The Culture of Contemporary Writers’ Festivals

Cori Stewart B.A. Visual Arts, Queensland University of Technology Graduate Diploma Culture and Media Policy, Griffith University B. A. Film, Media and Cultural Studies (Hons), Griffith University

Creative Industries Faculty School of Creative Writing and Literary Studies, Drama, Film and TV Queensland University of Technology

Submitted in full requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2009

Key words

Writers’ festivals, urban festivals, literature, authors, public intellectuals, media, celebrity culture, public culture, public sphere.

ii Abstract

This thesis examines the culture of contemporary writers’ festivals in an international context. In the last five decades writers’ festivals have emerged in cities across the world, and during this time they have expanded their literary discussions and debates to include numerous other topics of broad interest to society. To examine the expanded popularity and function of writers’ festivals, this thesis establishes a new vantage point for theorising the content now typically generated by these events using concepts in urban festivals and public culture research. Importantly, the new vantage point addresses the limitations of current commentary on writers’ festivals which routinely claim they trivialize literature, and more generally, contribute to the decline of public culture. The thesis presents two case studies: one on the Brisbane Writers Festival in Australia and the other on the International Festival of Authors in Toronto, Canada. The first case study, which focuses on the 2007 Brisbane Writers Festival, illustrates the many overlapping and often conflicting discourses as well as opinions productively discussed and debated at writers’ festivals. Key topic discussed and debated at the Festival include local topics about the host city—its history, literature and politics, as well as broader literary, political and celebrity culture topics. The diversity of topics discussed at the 2007 Brisbane Writers Festival is typical of the majority of writers’ festivals similarly located outside the largest geographic centres of global literary production and circulation, and designated as ‘peripheral’ festivals in this research. The second case study on Toronto’s International Festival of Authors examines the ways in which the 2006 Festival almost exclusively focussed on literary and celebrity culture discourses, and promoted itself on these terms. The 2006 International Festival of Authors’ discussion and debate of a narrow range of topics is typical of the few writers’ festivals located in global centres of literary production and circulation, and unlike ‘peripheral’ festivals they are not experiencing the same growth in number or popularity. The aim of these ‘international’ Festivals is not to democratise their elite literary beginnings, but rather to promote ‘literature’ as a niche brand for quality writing that is valid on a global scale. This thesis will assert that while all writers’ festivals are influenced by the marketing desires of publishing companies, the aim of international writers’ festivals in marketing to a virtually and globally connected elite literary audience makes them more susceptible to experiencing declines in audience and author participation.

iii Table of Contents

Key words ...... ii Abstract ...... iii List of Illustrations ...... v Definition of Terms ...... vi Statement of original authorship ...... vii Acknowledgements ...... viii Dedication ...... ix

1 The Rise and Rise of Writers’ Festivals ...... 1

2 Literature Review ...... 13

3 Research Field and Methodology ...... 55

4 The Brisbane Writers Festival ...... 66

5 The International Festival of Authors ...... 120

6 Conclusion ...... 168

Appendix One: Interviewees for the thesis ...... 177 Appendix Two: Example extracts from writers’ festivals programs ...... 179 References ...... 181

iv List of Illustrations

1. 2005 Brisbane Writers Festival poster campaign page 88

2. 2007 Brisbane Writers Festival poster page 89

3. 1995–2006 International Festival of Authors posters page 135

4. Promotional flyer for Penguin Group Canada’s launch event of Craig Davidson’s book The Fighter page 157

5. Now Magazine’s front page cover of Gautam Malkani page 161

6. Appendix Two: Program page from the 2007 Brisbane Writers Festival page 179

7. Appendix Two: Program page from the 2006 International Festival of Authors page 180

v Definition of Terms

Public The term ‘public’ in the thesis refers to those who attend, read or hear about writers’ festivals, unless otherwise stated.

