Denison and arts #3. Wayne Williams from the Democratic Labor Party

Wayne Williams is standing in Dension, for the Democratic Labor Party.

 Here, he discusses the DLP’s approach to arts and arts funding, his mentor the poet James McAuley and former Island editor Cassandra Pybus’ book about McAuley and where the DLP would take arts in Denison.

“I think you consider a nation great if it has achieved a high level of culture, “The artistic can be squeezed out of us through the pressures of time and work.
"If you look back through history, countries are less remembered for their military conquests than for their art. Flourishing civilisations are always those that have achieved a high level of culture.
“Art in its many forms may encourage joy, sadness, aesthetic appreciation through the beautiful and it may be through one line of verse that the soul finds consolation and courage to keep striving when perhaps faced with impossible odds.”

“The other thing is that we are handed God given talents that we should use to the best of our abilities. Our computer driven age and the pragmatic desire to consider what is useful in commercial terms often disadvantages the development of the arts.
"The problem with most political parties is that they consider arts very much down the scale, especially if budgets are hard pressed. Certain sacred cows that the government are reluctant to cut; unfortunately the arts is not one of them.

The DLP proposes a tax deduction and incentives by government for the arts. They would also encourage greater regional development in the arts, promoting and encouraging art in local communities. They also oppose the selling of indigenous art overseas, “what is ours ought to not go over there, I just don’t think it should go.”

While the DLP approves of an increase in funding for the arts they are also critical of some of the spending that has been done in the arts field. Wayne feels that one of the classic mistakes made in arts funding in recent years resulted in the book The Devil and James McAuley by former Island editor, Cassandra Pybus.

“This was a book that was subsidised by $84 000 from the Australian Research Council and I do not know by how much by the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board and by a visiting fellowship from LaTrobe University and the Australia Council also chipped in.
“What jumps immediately to the eye as you flick through is the slap dash research” Wayne goes on to elaborate on these mistakes.

It seems a strange book to generate a discussion around arts funding from, but  McAuley was a mentor to Wayne and “I am fairly criitical that a very large amount of money, nearly $100 000 was given to Cassandra to produce this work and it could have been more prudently done." James McAuley is Wayne’s favourite Tasmanian author – and he was also a good friend of his. He got him involved with the DLP by throwing him into a debate at the Hobart Town Hall when he was 21.

“I think the arts have to be very careful that they use the money wisely and in the public eye they are perceived that things are done well."

In terms of arts and health “If you look in the areas of mental health particularly, it is obviously an assistance issue but with pyschological counselling and with expressing themselves, the arts has always been a great contributor to mental health."

Wayne tends to read a lot of the political journals and tries to keep up to date with those things.  He also does a lot of spiritual reading.

Listen to the full interview here.

Arts and Culture in Denison #2 Jane Austin, ALP discusses Jane Austen

It's time for episode two! Here is Jane Austin, Denison candidate for the ALP talking about arts and culture and what Labor's approach may be. This episode also features 'When Atwood met Austin.'
You can listen to the full interview here.

Jane Austin has read some Jane Austen but she found herself wanting to give it a good hard edit. “I think she could have tightened that up a little bit,” – but a lovely moment arose on the campaign trail when she was door knocking, a little old lady in her eighties disappeared soon after she had opened the door and came back with a little purse. A donation, she said for the book club Jane Austin was raising money for.
    While she says she is a "bit of a sucker for a happy ending," her number one writing heroine is Margaret Atwood. "When I was at uni doing Women's Studies and I was lucky to be studying Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tail when Fullers, a local bookstore hosted an 'in conversation' with the Canadian author.
"There I was with a copy of The Handmaid’s Tale, which is a fantastic work, I’ll never forget, she looked at me, read the name on the sticky note 'sign this for Jane Austin' and she just looked straight up at me and said in a lovely Canadian drawl “oh my gawd, I’ve met the first Jane Austin," and I just blushed.”
  In terms of arts policies and Labor - Jane acknowledges that while the ALP have overseen the creation of the first National Cultural Policy in years, that there is not yet a clear arts mandate if Labor were to be elected. Jane sees the government as an enabler of the arts.
    "In terms of policies in my hip pocket, I can’t bring any out, but I think that, as Mona has shown, there is such interest and such diversity in terms of what art is and discussion around art. I have had a number of discussions with people about what it role is, it is obviously a great economic boost for Tasmania but what is it doing? We are sitting here arguing and debating art and isn’t that a great thing?" She feels that we could place more emphasis on writing and the industries around it.
    A frustrated writer herself, mainly of one act plays - and she does have a novel in her bottom drawer, Jane believes it is important that we use the written word to capture who we are.
     With Jane’s background in mental health, promotion, discussion and policy it was interesting to hear her thoughts on the importance of creative practice and health.
     She belives that with mental health, the arts should be a therapeutic mechanism to explore recovery. “There is a very strong connection between arts and health and when we are investing in the health sector and health interventions it is really important in mental health promotion and  prevention to use community art projects to bond communities, connect communities."

