George Benlian on movies, books and few other things

The Sydney Writers Festival is the annual cultural rendez-vous not to be missed

Another year of the Sydney Writers Festival means another collection of great rendez-vous between numerous writers and their readers. Curiosity is a good thing. It allows you to take a journey without knowing exactly what to expect. The rich program of the festival facilitates the individual to take this journey and a careful selection can only be beneficial.

Like every year, several international big names make the visit to our shores. They bring with them highly anticipated moments shared with the audience. As Peter Carey mentioned in his closing address, literature can be a powerful tool to a more captivating life. The presence of perhaps the most respected living australian writer who lives in New York for now two decades is an indication of how this country has complexity issues when it comes to artistic talents. A successful Australian artist can have close connections with Australia however the choice of living and working abroad is only a natural and necessary thing to do.

At writers festivals, there are always one or two episodes that remain in our mind. This year one came thanks to a Lebanese female writer by the name of Nada Awar Jarrar. Her latest novel "A good land" talks about three individuals from different age group and backgrounds. This well spoken intellectual who has an Australian mother and a Lebanese father shared her affections for a country small in size but huge in tragic past. It is difficult to dissociate the war with the writings of Lebanese authors. After all, conflicts of the past and present are a source of inspiration to express feelings that could be less intrusive in writing than in any other form.

Eric Lax is best known as the biographer of Woody Allen. He has written three books on him, the latest being a conversation covering the rich career of my favorite New York filmmaker. Lax is also an intellectual who has a thing or two to say about faith, the story of penicillin and life in a big hospital. My next reading will be the book of conversation with Woody Allen - an ideal book to devour if you are on your way to New York.

Catherine Millet is becoming a regular. She was here in 2003 for "The sexual life of Catherine M."- a mega success with five million copies sold all over the world. She is back with "Jealousy"  - a book of reflection about whether a libertine like Millet has the right to be jealous of her life partner being unfaithful. The sixty two years old parisian seems rather conservative at first view. Sex does sell but i have dubious views whether Catherine Millet intimacy is a subject to explore.

The polemicist Christopher Hitchens is here for his memoirs called "Hitch-22". Prior to this festival, i didn't know about this English-American author and journalist who frequently expresses his views via a variety of media sources and lectures. Forty years of observation, polemic and criticism have given Hitchens the reputation of a public intellectual.

Talking about politics, the writers festival at least here in Sydney has every year a number of politicians and political journalists as guest speakers. In 2010, the dialog between the ex-prime minister Paul Keating and the wall street journal chief economist David Wessel was a key event that i missed out. I also missed out on Tony Abbott, Kristina Keneally and Julia Gillard.

Back to the international big names, this year we had the pleasure of listening to John Ralston Saul, Lionel Shriver and Colm Toibin. Three writers from different horizons: the Canadian Ralston Saul apart being a well respected novelist and essayist is also the president of International Pen; the american Lionel Shriver who calls UK her adoptive home for some years now and the irish Colm Toibin who has written a compelling book about good prospects in Brooklyn in the 1950's

The main discovery of this year festival comes nevertheless from an art historian, Sarah Thornton. "Seven days in the Art world" was named one of the best art books of 2008 by the Sunday Times, the Independent and the New York Times. I haven't read it yet but i am convinced that Thornton has written this book also considering readers like myself that don't know much about the subject but who like to know more without being bored with theoretical jargon. Reading here and there few lines from the book, i can see how captivating this exercise could be. 

   

 

 

The Melbourne Writers Festival Circa 2009

Unlike the Sydney Writers Festival, i need to travel by airplane for about ninety minutes in order to attend the Melbourne Writers Festival. The ten days packed series of literary events finished yesterday. As usual it remains an impossible task to attend all events as all day long simultaneous sessions are taking place in and around the Federation Square. Still, by making careful choices, the result can be overwhelming and stimulus for our brain.

I did miss out the opening keynote address by Bernhard Schlink entitled "Guilt About The Past". The author of "The Reader" - a highly successful book which was recently made into a movie starring Kate Winslet, is well placed to discuss concepts of forgiving, condemning and reconciliation and challenges facing literary representations of the past. I would have loved being part of such a rare and important event of this caliber especially this well respected intellectual is known to be a discreet thinker. His visit in Sydney for a lecture at the City Recital Hall was an examination whether fiction can be dealt with sensitive historical subjects or perhaps create an intense emotion that can be seen as a crucial step of living a truer and more direct experience. I will be watching the movie soon and will for sure revisit the subject in a near future.

When i saw Antony Beevor at the french literary program "La grande Librairie", i was very much impressed by this rigorous and charismatic military historian who has published several books about important historical episodes of the last century. In "D-dAY" it is the battle of Normandy in 1944 that is meticulously depicted despite the fact that the same subject was treated numerous times before. Beevor is a master history teller that not only brings out important aspects of the twentieth century but also makes this task approachable to the general readers. I saw Beevor in Sydney during a talk about the hidden parts of otherwise the most well known day of the Second World War known as D-day.

The Second World War is the most written subject of the last sixty plus years. Both the irishman John Boyne and the Italian Vincenzo Cerami were behind two poignant stories of survival in the most horrific times of the last century. Boyne wrote "The Boy in the stripped pyjamas" about an unlikely friendship between a german kid and a jew kid and the devastating consequences of that bond while Cerami collaborated with Roberto Benigni on the screenplay of "La vita e bella" one of the most heartbreaking movies of recent years.

Young women writers are often invited to share their stories, real or fiction. Nikki Gemmell became an international best selling author in 2004 with "The bride striped bare" originally published anonymously. A book about sex viewed from a female perspective being an ideal candidate for a litterary scandal. Since then, Gemmell pursues her writing career with other fictions including her latest novel called "The book of rapture". This is another provocative tale about trust in families. A somehow grim look overall that will compel the reader for a total follow up with future books from one of the most successful english writers of the decade. Let's not forget, Nikki was born in Australia in 1966 and now lives in London as a full time writer and regular contributor of the BBC.

Speaking about successful female writers, M J Hyland is another respected names making her debut in 2003 with "How the lights gets in". This was followed by "Carry me down" in 2006 short listed for the Man Booker prize. Her latest, simply called "This is how" is about a man lost in social complexity. Hyland is far to be an easy writer. In contrary, she is austere with her character and can leave some readers disturb.

I always find a successful writers festival as a medium to enrich our own tastes and explore our sensibilities through words and ideas. I always describe events of this genre as communion of ideas and once again, a sense of inspiration is felt throughout the days.

The highlights for me were various sessions with Marie Darrieussecq. However a separate post will cover that shortly.