Culture The definition of ‘culture’ in this thesis is ‘a whole way of life’ employing Raymond Williams’s definition in Culture in Society 1780-1950 (1958: 18). This definition of culture encompasses more than the arts, unless otherwise qualified within terms such as ‘elite’ or ‘high’ art or culture.

Media The term ‘media’ in this thesis defines content circulated to a public beyond the live writers’ festival event. In the instance of the writers’ festivals discussed in this thesis, media includes newspaper articles and radio and television programs.

Literariness The definition of ‘literariness’, similar to the reference to ‘literary’ in this thesis, refers to ‘high’ culture aesthetic qualities or process. Specifically, literariness is present when form, style or authorial persona is invested with moral and aesthetic value.

vi

Statement of original authorship

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.

Signed: …………………………………………… Date: ………………………………………………

vii Acknowledgements

A work of this length does not come to fruition without the effort and support of many others. First, I would like to thank Dr Vivienne Muller for her unflagging support throughout my candidature, and the generosity with which she shared her knowledge and humour. I would also like to thank Professor Wenche Ommundsen for her encouragement and for the conversations we shared about researching writers’ festivals. Along the way there were critical readers of the thesis, Dr Stuart Glover (my associate supervisor), Dr Sue Carson, Dr Judy Drennan and Susan Leggett to whom I am grateful. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Patty Stewart, Ricky de Hue and Edu de Hue who generously gave their time to reading early drafts. The research was made possible by the many people in Toronto and Brisbane who kindly shared their experiences, knowledge and time in interviews and more. The willingness of individuals to have their ideas expressed in this thesis greatly strengthened the research. I am particularly indebted to Geoffrey Taylor, and all the staff at the International Festival of Authors, for supporting my research and contributing to my rewarding time working in Toronto. In Brisbane, I am indebted to Michael Campbell for supporting my research and for facilitating my contributions to the 2007 Brisbane Writers Festival. I am also appreciative of Madonna Duffy and Rosemary Cameron who were touchstones throughout the research process. For the support of family and friends I am most thankful. I would like to acknowledge my Father, who passed away in 2007, for his encouragement, kindness and readiness to laugh even when the chips were down. I would especially like to thank Patty Stewart, Edu de Due, Kathryn Kelly and Peter Browning for their support during both the difficult and good times. I would like to thank Barbara Klunder and Lindsey Love for their pan-Pacific friendships. I would like to acknowledge colleagues with whom I’ve shared this intellectual journey and with who I’ve made lasting friendships: among them Dr Tanya Notley, Donna Hancox, Jazz Choi, Siall Waterbright, Clare Dyson, Oksana Zelenko, Helen Jameison, Rachel Parsons and Siti Suria. For this reason alone, the doctorate has been a rewarding endeavour. I would also like to thank Professor Phil Graham for saying yes at the right times. Finally, I would like to thank librarians Ellen Thompson and John Peak, who left no technical problem unsolved.

viii Dedication

For my Father David Robin Harlin Stewart

ix 1 The Rise and Rise of Writers’ Festivals

Introduction In the last half century, writers’ festivals have flourished in number, popularity and geographic reach. Their rise and rise is part of a larger culture of urban festivals multiplying in cities across the world (Seffrin 2006), and also marks the increased trend in promoting writers as public figures, even celebrities, in contemporary life. Over these fifty years, the initial purpose of writers’ festivals as events for writers to meet has also expanded; they are now events that contribute to the wider public’s engagement in issues of writing and in ideas of broader interest to society (Starke 2000). The popularity and expanded functions of writers’ festivals, therefore, have magnified their role in facilitating a wide range of connections between writers, the media and the wider public. The current centrality of writers’ festivals to these overlapping literary, civic and commercial interests marks the departure point for the thesis’ central research question: What are the roles and functions of contemporary writers’ festivals? Whose interests do they serve, how they are represented and what part do they play in public discussion and debate? This thesis addresses these questions through the analysis of two case studies: on the 2007 Brisbane Writers Festival in Australia and Toronto’s 2006 International Festival of Authors in Canada. While the functions and importance of writers’ festivals have expanded, existing commentary examining these events remains orientated around narrow concerns about ‘literary’ ideals. This commentary routinely argues that writers’ festivals now serve the commercial desires of the publishing industry, and that their engagement with the media and especially the practices and products of celebrity culture trivialises the literary arts and contributes to the decline of the public sphere (Dessaix 1998, Starke 2000, Meehan 2005). A widely held belief underpinning these critiques is that the unmediated discussion of the moral qualities of literature within public forums promotes fundamental human values and advances the ‘public good’ (Habermas 1962: 56). Additionally, by claiming writers’ festivals should sustain only these ‘literary’ ideals, current criticism foregrounds the interests and concerns of literary writers above other writers and therefore limits the analysis of the wide range of content now typically created and circulated by these festivals. This thesis addresses the shortcomings of the narrow ‘literary’ approach to critiquing writers’ festivals, arguing instead, for a more comprehensive approach that takes account of the content of writers’ festivals and contextualises it within the broader concepts of urban

1 festivals and public culture. This approach to researching and analysing contemporary writers’ festivals reveals that these events serve multiple roles and functions. It also reveals that contemporary writers’ festivals differ according to their geographic location. Writers’ festivals, therefore, must be examined as products shaped by various ‘qualities and quantities’, including their host cities (Foucault in Soja 1996: 157). The mismatch between claims that writers’ festivals ‘trivialise’ the literary arts and contribute to the decline of the public sphere and claims they serve a range of roles and functions within public culture, points to the research gap addressed in this thesis. The narrative of decline associated with writers’ festivals and their relationship to literature and the public sphere is, for the most part, the product of academic criticism. Ruth Starke in her thesis, A Festival of Writers: Adelaide Writers’ Week 1960−2000, claims that writers’ festivals have erroneously evolved to serve the commercial interests of book publishers, and specifically multi-national book publishers. She is critical of Adelaide Writers’ Week, saying that it metamorphosed first into Readers’ Week and then into Publishers’ Week (2000: 225). The Festival’s increased emphasis on satisfying the desires of publishers, she proposes, has led to a festival program that appeals to a general public, rather than the more discerning ‘literary’ audience that the Festival ought to cater to. What is more, the growing culture of authors required to be entertainers at writers’ festivals is a role Starke claims they are reluctant to adopt. Author and public intellectual Robert Dessaix made this point as early as 1998, commenting to Writers Week audiences that “writers now have to tap dance as well as write books” (Dessaix in Starke 2000: 228). The second body of academic research to address writers’ festivals was the Literature and Public Culture project.1 This Australia Research Council project undertook an empirical audit of audiences attending Australian writers’ festivals and contributed to the critique of writers’ festivals as part of a larger discussion of Australia’s public literary culture. Four papers were published in the early stages of this research that variously commented on writers’ festivals. No additional papers have been published from the research at this point. These papers largely positioned writers’ festivals as sites of literary activity and interest. The majority also indicated that the ‘literary’ values writers’ festivals should embrace were at risk given audiences increasingly, and mistakenly, sought to verify the content of books through the author’s biography or personality rather than through their writing. By placing ideations of the ‘literary’ and the ‘literary author’ at the centre of these papers, not only were claims

1 An Australia Research Council funded project titled The role of public culture in the construction of contemporary Australian literature, lead by Chief Investigators Wenche Ommundsen, Michael Meehan and David McCooey between Deakin University and Wollongong University.

2 made that writers’ festivals contributed to the decline of literature as well as the public sphere, but more generally, that writers’ festivals detracted from the important work that writers do: writing rather than performing (Meehan 2005; Lawson 2005; Llyewllyn 2005). This collection of papers also arguably engaged with narrow or traditional aspects of writers’ festivals based on the centrality of the literary quality of texts, rather than examining their contribution to a wider public culture.