And again - here's the link for the podcasted interview

Arts and culture in Denison (numero uno) Anna Reynolds

So who is actually talking arts and culture in the lead up to the election? Apart from a tired stoush (he said + she said + denial) I've heard very little about arts policy - and nothing from the local candidates in Denison. So, I set out to interview all of the House of Reps candidates for Denison - and  you can listen to the first of these discussions, with Anna Reynolds, Greens candidate here.

Anna saves novel reading for holidays, satisfied with the likes of Guardian Weekly, which offers her a good sense of what’s happening in the world, a fix of news, science and the arts, and something that there is actually time to read in a busy campaign.

Christine Milne, Green leader announced a regional arts initiative a few months ago. This would fund regional arts and cultural development officers in local councils in regional areas - and yes, Denison is considered regional. It is a $10 million per year policy and it would also assist artists to get fees to help stage their exhibitions  -and therefore to allow them to focus on their creative practice. The idea of a living wage provision for artists has been discussed but at this stage it is not clear how it would be administered.

There has been no discussion about the practice of writing within this policy (yet).

In Denison the Greens recognise the need for places for young people to do street art – Anna specifically mentioned the intercity cycleway that runs from the city of Hobart, around the water, through Moonah out to Mona. “a place for young people to do street art, we could have a bit of a hub".

"There is such potential in Hobart, not just to make the arts a fulfilling part of our lives but a big driver for the economy,
  "I think we need leadership to show people why and how this can happen.We should learn lessons from (the city of) Bilbao – and how it has thrived from their proximity to a great museum."

Regarding creativity and health policy – nothing has yet been set out by the Greens - Anna acknowledges that "there is an underrecognition of the great value of the creative arts for our comunities and a feeling of fulfilment and the Greens want to do what they can to support this."

Can you can guess who Anna's favourite Tasmanian writer is?

Again! The podcast link!
Anna's website is here.

 

James Boyce discusses 'Van Diemen's Land' 2008.

The full interview was first aired on Edge Radio on March 3, 2008. You can listen to it here.


'Van Diemen's Land' by James Boyce
9781863954914 pb
Black Inc, 2008

James won the Tasmanian Book Prize for Van Diemen's Land and again this year for '1835 The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia'. He is erudite and thoughtful and the subject matter, the first 30 or so years of white settlement and the cultural exchanges that were occurring, is resonant in his hands.
  A few quotes below, but please listen to the interview, it is quite long - but I've also split it into two shorter parts, part one here and part two here.

"What I hope for with my book is that it is an aid to contemplation, where we can sit and wonder what it is to live here and that can enrich as we consider better ways of living in the future."

Henry Melville wrote 'The History of Van Diemen's Land' in the 1830s, pointed out that for the first two decades there was a surprising degree of co-existence.
    “Most people know about a bloke called George Augustus Robinson, who went around Van Diemen's Land, he was the ambassador for Governor George Arthur. He went around negotiating with the aborigines during the final year of the war and there was a negotiated settlement where the aborigines moved to Flinders Island. It was pretty clear that the aborigines understood that it would be a temporary removal and that they will return
“why, after the war has ended did removals continue from the West Coast?
“this was not a community in decline, why were they removed?
It’s a terrible, dark and largely unknown chapter in Tasmania’s history."

