Live Stream at wheelercentre.com: Risky Fictions (from Bendigo Writers Festival)
When writers brave precarious subject matter with increasing forthrightness, taboos stumble, fumble and tumble – and cultural conversations approach honesty.
Taking the shocking realities of domestic violence as a foundation, Anna George has crafted a powerful literary thriller; John Purcell, as ‘Natasha Walker’, writes erotic fiction from a female point of view; Kirsten Krauth’s first novel explores how sexual power is wielded in the online space; and Kate Belle’s dark erotica is suffused with shades of Lolita.
Streaming live from Bendigo Writers Festival, Emily Sexton talks to these four writers about exploring material at the periphery of polite society – and how they overcame their fear of going too far.
Note: this archived live stream begins 16 minutes into the embedded video. Use the scroll bar to save yourself the wait! An edited video will be published soon.
Featuring
Emily Sexton is a former Head of Programming for the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas. She was the recipient of a prestigious Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship in 2014. Previously, she was Artistic Director of Next Wave (2010–14), where her key achievements were a radical rethink of an ar... Read more
Anna George is a Melbourne-based writer. Initially trained as a lawyer, Anna has worked in the legal world as well as the film and television industries. What Came Before is Anna’s first novel; she is currently working on her second, set on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Both books are to be p... Read more
John Purcell (aka Natasha Walker) is the author of The Secret Lives of Emma trilogy published by Random House Australia. The Secret Lives of Emma: Beginnings reached the top ten on the Australian fiction charts and Natasha/John was the tenth highest selling Australian novelist and third highest sell... Read more
Kirsten Krauth is a writer and podcaster based in Castlemaine. Her second novel Almost a Mirror, published in 2020, was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize and named by The Guardian in ’The Best 20 Australian Books of 2020’. Her Almost a Mirror podcast series, inspired by the ’80s p... Read more
Kate Belle is an author of challenging love stories. The Yearning and Being Jade (Simon & Schuster) received rave reviews. Her short story, ‘Cool Change’, won the 2011 Southern Cross Literary Award and the script by the same name received a highly commended in the... Read more
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