Uni news contribution!

In August La Trobe offered new subject Writers in Action (WiA) for students to gain insiders experience at the Bendigo Writers Festival.  Sixty-five students from across the state travelled to Bendigo for the five day intensive course.  Students participated in writing workshops, interviewed Australia’s finest writers such as Jackie French, Michael Robotham, Charles Jenkins and Raimond Gaita.  They essentially ‘wrote’ the festival.

Lecturer for WiA Dr Sue Gillett was overwhelmed by the student response, and was proud of what they achieved.

“They threw themselves into the festival with great gusto, packing in an enormous amount of writing, and it doesn’t look like slowing.  In fact I think we may have grown into a writers club as a result of the subject.  I’m already planning our first joint publication – Writers in Action: a True Story!” said Dr Gillett.

Prior to the festival students were connected by Dr Gillett through various means, including a ‘home’ blog, and social media.  The clever use of social media allowed students the opportunity to ‘virtually’ get to know one another, and exchange ideas prior to the event.  Some students credited this to their feeling welcome within the class and event.

A number of students volunteered to work on their writing portfolios prior to the Festival. They assisted in writing material about both the Writers Festival and the Write on the Fringe Festival, as well as discussing WiA’s role. This was a great way to gain insight into the process of interviewing and writing for journalistic purposes.

“We saw an opportunity to create a buzz prior to the festival so a group of us started writing and we were published in regional papers and many local blogs.’ said WiA student Willa Whitewolf.

The event itself was quite a whirlwind, and students chose which presentations to see based on their own interests.  Although not many students knew each other prior to class starting, they easily identified one another wearing official ‘Writers in Action’ t-shirts.

“The BWF was fantastic”, said WiA student Gena McLean “Not just because of who I saw, but who I was with – the Writers in Action!  They brought fun, meaning and purpose to this event.  I really enjoyed sharing it with them.”

By the end of the festival the 65 students could boast of listening to and meeting with some of Bendigo’s and Australia’s finest writers, all of which contributed to their own writing.