March 21: Happiness is talking about writing and performing

 

[image error]

Tonight I had the great pleasure of sharing the stage with some amazing, creative humans. From left to right above is writer and ABC RN broadcaster Sarah Kanowski, poet / academic Sarah Holland-Batt and writer/academic Kari Gislason.  Together we were part of the first QUT Public Creative Writing Seminar, attended by academics, students, writers, readers, editors, publishers, funding bodies and festival directors.

The event, hosted by QUT Creative Industries gave me the opportunity to talk about where public speaking fits into my writer and publishing activities and the extraordinary opportunities that have presented themselves because of the books I have published.

I also spoke about how I try to weave my books (and their individual aims) in to my public speaking and the role my TEDx talk has played in being able to talk about my writing, specifically as means of discussing ‘sameness’.

It was great to hear the ‘Sarahs’ talk about performing poetry and the key to interviewing authors for the purpose of radio audiences.

I’m grateful to Kari Gislason for the invitation – because there aren’t many questions I haven’t been asked as a writer, and it was valuable on many levels to have a different conversation.

Yes, talking about writing and performing certainly made me happy tonight.