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The St Kilda Writers’ Festival began in its present incarnation as most great ideas do, as a drunken conversation in someone’s lounge room. The beer wore off in the morning but the enthusiasm didn’t. We were pleased to launch the Festival on January 31st 2005 and it ran for a week with an astonishing array of presentations, performances, workshops and panels. What started as a casual conversation ended as an exciting feature in the cultural landscape.

It was an ambitious project but one we managed to pull off, thanks in no small part to the generous people who supported us: our volunteer staff; community groups; local businesses; Port Phillip Council and, of course, all those beautiful, talented writers and presenters who took part. Obviously, without the talent there wouldn’t be a Festival.

For the record:

  • The 2005 Festival’s virtual patron was Academy Award™ winner writer/animator Adam Elliot.
  • 129 writers, artists and presenters took part in 30 panel discussions, workshops and presentations.
  • Over 500 people attended the weeknight ‘special features’.
  • Over 2,000 people visited the St Kilda Town Hall for the Festival’s cultural hub weekend.

In 2006 we’re looking to make the St Kilda Writers’ Festival bigger and better. We will be drawing on our strengths to do this – the fact that ours is a grassroots festival accessible and available to everyone and that our approach is multidisciplinary. We are interested in every kind of writing and intend to go on as we started, ‘celebrating the word in all its forms’.
Our theme for 2006 is ‘Courage and Conviction’. This is in recognition of the risks that all writers take, be they creative, political, intellectual, financial, or just plain personal.

We invite everyone to hop on the community bus that is the St Kilda Writers’ Festival 2006 and join us as we hurtle around on a joyous tour of writing.

Alison Bicknell & Bo Svoronos
Co-Directors, St Kilda Writers’ Festival