Sydney Writers’ Festival

The Sydney Writers’ Festival, with the tagline “It’s Thinking Season” is a beloved event on the Australian cultural calendar. It attracts 100,000 literary fans who venture to Sydney’s foreshore to soak up the atmosphere of discussion and debate, over a week in May. Canada has long been a supporter, and this year we had nine visitors join in festival discussions, which examined the theme “How to Live”.

The Canadian writers at the 2015 Sydney Writers’ Festival were Douglas Coupland, Norman Doidge, Kim Thúy, Emily St John Mandel, Michael Christie and Lynne Coady. Hal Wake, Director of Vancouver Writers’ Fest, Danielle Leblanc, Executive Director of the Frye Festival in Moncton and Lori Knoll, Program Officer in the Writing and Publishing Section of the Canada Council for the Arts, also visited Australia for the festival.

Hal chaired a panel discussion on Canadian writing titled: Canada Now: Raising a Little Hell. In the spirit of this, and to celebrate the wealth of literary talent in Sydney, @canadadownunder created a video asking some of our writers to reflect on how Canada makes a mark. We think it’s an ideal clip to share with readers of this Canada Day “North” issue of our portfolio. Hope you agree – enjoy!