A new vantage point for analysing writers’ festivals This thesis revisits the history of existing critiques about writers’ festivals. Firstly, these critiques are situated in a larger field of research on urban festivals because they identify a range of variables likely to shape writers’ festivals, such as the festivals’ own histories and the nature of their host cities. Secondly, the ‘literary’ concerns identified as central to past and current analyses of writers’ festivals are situated within the broader concept of public culture. This concept facilitates a critical analysis of the multiple topics discussed and debated at writers’ festivals inclusive of but not limited to the literary, and the values attributed to them. Research on urban festivals is a burgeoning yet small field of academic enquiry (Seffrin 2006). While the origin of urban festivals can be traced back to ancient celebrations of the gods, the largest body of research on contemporary urban festivals has been generated through discourses of urban development and renewal. In research about urban festivals, the urban elite and government agencies invest in festivals to bolster the image and appeal of cities for locals and visitors alike. The ability of festivals to promote cities as more attractive places to live and work foregrounds a function that writers’ festivals, to varying degrees, have come to perform as tools for city branding. Research on urban festivals has produced different models and approaches for theorising festivals. Anne Marie Hunter’s 2004 article, ‘Maps, Utopia and Ecstasy: Configuring Space in Barrie Kosky’s 1996 Adelaide Festival’ develops an approach of particular interest to this thesis. In this article, Hunter employs Foucault’s concept of ‘heterotopias’ to theorise the unique capacity of festivals to be at once particular to a time, place and space while simultaneously existing in relation to the multiple other sites and times that festivals ‘designate, mirror and reflect’ (Foucault 1986: 24). Heterotopias, therefore, illustrates a conceptual prism through which the many variables shaping contemporary writers’ festivals can be presented and analysed in relation to one another. This thesis recruits, in part, Hunter’s use of Foucault’s notion of heterotopias to its analysis of contemporary writers’ festivals.

3 Public culture is the second concept employed in this thesis to establish a new vantage point for analysing contemporary writers’ festivals. The concept of public culture can be related to urban festivals, and within this category, writers’ festivals. Public culture shares with theories of the public sphere a normative interest in democratic possibilities (Indiana University 2009). This democratic trajectory led by the principles of accessibility and diversity, in some instances, contrasts with the elite or high art values associated with arts festivals and specifically the ‘literariness’ of writers’ festivals. The tensions between literary and democratic systems of value are explored through the terms and values Alan McKee (2005) identifies as attending to notions of the public sphere. The terms are ‘trivilisation’, ‘commercialisation’, ‘spectacle’, ‘fragmentation’ and ‘apathy’, and the values are either ‘modernist’ or ‘postmodernist’ in their attitude toward culture. While an understanding of the terms and values attributed to public sphere debates and their use in critiques of writers’ festivals are important to this research, the concept of public culture effectively encompasses both ‘modernist’ and ‘postmodernist’ attitudes towards culture. Public culture, therefore, acknowledges that there are many different public spheres within contemporary culture. David Carter and Kay Ferres in ‘The Public Life of Literature’ (2001) apply a similar definition of public culture where the term includes ‘the “work” that literature does in the public sphere outside, but also through its aesthetic (or ‘literary’) credentials’ (144). Public culture as applied in this thesis, then, affords a more productive account of literature’s application across literary, civic and commercial realms (141). Importantly, Carter and Ferres’ further use of public culture as ‘something interconnected and extended through the media’ highlights the democratic possibilities emerging through literature’s increasingly interwoven relationship with the media in contemporary life. The media’s circulation of writers’ festival content illustrates this relationship, and at the same time, the strategies and practices typical to the media are also illustrated in live festival events. One of these media strategies is an engagement with celebrity culture, which commonly manifests at writers’ festivals through the promotion of authors’ biographies and personalities, in addition to, or sometimes in place of, their writing. Through the production and circulation of celebrity content, writers’ festivals contribute to a discourse of celebrity