     "What we have at the Derwent site of settlement is that within 2 years of settlement we have convicts able to live free and independently in the bush all year around possessing nothing more than a hunting dog. Even guns were irrelevant to this. The key to survival was a hunting dog.
    "Forester kangaroo and emu – these two foods in particular became the staple diet of the early Britons - it was a time of Napoleonic wars in France and very few supply ships came to colony, Sydney didn’t have food to spare and it was really left to fend for itself.”

    “They soon turned to native animal skin for their clothing and pretty soon they adapted aboriginal designs and learnt how to build overnight shelters very quickly and later, stronger huts. So basically, all of the essentials of life they were able to access from the bush around them. If you think of the poor of Britain you can imagine how tough life was for them in the early 19th century. Fresh meat was a very occasional luxury and even wheat, bread was very expensive. Genuine material poverty - so for the convicts that came here to be able to access the essentials of life – food, clothing, shelter, independently was an enormous boon”

   "I don’t want Windshuttle, who clearly used this island, used it and manipulated it I believe, as part of their national political campaign about the present. He wasn’t really honouring Tasmania’s past he wasn’t really interested in defining the truth about here and I didn’t really want my book, or indeed Tasmanian historiography to be shaped by this, you know, I wanted us to  be able to reclaim the agenda. The history wars debate wasn’t helping us here, it was taking us back – not even back, but to places we’d never been…”
    "My understanding of what it means to really belong and have a depth of connection to a place and have a secure or mature sense of home is that we’re always more open, not less open to people from all over the world."

The Tasmanian Literary Prizes were announced tonight. James Boyce won the Tasmania Book Prize, the biggest pool, for his wonderful history 1835, Rohan Wilson the Margaret Scott Prize for The Roving Party and Katherine Johnson won The University of Tasmania Prize for her unpublished manuscript Kubla. As a judge (a satisfying, time consuming and difficult role), I was asked to speak. Firstly, I spoke about the new prize, a prize for unpublished manuscripts, The University of Tasmania Prize, which has formerly been awarded to the best book by a Tasmanian publisher:
  "The University of Tasmania prize has, in the past, been awarded to the best book by a Tasmanian publisher and while the opportunity to offer a prize to an unpublished manuscript is welcome it is sad to see the pool of our publishers dwindle to such a level that it is deemed too small to offer a prize– especially in the face of international mergers between the likes of Random House and Penguin – who will soon have around 25% of all of the book trade internationally. For writers, this means less publishing opportunities - and for the reader it potentially means the loss of the special, effulgent work that is often picked up by small or niche publishers.
 That said, it is fantastic that we are finally offering a prize for an unpublished manuscript  and acknowledging writers in the earlier stages of their career.
  Even with the strictures on entry  - and I quote “Writers of theatrical works, literary fiction and non-fiction for adults or children, poetry and graphic novels who have had a limited number of works published have been encouraged to enter” there were a lot of people who entered – and indeed the manuscripts were across a diverse range of genres. That proves a challenge, to put it mildly for the judges.
  To be involved in the process of judging a manuscript reminded me of the importance of the editing process -both self editing and professional structural, sub and copy editing. It isn’t quaint to include grammatical clangers in your work, but the inclusion of these clangers did factor in to the judging process.
  So, how do you judge a poem against a play, a narrative story against a piece of pointy end literary fiction? In a consultative, reasoned and deductive way.  It was a pleasure working with Ross (Honeywill) and Lisa (Fletcher) to reach these outcomes – thank you.
  The manuscript prize provides Tasmanian writers with an unprecedented opportunity. $5000 for an unpublished work is not only money, it can also translate into time to write, an editor, an agent or a faster internet connection to send their work off to potential publishers. The winner will have the opportunity to label their manuscript as a winner already – and I expect that this will translate to a tangible publishing opportunity.
  It would not hurt in future to refine the definition of ‘emerging’ – and to open it to unpublished authors, not just those with published work already under their proverbial belt. To limit or refine the categorisation is understandable in terms of reducing the work of the judges – but having been part of this process I still call for it to acknowledge the truly emerging writer. To have even reached  the stage of having a completed manuscript can sometimes be a lifetime of work for a writer.
  I congratulate Leigh (Swinbourne), Katherine (Johnson) and Ben (Walter) on their work – and indeed I congratulate everyone who submitted a manuscript. I wish you all writerly satisfaction – and I wish all us readers more of the pleasure, challenge and inspiration you writers provide us.

