Inga Simpson's Blog, page 4

BBWF: Nature Writing Workshop

I’m heading south for the Byron Way Writers Festival at the end of this month, hoping for the blissful Byron weather that the tent festival nearly always manages to delivers up. I’m looking forward to seeing Jeanette Winterson’s Keynote address on the Friday, as well as Maxine Beneba Clarke, Robert Hoge, and drifting into some other great sessions and conversations.

I’ll be teaching a workshop on my pet subject, Nature Writing, on Thursday 31 July. You can book in here .

I’m also participating in the following panels:

Books that Shaped Me, with ML Stedman, Lisa Gorton and Claire Scobie. 10.15-11.00am, Sat 2 August.

A Wide Brown Land: Writing Australia, with Tony Birch, Alex Miller and Ashley Hay. 11.30-12.30am, Sun 3 August.

In Conversation with Lisa Walker and Jessie Cole. 3.45-4.30pm, Sun, 3 August.

I’ll be signing copies of Mr Wigg and Nest (hot off the press) after each session.

You can access the full BBWF program here

Nature Writing Retreat: Far South Coast

I’m teaching at a 5-day nature writing retreat, run through Olvar Wood, from 21 -26 October this year.

We’ll be ‘glamping’ at The Escape, at Shallow Crosssing, near Bateman’s Bay, on the south coast of NSW.  It’s a beautiful, wild setting: river frontage, amid a forest of spotted gums and cycads.

There’ll be daily workshops, one-on-one feedback on a piece of writing submitted beforehand, a nature walk, plenty of writing time – and great food! There’s also a full day workshop open to non-residential writers on 23 October.

You can find more information here: The Great Escape

 

 

 

SWF: 19-20 May

I’m participating in a few panels and teaching a workshop at the  2014 Sydney Writers Festival from 19-25 May. I’m also excited about seeing Melissa Lucashenko interview Alice Walker (Yes, Alice Walker!); Sarah Blasko & Josh Pike performing; and Emma Donoghue’s closing address.

You can view the whole program here: http://www.swf.org.au/documents/SWF2014_Program_SMH.pdf

Or the details of my sessions can be found here:

Forest for the Trees: Writers & Publishing in 2014

Inspired by Nature

Inga Simpson: Setting and Description

Simple Living

Maleny’s Celebration of Books

Don’t miss Maleny’s Celebration of Books this weekend – now in it’s second year.

There’s a great program, including Steven Lang’s in conversation w Christos Tsiolkas on Monday night. He’ll be talking about his new novel, Barracuda, among other things.

I’m the support act, doing a quick chat and a reading from Mr Wigg – and signing books afterwards. As will Christos! Tickets ($15) include free nibbles and cheap drinks from the bar.

More info on the Outspoken website.

Consolations of the Forest

I’ve had a bit of a natter about cabins in the woods, solitude and rewilding  – around two lovely books: Sylvain Tesson’s Consolations of the Forest and George Monbiot’s Feral.

‘Some people can dine exclusively by feasting their eyes on a landscape,’ Tesson writes. I am one of those people. Though I do my feasting through books as much as in the real world, perhaps more. I have something of a passion for nature writing …. more here: http://meanjin.com.au/blog/post/what-i-m-readinginga-simpson

Watermark Literary Muster 18-20 October

If anyone can get along to the Watermark Literary Muster at lovely Port Macquarie later this month, it’s a great festival celebrating Australian nature writing. This year’s theme is The Nature of Place and Childhood, and guests include Bruce Pascoe, Tony Woodford, Mark Tredinnick and Tony Taylor.

I’ll be reading from my essay ‘Triangulation’ – about my childhood of ironbark and stone – on the Friday, and am on a panel with Tony Taylor and Pat White, talking about our sense of wonder in relation to the natural world, on the Saturday.

I’m fiddling about trying to chose which bits of the essay to read at the moment, so an extract below ….

Ironbarks are my heartwood. They cling to the hilltops and paddock edges in the dry land of my childhood, in Central West New South Wales. Much of my family’s property is flat or gently rolling: wheat, cattle and sheep country. Most winters, the paddocks still run soft and green. Ghosts of big old yellowbox linger in the paddocks, dropping limbs.

The countryside was once covered with dense scrub and tall trees. By the 1890s, tree cover had receded to the hills, a part of the property we have always called ‘Up the Back’. It is stony and steep, which makes for poor farming, but thick with ironbarks, cyprus pine, wildflowers and wildlife. It was to these hills I was drawn as a child.

From twelve or thirteen, I camped out alone with the rocks, trees and stars. I would carry in everything I needed – at first on foot and, later, on my motorbike. To reach my campsite, I had to cross the main road and the neighbour’s paddocks, negotiating three difficult gates. The final leg was a tough climb over logs and rocks.

There was a flattish site for a tent and a large stone fireplace, overlooking crop and grazing land; straight boundary fences and lanes transecting the curves of tree-lined creekbeds and ridgelines. After sundown, my ironbark sentinels faded into the dark. The sky was bright and vast, sounds carried from far off, and I could just make out the glow of the next town.

 By day I wandered, collecting itchy seedpod boats from beneath kurrajongs to sail on the dam, interrupting mistletoe-infected trees admiring their own reflections. Or sketching the delicate bluebells that appeared, as if from nowhere, in spring and summer. Below my campsite, on the cool side of the hill, there were a handful of boulders. They lay as if scattered by a giant. No matter how carefully I climbed down, the black wallabies thumped away at the first snap of a twig or scrape of my boot, leaving me to explore the ferns and mosses and orchids: a secret world of green.

BWF 4 – 8 September

I love the Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF); it’s my favourite time of year. Brisbane usually turns on perfect spring weather, and a bunch of great writers are in town. It’s a time for strolling, listening, and thinking — refreshing your passion for writing and reading.

I always enjoy gazing at the quandongs that surround the State Library, growing taller every year. Their bright red leaves among the green. There’s time for lunch or a coffee out on the lawns, a chance to catch up with friends.

This year, I’m heading ‘Into the Woods’ with Anna Krien and Damon Young to talk about the role of the natural world in activism, philosophy and identity. Saturday, 7th Sept @ 2.30  :http://bwf.org.au/2013-program/bwf-2013-program/

I’m also looking forward to seeing Ruth Ozeki, Phillipp Meyer, and local, Robert Hoge talk about his great new memoir, Ugly (Hachette).

See you there!

 

Potts Point Bookshop interview

Potts Point Bookshop

 

Read the interview with the lovely Potts Point Bookstore about writing Mr Wigg …

 

Mr Wigg book launches

For those who can get along to the launch of Mr Wigg in Brisbane or Canberra, I’d love to see you there.

Brisbane: 6pm Friday 28 June, Avid Reader Bookstore, West End. Launched by Kristina Olsson.

Canberra: 3pm Saturday 6 July, Paperchain bookstore, Manuka. Launched by Mark Tredinnick.

 

If you get your copy signed at the launch, it will also be stamped with the special Wigg stamp.

 

 

Tower of Wigg

One of the most exciting times for an author is when a box of their books – fresh off the press – arrives in the post.

 

In my case the excitement was shared with the staff of my local post office. I couldn’t wait – and ripped the box open right there on the counter. As a result, they are going to stock Mr Wigg; sometimes it pays to be impulsive

 

I have also been lucky enough to receive a framed picture of Mr Wigg from one lovely (and talented) reader, artist Anne Barnetson.