The Melbourne Writers Festival is underway this week, and First Nations writers are preparing to take centre-stage to share their work and explore the power of storytelling in our communities.
As guest curators writers Nardi Simpson and Daniel Browning have been pulling together some very special events.
Simpson, an acclaimed Yuwaalaraay musician and writer, has curated a panel of Blak writers to discuss their craft and creativity.
The panel, ‘Black Magic Women’, will feature Wiradjuri novelist, Anita Heiss, Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist Amy McQuire and British and Wergaia/Wemba Wemba singer-songwriter Alice Skye as they perform their work and sit down in conversation with Simpson at the Wheeler Centre on 10th May.
“The idea for the panel is to be filled with the deadliness of Blak women’s words,” Simpson told NITV.
Yuwaalaraay author of acclaimed novel Song of the Crocodile is one of the First Nations curators at this year's Melbourne Writers Festival. Source: Supplied
“They will be sharing work, but my intention is to honour and deepen connections that flow off the page,” said Simpson.
The panel is billed to be an exploration of the writers’ creative process across writing, music and performance and celebrate storytelling and community.
Simpson said she is “constantly enriched by Blak writers” and this panel was another chance to share a space with fellow storytellers.
“I want to sit at their feet and have it wash over me. These women - as it is with all our matriarchs - make us stronger by being who they are,” said Simpson.
Always looking for ways to practice connection, particularly celebrating the ways and words of Indigenous women, Simpson said she was excited by the idea of playing a part in curating sessions for the festival.
“When bringing your cultural, personal, and professional relationships into mainstream spaces you need to be able to ensure a safe, supportive and generous space for mob and also ensure ideas and approaches will be respected,” said Simpson.
Simpson will also be in conversation with Daniel James, speaking about her latest novel, The Belburd.
Simpson’s co-curator of the First Nations events at the festival is Bundjalung and Kullilli writer, journalist and broadcaster, Daniel Browning.
Browning will moderate the panel, ‘We Sharpen Our Axes Against the Hardest Stone’, an interrogation of whether adversity is the key to making great art.
Browning, currently the ABC’s Editor of Indigenous Radio, will be joined by award-winning Bardi Jawi author, poet and illustrator Bebe Oliver, Wiradjuri and Ngunnawal artist Dr Brook Garru Andrew and Gunnai/Kurnai, Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta essayist and screenwriter Nayuka Gorrie.
Other First Nations writers and events featured across the program include Ben Abbatangelo, Thomas Mayo, and Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts in a conversation on the way forward post-referendum; Yarn Bombs - an event bringing First Nations fiction and non-fiction writers to the stage to share their work; and Marcia Langton in a panel on Indigenous Art.
From Blak Magic Women, Simpson hopes audiences walk away with a renewed understanding.
"I hope audiences leave altered by the richness of their words, the resonance of their truth, and the joy of our connection."
Melbourne Writer’s Festival takes place from 8 - 11 May 2025.
