Flem/Ken Writers Festival turns the page to local stories

Kicking off on Friday, July 17 with an already sold-out dinner, the brand-new Flem/Ken Writers Festival aims to celebrate the literary depth of the community and offer fresh and inclusive conversations and cultural connections.

At a time when many people feel “stretched by the bare necessities of modern life” literature lover Amy Faram wanted to create an opportunity for the community to slow down, come together and have new cultural encounters and “curious conversations”.

These can “reinforce your sense of place in the world and remind you that there's possibly more good than bad out there, when you might not always feel that way,” the Flem/Ken Writers Festival organiser told North West City News.

She also wanted to support her neighbourhood’s “high per-capita rate of resident writers” and show her young teenage kids that “that sort of creative life is happening here”.

“A little festival that sort of draws them out” would be a great way to do it, she thought.

A few months later, an impressive lineup was in place for the winter writers’ weekend, which will revolve around the Flem Ken Bowling Club.

Local and near-local luminaries, including author Helen Garner, historian and political scientist Jenny Hocking and award-winning novelists Tony Birch, Katherine Brabon and Murray Middleton, will take part in events exploring “neighbourhood and personhood”, “perspectives in story telling” and the legal battle to release “the Palace letters”.

There will be sessions on using public records to bring stories to life and on writing and appreciating poetry, while Footscray-based outfit 100 Story Building is running fiction workshops for kids.

An “enchanting” show by The Village Square featuring live music and “stories of love, loss, misfortune and mirth” will be the Saturday night attraction, while a blues poetry slam with the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society and slam poet Mo Sudi will close out the festival on Sunday afternoon.

For Katherine Brabon, who rediscovered the “small town feel” of her early years in the country when she moved to Flemington five years ago, the idea of being able to walk to the festival and join events with writers she has seen at local cafes is a novel and exciting prospect.

Winner of the Vogel’s Literary Award in 2016 for her book The Memory Artist, set in Russia, and the People’s Choice NSW Premier’s Literary Award for her 2021 novel The Shut Ins about the isolated hikikomori in Japan, the young author is a keen observer of place and its implications.

Her latest work, Partum, a novella set to be published by Ultimo Press in December, features Flemington in “a closely considered way” through the lens of a character “very much tied to their suburb”.

Katherine’s Saturday afternoon event with novelist Laura McPhee-Browne is set to explore location, among other things.

“We've both written about Melbourne, but we've also both written a lot about other locations,” she said.

Laura’s latest book, Worry Doll, “beautifully brings to life Melbourne and also some locations in New Zealand,” with “the very evocative atmosphere” contributing to its themes.

“I think we both like to explore identity, relationships with the body, even how place can impact and shape us,” she said.

Amy says local businesses have warmly embraced the festival initiative and the City of Melbourne has provided a small grant but most support received so far has been of a material nature, meaning organisers have put up the money to cover its costs.

“I felt like even in these tough times some of us had some disposable income to spend on something that we think is important,” she said.

“We think we’ll recover those costs, and we're looking at getting there.

“We still need to sell a few more tickets and T-shirts, but I think we'll get there, and I think it'll be a really great weekend.”

For more information: flemkenwritersfestival.org •