Interview: Lisa Dempster, CEO and director of Melbourne Writers Festival

Wednesday, 31 July 2013 Books+Publishing

This year’s Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is fast-approaching (22 August to 1 September). New CEO and director Lisa Dempster spoke to Andrew Wrathall about the program highlights and how MWF is supporting local literary talent.

What do you anticipate will be the highlights of this year’s festival?
It’s too early to tell! But I really think one of the memorable parts of the festival this year will be our new festival hub, upstairs at Beer Deluxe at Federation Square. It’s open from morning to late at night, and we’ve got some great events programmed in there, so I’m sure it will be the place to be in August.

What sessions or which authors do you think will attract the big crowds?
Our keynotes are all selling very fast, so we know already that Boris Johnson, Tavi Gevinson, New York storytelling group The Moth and Anne Summers are big drawcards for our audience. There is also a lot of interest in the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference, which is happening across one huge day at the festival, and the London Review of Books delegation is going off. But, really, although having mega events is fun, events that are smaller in scope or size are just as important. I really hope that anyone who picks up a program will find something in it that appeals to them—if that happens, I’ll be happy.

What about your personal picks? Which authors are you most looking forward to hearing talk about their work?
I don’t like to play favourites … but there are few events in the program I’m particularly looking forward to. One is Jay Griffiths and Robyn Davidson talking about the concept of wildness, and the other is the bike slide night with Bike Snob NYC, Bridie O’Donnell and Tom Doig. I’m also really stoked about the Bookwallah downunder tour—it has been a huge event to pull together and I think it’s going to be so fun to be a part of.

Is there a particular theme or inspiration for this year’s festival?
Our program this year once again encourages our audience to ‘enquire within’. We are presenting four major streams within the festival: Literature—the power of stories; Future Australia—identity and politics; Exploring the World—travel, science and anthropology; and Creative Lives—digital impacts. Plenty to explore!

As director of the Emerging Writers Festival you curated a festival that attracted a large number of young festival-goers, and also embraced digital programming. Will you attempt to do the same at MWF?
We are moving more into the digital space and have big plans cooking for 2014 and beyond. This year we are experimenting with some digital elements, such as live-streaming events, and we are increasingly active in the social media space also. I think Twitter is key for a festival, as it encourages and facilitates conversation, which is what the MWF is all about, so we will be engaging in that space right across the festival. We’re also running a creative project right across the festival; check out #endlessstory when the festival opens, and of course don’t forget our festival hashtag #mwf13!

How would you respond to critics who argue that the festival should spend more of its resources promoting Australian culture?
I firmly believe it is the role of the festival to support and promote Australian talent and the local industry. This year 20% of our artists are coming from overseas, which of course means the bulk of the program is made up of Australians. It’s a balancing act, between trying to support local writers and publishers, while also making sure that Melbourne is a part of a global discussion. We also do a lot behind the scenes to promote our brilliant literary talent, such as encouraging our international artists to attend the festival while they are here and hosting networking events, and thanks to Australia Council funding, we are able to financially support Australian writers appearing in international writers’ festivals. Our future digital plans will mean taking MWF to a global audience, which hopefully means that more people around the world will get to experience our great literary culture.

You’ve travelled to many overseas festivals. What inspiration have these festivals given you for MWF?
I get really inspired by being at international writers’ festivals, but it’s kind of an overall inspiration rather than looking at individual things to bring back to Australia. I actually think that Aussie writers’ festivals are very innovative and experimental, especially in terms of variety of events (ie not just panels), opening up discussions and digital engagement. And I think that each festival reflects its hometown, so even if something works well somewhere it might not be replicable here. That said, I do look for new angles and seek out unusual experiences that inspire me or discussions that will introduce me to a new writer, genre or perspective. Being overseas opens me up to meeting new writers and getting a sense of what conversations are happening globally—and also reminds me what it’s like to be an audience member, which is vital!

Category: Features