Thank you."

  Next I spoke, alongside my fellow Judge Ross Honeywill about the judging process. I would have liked to begin with a bit of literary history - and my notes began with noting that the first novel published in what is now known as Australia was, in fact, written by Henry Savery, transported to Van Diemen's Land for forgery. However, the premier beat me to it so I fell back to the fact that not only was the first Australian novel published in Tasmania, but the first novel published by woman was also by a Tasmanian, Mary Grimwade. Then I continued -
  "Over the last few centuries this writing and reading culture has remained strong and in my view is still thriving. We all know how transformative a good book can be and it is often noted that Tasmania has a higher number of readers and writers per capita.
   To be able to offer recognition and support for literature in Tasmania is so important –not just through something as high profile as our literary awards but through editorial support, publication, promotion, ideas sharing, workshops, literary festivals, smaller writing (and reading) groups as well.
  This benefits not only the writers but also readers – and the flow on effects to the community as a whole, while somewhat difficult to quantify for policy makers are tangible. Proud to be Tasmanian was the ‘Love this’ slogan on all the stickers when I was growing up – but I reckon it should be, at the risk of being trite ‘proud to read Tasmanian’
   Both Ross and I have noted the challenges inherent in choosing ‘the best book’ out of such diverse genres, and how this is not the best way to showcase the diverse range of literary culture in Tasmania.  History, natural history, biography and fiction are some genres that have enough books in each category to offer a separate prize. Though – to split up the pool of prize money may prove a challenge – so! Who has a business that could benefit from a gorgeous affiliation with Tasmania’s literary culture? Who wants their name on an intelligent, informative and exciting prize (or magazine, I thought to myself)? Just a thought…."

Tasmanian Literary Prizes 2013

The Tasmanian Literary Prizes were announced tonight. James Boyce won the Tasmania Book Prize, the biggest pool, for his wonderful history 1835, Rohan Wilson the Margaret Scott Prize for The Roving Party and Katherine Johnson won The University of Tasmania Prize for her unpublished manuscript Kubla. As a judge (a satisfying, time consuming and difficult role), I was asked to speak. Firstly, I spoke about the new prize, a prize for unpublished manuscripts, The University of Tasmania Prize, which has formerly been awarded to the best book by a Tasmanian publisher:
  "The University of Tasmania prize has, in the past, been awarded to the best book by a Tasmanian publisher and while the opportunity to offer a prize to an unpublished manuscript is welcome it is sad to see the pool of our publishers dwindle to such a level that it is deemed too small to offer a prize– especially in the face of international mergers between the likes of Random House and Penguin – who will soon have around 25% of all of the book trade internationally. For writers, this means less publishing opportunities - and for the reader it potentially means the loss of the special, effulgent work that is often picked up by small or niche publishers.
 That said, it is fantastic that we are finally offering a prize for an unpublished manuscript  and acknowledging writers in the earlier stages of their career.
  Even with the strictures on entry  - and I quote “Writers of theatrical works, literary fiction and non-fiction for adults or children, poetry and graphic novels who have had a limited number of works published have been encouraged to enter” there were a lot of people who entered – and indeed the manuscripts were across a diverse range of genres. That proves a challenge, to put it mildly for the judges.
  To be involved in the process of judging a manuscript reminded me of the importance of the editing process -both self editing and professional structural, sub and copy editing. It isn’t quaint to include grammatical clangers in your work, but the inclusion of these clangers did factor in to the judging process.
  So, how do you judge a poem against a play, a narrative story against a piece of pointy end literary fiction? In a consultative, reasoned and deductive way.  It was a pleasure working with Ross (Honeywill) and Lisa (Fletcher) to reach these outcomes – thank you.
  The manuscript prize provides Tasmanian writers with an unprecedented opportunity. $5000 for an unpublished work is not only money, it can also translate into time to write, an editor, an agent or a faster internet connection to send their work off to potential publishers. The winner will have the opportunity to label their manuscript as a winner already – and I expect that this will translate to a tangible publishing opportunity.
  It would not hurt in future to refine the definition of ‘emerging’ – and to open it to unpublished authors, not just those with published work already under their proverbial belt. To limit or refine the categorisation is understandable in terms of reducing the work of the judges – but having been part of this process I still call for it to acknowledge the truly emerging writer. To have even reached  the stage of having a completed manuscript can sometimes be a lifetime of work for a writer.
  I congratulate Leigh (Swinbourne), Katherine (Johnson) and Ben (Walter) on their work – and indeed I congratulate everyone who submitted a manuscript. I wish you all writerly satisfaction – and I wish all us readers more of the pleasure, challenge and inspiration you writers provide us.

