Beranda  ›  Lockdown closes the book on this years Melbourne Writers Festival

Lockdown closes the book on this years Melbourne Writers Festival

The theme of this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival was Tell Me How It Ends, and now we know: the 35th festival has become the latest live event to fall victim to the impact of the pandemic.

Artistic director Michaela McGuire confirmed that the extension of Victoria’s lockdown to midnight on September 2 had forced the organisers to scrap a program featuring about 250 writers appearing in 150 live events.

Michaela McGuire says the extension of the lockdown in Melbourne forced organisers to cancel the bulk of Melbourne Writers Festival.

Michaela McGuire says the extension of the lockdown in Melbourne forced organisers to cancel the bulk of Melbourne Writers Festival.Credit:Joe Armao

“It just means unfortunately that all the on-the-ground preparation we would do in venues in the weeks leading up to the festival is no longer possible. And we simply don’t have time to bump in the entire festival.”

Had the lockdown been scheduled to lift a week before the festival was due to begin it would have been possible to go ahead, she said. Last year, the festival migrated online with a reduced program, but current workplace restrictions mean that was impossible this time. This month’s Byron Bay Writers Festivals was cancelled a few weeks ago and Canberra’s festival has been postponed.

Jennifer Down’s appearance in Writers on Film remains part of Melbourne Writers Festival.

Jennifer Down’s appearance in Writers on Film remains part of Melbourne Writers Festival.Credit:Paul Jeffers

However, two key elements of the festival program, MWF Digital and the Writers on Film documentary series, will still go ahead, along with a couple of workshops that will now be online.

The cancellation of her first Melbourne Writers Festival was doubly disappointing for McGuire, whose final Sydney Writers’ Festival, of which she was director for four years, was cancelled last year.

“I knew going into this â€" and I think any festival director or anyone who works in live events knows â€" it’s just down to luck and some people get luckier in the end than others,” she said.

“I won’t pretend for a minute that it’s worse for me than it is for all the authors and writers who have been so looking forward to being part of this festival. They’ll be publishing books into a period when it may not be possible to do any live events and to know what that means for a writer’s career, it’s so much sadder for all of them.”

MWF Digital is a series of interviews with international writers such as Natasha Brown, Rumaan Alam, A.C. Grayling, Rachel Cusk, Maggie Nelson, Jhumpa Lahiri and Viet Thanh Nguyen. “It is 10 incredible conversations with some of the world’s most exciting and essential literary voices,” McGuire said. “We have recorded all those conversations over the past couple of weeks, and they are in the final stages of being produced now.”

The digital program will be available online and on demand from September 3 on a pay-what-you-can basis.

Also online from September 3 is the short documentary series by artist and filmmaker Will Huxley, which focuses on writers Tony Birch, Sophie Cunningham and Jennifer Down.

“They each give a really beautiful and reflective self-narrated tour of their neighbourhoods,” McGuire said, “and talk us through the sites of personal significance that have informed their award-winning work.”

mwf.com.au
The Age is a festival partner.

Jason Steger is Books Editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald