Had an excellent morning in Barwon Heads today! Fuelled by the sunshine, sea air and Nutella donuts, Don and I visited the Indie Author Book Fair at Barwon Heads Community Hall. The space was thoughtfully laid out, allowing each local writer room to promote their wares and to form connections with like-minded creatives. Apart from the obvious passion for their craft -tangible from the moment we stepped through the door- I was struck by how many of the authors I spoke with had started/ returned to writing as a result of trauma. An advocate for the potency of poetry for healing I may be; but today I witnessed the therapuetic power of all writing.
I chatted with all sorts of interesting and friendly writers about the self publishing process, their own work, and my car accident and experiences post road trauma; and concluded that my decision to self publish my debut poetry collection was the correct one. With a project as personal as The Ballad of the Bunny and Other Poems: The Diary of a Car Crash and Beyond, I need full creative control. On leaving, we were treated to a musical recital by performance poet Linnet Hunter and her autoharp! As a poet and musician, I was obviously enamoured by this.
I left the fair with a handful of new connections, two poetry books and a heap of useful advice and resources- distributed a few of my poetry collection pocket promos too. Definitely the type of event I would like to be part of in the future!
Purchases from Ivor Steven & Derrick Knight (an Australian-English collaboration featuring photographs from the UK and poems written by Ivor in Australia) and Linnet Hunter and Lynne Matheson (an illustrated journal of wrting prompts). Also had lovely chats and gathered information from local authors Kelly Wilson, Danielle Hughes, Judy Rankin and Caz Carter; and Judy Reid at Jaymah Press.
