Program announced for 2019 Blak & Bright festival

The program for this year’s Blak & Bright First Nations Literary Festival, to be held in Melbourne from 5-8 September, has been announced.

More than 60 First Nations writers and storytellers will feature in the festival, which celebrates cultural storytelling, ‘from oral stories to epic novels, spoken word to splendid song, playwriting, poetry and the relearning of traditional languages’.

Featured artists include Ali Cobby Eckermann, Ellen van Neerven, Tony Birch, Claire G Coleman, Nayuka Gorrie and Evelyn Araluen.

Highlights of the program include a keynote ‘Smoke Whispers Sorrow’ by Tony Birch at the Wheeler Centre performance space; a reading of a selection of children’s books by actor and playwright Maurial Spearim at the Ngarara Place garden; a lyrical response to Victoria’s treaty process by Ali Cobby Eckermann, Jim Everett, Lidia Thorpe, Marie Munkara and Ellen van Neerven; and The Bogong, the festival’s closing night event and a celebration and sharing of crafted spoken word pieces from master storytellers.

The inaugural Blak & Bright festival was held in February 2016. To see the full program, visit the Blak & Bright festival website here.

Tags: Indigenous

Category: Festivals Local news