Clunes Booktown 2011

Once again I was lucky enough to head out to the picturesque town of Clunes located only 15 minutes from my door. Booktown is held annually and consists of thousands of rare and second hand books, writers talks and street performances. This year I only bought about 10 books which was pretty good for me. I was however lucky enough to catch a couple of writers talks and my notes from these are below:

Writing Family, Peter Rose, Anne Deveson, Tara June Winch

AD - Wrote it 2 years after his death
PR - About brother who became a quadriplegic, written 1 year after his death (Brother, Uncles, Fathers all played for Collingwood, Father coached them)
ALL - Started from tragedies and deaths
AD - Help came from the most unlikely of places - the plumber!
PR - Sometimes books are over dramatised to draw in readers. Lots of woe. Not always that bad though. Hard to write memoir due to repercussions etc. But don't baulk at it, write it. Very liberating.
TJW - Characters are an amalgamation of the traits of different family members/friends.
AD/PR - People approached them thinking they were experts on schizophrenia/quadriplegia etc. as they had written about them in their books. Also having mental illness/disability in the family soon highlights those friends that are loyal.

Bob Hawke, Biography
I was lucky enough to hear Bob Hawke speak this year, last year it was Malcolm Fraser. Just so fantastic the array and calibre of guests they are drawing. Anyway, here's a bit of what Bob had to say, such a character:

Thinks Tony Abott is potentially dangerous as a future PM.
Good leadership is: capacity/willingness to listen; intelligence; readiness to take risks.
Doesn't think any international leaders stand out as fantastic. All are good - but not great.
A lot of politics is charades. No genuine debate if you already have the numbers.
No such thing as free education - it's who pays? Hence introduction of schemes like HECS.
In reflection he thinks his performance as PM was overall "pretty bloody good". But in hindsight could obviously improve in some areas.
Enabling people to make judgements on knowledge - biography/autobiography.
Today's big issues - climate change; economy; indigenous disadvantage.

Just had the most brilliant time there. Well worth going to!