Read all about it! WAM's back

Write Around the Murray kicks off this Wednesday and for the first time, it will be delivered online and live streamed free to YouTube and Facebook, to ensure lovers of fine stories can get their literary fix in a time of COVID-19.

The theme of the festival this year is Past Lives/Present Tense,  exploring voices and stories from the past, in tandem with contemporary storytelling.

Running from 9 to 13 September, Write Around the Murray brings together some of Australia’s best authors and storytellers in an approachable and friendly forum. It is the only literary festival in the Southern Riverina, and features exhibitions, an online poetry slam and insightful author talks and panels with Kate Grenville, Benjamin Law, Professor Clare Wright, Tony Birch and many more.

Highlights include:

A local storytellers’ panel (Somebody’s Story) featuring director Alyson Evans, documentary maker Helen Newman and author Aimee Chan, hosted by HotHouse Theatre Artistic Director and CEO Karla ConwayPanels Fathomable, Body Count and Animal Magnetism - addressing the environment and the toll of climate changeCriminal Types – an author panel featuring Emma Viskic and Nick Gadd discussing crime novels (fully AUSLAN-interpreted)An author talk with James Dunk. ‘Bedlam’, addresses the toll of mental illness in colonial Australia.

The festival will open on Wednesday 9 September, 11am at Albury LibraryMuseum with a Facebook Live launch of the Neighbourhood Project interactive story map.

Local theatre makers, Alyson Evans and Tahni Froudist, have collected stories from local residents, reflecting on the theme of home.

The stories are being shared and launched in an interactive map, showing the connectedness of the border community.