Thank you.

  Next I spoke, alongside my fellow Judge Ross Honeywill about the judging process. I would have liked to begin with a bit of literary history - and my notes began with noting that the first novel published in what is now known as Australia was, in fact, written by Henry Savery, transported to Van Diemen's Land for forgery. However, the premier beat me to it so I fell back to the fact that not only was the first Australian novel published in Tasmania, but the first novel published by woman was also by a Tasmanian, Mary Grimwade. Then I continued -
  Over the last few centuries this writing and reading culture has remained strong and in my view is still thriving. We all know how transformative a good book can be and it is often noted that Tasmania has a higher number of readers and writers per capita.
   To be able to offer recognition and support for literature in Tasmania is so important –not just through something as high profile as our literary awards but through editorial support, publication, promotion, ideas sharing, workshops, literary festivals, smaller writing (and reading) groups as well.
  This benefits not only the writers but also readers – and the flow on effects to the community as a whole, while somewhat difficult to quantify for policy makers are tangible. Proud to be Tasmanian was the ‘Love this’ slogan on all the stickers when I was growing up – but I reckon it should be, at the risk of being trite ‘proud to read Tasmanian’
   Both Ross and I have noted the challenges inherent in choosing ‘the best book’ out of such diverse genres, and how this is not the best way to showcase the diverse range of literary culture in Tasmania.  History, natural history, biography and fiction are some genres that have enough books in each category to offer a separate prize. Though – to split up the pool of prize money may prove a challenge – so! Who has a business that could benefit from a gorgeous affiliation with Tasmania’s literary culture? Who wants their name on an intelligent, informative and exciting prize (or magazine, I thought to myself)? Just a thought….

Forty Degrees South Short Story Anthology launch speech

 ‘40 Degrees South’ Short Story Anthology – launch speech by the irrepressible John Hale, winner of the inaugural competition in 2010.

"Firstly, thank you to Chris Champion and to semi-retired Admiral Warren Boyles of the good ship Forty Degrees South for the opportunity to launch yet another fine anthology. And thank you, as always, to Chris and Janet for so often providing this maze of possibilities and wonders.  And congratulations to Kate Esser for her beautifully crafted, poignant and finally exultant winning story, ‘Crossing Water’.


John Hale, 2010 Kate Esser, 2012, Chris Chamption, editor

It so happens that I’ve been to two short story writing workshops recently, which have convinced me of at least one thing: it’s far easier to talk about short stories than it is to actually write them.
And that’s why this latest publication is so important, giving the opportunity, as it does, to known and not-so-known writers to put their works ‘out there’/ in here, whether or not they were included between these covers. As Leigh Swinburne says, with his co-judge Rachel Edwards, “We had to leave out some excellent work”.

