Image via Writers Week
When Adelaide Writers Week was cancelled, it left a novel-sized hole in our hearts and in the city’s cultural calendar.
Now the local literacy community has stepped up to fill that space with a new festival, running in the week that was dedicated to writers, February 28 to March 5. But don’t be mistaken, this is not Writers’ Week, and it does not seek to replace it.
Constellations has been intentionally shaped to not replicate the event. The idea was built from the community, by writers, booksellers, publishers and readers who didn’t want the moment to pass quietly.
“After the cancellation of Writers’ Week this year, we were all pretty heartbroken and disappointed in the way that that played out,” said local author Jennifer Mills. “A group of us got together pretty quickly and started talking about what we wanted to do as a response.”
The week will be full of yet-to-be-announced activities and events across multiple Adelaide venues to create a space of connection. Bookshops, libraries, schools and other venues and community groups across both Adelaide and the rest of the state are encouraged to register events and get involved.
“Putting something like this together in six weeks is a ridiculous undertaking,” she said. “But the groundswell of support has been incredible.”
The loss was felt particularly by writers who had been preparing to take part. “It’s a big event on the books calendar every year,” Jennifer said. “There was a lot of programming that we were really excited about, and we were really sad when that was lost.”
“While we can’t recreate it, we can offer some opportunities, particularly to local authors and debut authors.”
It what was meant to be a Writers Week first, an entire day was dedicated to poetry. “We were going to call it Poetry Day on the Green,” poetry curator Mike Ladd said.
“Instead, for Constellations, I’ll be hosting a big reading at Adelaide Town Hall featuring Ali Cobby Eckermann, Natalie Harkin, John Coetzee, Arantza Garcia, Peter Goldsworthy, Jelena Dinic and Heather Taylor Johnson, who’ll be reading from their own work as well as from poets around the world who have been suppressed and censored.”
Friendly Street Poets will also have a panel, discussing the history of Friendly Street, which is the longest-running community poetry event in the Southern Hemisphere.
Further key event dates will be announced in the coming weeks, including autonomously curated First Nations, children’s and young adult programming. All events will be free or donation-based, in keeping with the spirit of Writers’ Week.
The name itself reflects the structure of the festival. “That was Natalie Harkin, the poet, who came up with that name,” Jennifer said. “It was in reference to a decentralised way of organising, and everyone really liked the image.”
Writers’ Week was canned amid controversy over the decision to withdraw the invitation of Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah. The new board has subsequently apologised to Dr Abdel-Fattah and invited her to speak in 2027.
Constellations festival
When: February 28 to March 5.
Where: Multiple venues across Adelaide
For updates, click here.
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