The NSW Writers’ Centre and Bankstown Arts Centre are proud to announce the launch of the first-ever festival focused on Indigenous and culturally diverse Australian writers and writing.
Featuring well known writers and exciting new voices, the inaugural Boundless festival will be held at Bankstown Arts Centre, in the heart of multicultural Sydney, on Saturday 28 October 2017.
“We have waited long enough for our country to embrace and reflect the greatest asset writing has to offer: diversity,” said Michael Mohammed Ahmad, director of festival partner, Sweatshop. “If we are not talking about diversity, we are not talking about literature. That’s why it is incredibly exciting to finally see so many groups and individuals come together to create the first official festival for diverse writers.”
The free all-day event will include performances, readings, panel discussions, audiovisual experiences, workshops for children and adults, and opportunities for audience members to mingle with the writers and purchase signed copies of their books.
Speakers will raise thought-provoking questions: Who can write whose stories? How do you write about family without offending your own? What are the Indigenous stories all Australians need to hear? How can refugees tell of their experiences in a language that is not their own? And what have successive waves of migrants brought to our national literary culture?
The festival will feature the premiere performance of new work from Sweatshop and Urban Theatre Projects, children’s workshops and events from WestWords, screenings from CuriousWorks, and a showcase of work by local young people from BYDS, culminating in a special guest appearance by the Bankstown Poetry Slam in the evening.
“Bankstown Arts Centre is very excited to be co-presenting the Boundless festival in partnership with the NSW Writers’ Centre,” said Bankstown Arts Centre director, Vandana Ram. “The festival will showcase an incredible diversity of stories and writing, demonstrating how artistic practice is being redefined through inclusive and participatory programs, particularly in this region.”
Boundless is presented by the NSW Writers’ Centre and Bankstown Arts Centre, in collaboration with Sweatshop, WestWords, Urban Theatre Projects, Bankstown Youth Development Service, CuriousWorks and the Bankstown Poetry Slam. It is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW, the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and Pantera Press.
The full program will be announced in September.
For more information or to arrange interviews with Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Vandana Ram or other festival partners, contact the NSW Writers’ Centre on 9555 9757