Back in the days when kindle meant to awaken desire – as  in ‘Kindle, kindle me’ she cried and he kindled her’, and when an e-reader was a recognised developmental stage of Early Childhood Education;  back when, according to my 1966 left-handed dictionary, George Bernard Shaw – a prolific, some might say prolix, writer (his plays consist mainly of stage directions and long marginal discourses on the few words the actors are allowed to speak) – back then, Shaw, with his tongue in his cheek, defined writers  as “purveyors of amusement for people who have not wit enough to entertain themselves".
But surely, we’re all internal writers, as we tell ourselves, ask, surmise, invent, rationalise, reject and elaborate our own stories and stories of others in our heads.
So I ask myself, what makes a short story succeed as these succeed?  Their narrative styles vary widely from ‘author as god-like omniscient observer’ to a created ‘I’ talking to a created ‘you’, and all frameworks in between.

I’ve come to the probably obvious conclusion (though I hadn’t highlighted it for myself before) that they are all about coping in one way or another – “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, that stuff – coping perhaps to the point of personal catharsis in the lives of the created characters - even, in one story, coping with turning into a fish. 
Speaking personally, some story writing can be cathartic for the writer as well.
Here are some widely ranging ‘coping’ situations from these stories:

*the strength and determination of motherhood to feed and care for her newborn in the face of the implacable and unpredictable forces of nature;
*the determination for selfhood as a painted man struggles out of the prison of his wooden picture frame to return to his first love – the whole story an extended metaphor;
*the need to create a compatible home for oneself in the face of other loyalties;
*the necessity of reconciling unexpected poverty with a lived life of dedication;
*the interplay of one person’s idea of the idyllic being another’s one of  embarrassing futility;
*coping with a mental instability knowing it, at lucid moments, to be a mental aberration;
*a docile and ingratiating wife finding strength and metamorphosis - in a severed onion;
*finding the ability to create through the quiet presence of another;
*allowing life to flow by without recrimination or despair;

This collection is a beautifully woven, sparkling tapestry of human endeavour and foible in ninety pages.  The stories signify and reflect the wondrous  – often quietly wondrous – ways in which we go about tangling and untangling our lives.
And in a sense, the writer is the last person to know.

I remember when the Hobart theatre company Polygon performed the play ‘Wallflowering’ at the Peacock. The female playwright, Peta Murray, came from Sydney to see a performance, and afterwards she said to the two actors, “I didn’t know I wrote that”.
I believe that’s also true of short stories - that meaning is in the reader to discover - personally.

To revert to those short story workshops for a moment, in both was emphasised the importance of the opening line – the bait, the lure, to encourage the reader to say ‘yes, please’.

I expect you’re aware of that old formula for finding out how many pages of a novel you should read before deciding to keep going or not.  ( If you’re under 50 you add your age to 50; if you’re over 50 you subtract your age from one hundred.  (That means I only have to read 16.))
But what about short stories?  For me, reading the first line is very important, particularly if I don’t know what’s going on.  The uncertainty is a great stimulus.

Here’s a pretend first line example:
Given the inclement weather I was somewhat surprised to see His Reverence walking through Salamanca market.
Given the inclement weather I was somewhat surprised to see His Reverence walking through Salamanca market completely naked.

But much better - here are some opening lines from this treasure-trove:
It’s cold the day the first eggs hatch.
The old man had felt restless of late.
I hurt. I open my bleary eyes to a grey street and lift my cheek from a wet gutter.
The first thing I noticed was how rough his hands were.
I am pale, with long thin hands that swim in the air when I talk.
It was him. She was sure of it. She could hear Led Zeppelin.
My grandmother was born in a horse and cart. (That’s a story I found difficult to read through my tears.)

In all, then, a magnificent choir of voices over the ten stories – “Here I feed on ambrosia, drink nothing but nectar, breathe incense only, and walk on flowers”.
I wish I’d said that – I didn’t – it was the philosopher David Hume 248 years ago speaking of Paris.
But it fits these stories, and I have the greatest pleasure and honour in launching the ‘Forty Degrees South Short Story Anthology’ for 2012.
Thank you."

Forty South runs an annual short story competition. Enter here.