 23 May 2010
Emerging Writers’ Festival – 21 to 30 May 2010
Melbourne Writers’ Festival – 27 August to 5 September 2010
Byron Bay Writers Festival – 6 to 8 August 2010
Brisbane Writers Festival – 1 to 5 September 2010

They’re offered in good faith. If you’re interested in attending any of these events I encourage you to confirm the details for yourselves.

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• Notes on Brisbane Writers’ Festival
• Brisbane Writers’ Festival
• The Blogosphere: Part II
• The Blogosphere: Part I
• Sydney Writers’ Festival

It is a bit remiss of me to have gone so long without posting here. I apologise. Since some people have been asking, I just wanted to say that the Brisbane Writers’ Festival was amazing. My trip to Brisbane in general was lovely, the Riverfire festival – an elaborate fireworks display over the water – was great fun. Some interesting (wonderful) stuff happened in my personal life while there too, though that is a bit outside of the scope of this blog [unless, for some reason, it ends up in the memoir].

As I imagined I didn’t quite get around to attending everything on my list, but for the most part what I did attend was really good. The Creativity: Art or Science? session was much less about creativity – at least in the fashion that I understand it – and much more about science. (I haven’t been so bewildered since high school physics class.) The REEF e-book digital fiction project was fascinating and will be the subject of a future post on this website.

The Not Tonight Honey: Conversations with Richard Fidler Live session was particularly entertaining. It was a show within a show as we witnessed not only a fascinating conversation about the female libidio in both literature and research with Bettina Arndt and Linda Jaivin, but also the machinations of a live radio broadcast. You can download this conversation as a podcast from the Conversations website or via iTunes.

There was an intimate and unexpectedly wonderful series of readings at Greystone Bar. Tom Cho and Stuff White People Like creator Christian Lander both gave hilarious and animated readings. (By the end of Tom Cho’s reading I didn’t want to buy his book so much as buy a recording of him reading it. Truly a comedic genius!)

While I didn’t have the opportunity to attend any sessions featuring David Williamson (arguably Australia’s most celebrated playwright) I confess I was completely starstruck passing him in the reception area of the State Library of Queensland. I remember studying his play The Removalists in high school and really enjoying it – unlike much of the other material I was subjected to in my English class.

A wonderful experience! There will be at least one or two future posts about – or inspired by – sessions from the Brisbane Writers’ Festival so stay tuned (subscribe via RSS) for more!

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Next week I’ll be in Brisbane for the Brisbane Writers’ Festival. If you see me there, come up and say ‘hi.’ [And as silly as this suggestion might sound, I've had people come up to me randomly in the past...]

I don’t really know how realistic this schedule is but I am hoping to attend the following sessions.

Friday 11th September 2009
Not Tonight Honey: Conversations with Richard Fidler Live
REEF e-book digital fiction project
FOOD: By The Book
Creativity: Art or Science?

Saturday 12th September 2009
The Memoirist
The Writer And The Publisher
Girls Talk Erotica
Copyright: It’s Your Income
Time For A Retread
The Essential Hoax

Also Twitter people, I’ll be attending the Brisbane Twestival event.

I’ve never been to Brisbane before, though I do have some very dear friends there, so I am really looking forward to this.

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• 2010 Australian Writers’ Festivals
• Notes on Brisbane Writers’ Festival

We are fast approaching the Sydney Writers’ Festival (May 18-24). While I would love to attend everything on the agenda that seems impossible. Instead I’m going to attempt to attend two of the “New Media” program strands sessions (as below).

Sunday, May 24 2009

The Blogosphere
Event 280
10:00 – 11:00
Sydney Dance Company, Studio 2/3 Pier 4/5, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay

James Maskalyk’s and Christian Lander’s books found their genesis in the new and powerful form of journalism, the blogosphere. Antony Loewenstein’s The Blogging Revolution is about the global tribe of bloggers who live and write under repressive regimes. They traverse this terrain and consider its power with newmatilda.com’s Ben Pobjie.

Bloggers vs Journalists, Round 378
Event 324
15:30 – 17:00
Museum of Contemporary Art, 140 George St The Rocks

If bloggers are all wannabe journalists and journalists are all complacent hacks, why do so few manage to cross over? Rachel Hills talks to four blogger/journalists who’ve excelled in both fields: Erica Bartle, Tim Blair, Margo Kingston and Antony Loewenstein.

Will you be taking place in any parts of the Sydney Writers’ Festival? What are you looking forward to doing and seeing? Let me know in the comments.

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• 2010 Australian Writers’ Festivals
• The Blogosphere: Part II
• The Blogosphere: Part I