"Writers' Weeks" have changed

and not for the better it seems.

Yesterday there was a post about the removal of two Jewish comedians at a "Writers' Week" on the other side of the world. Apparently the staff at the venue said they would feel "unsafe" if their appearances went ahead.

Unsafe? Presumably they were concerned that protestors might turn up and disrupt the events if they went ahead. Surely it is the protestors who should be removed, not the performers? 

It made me think about the last Writers' Week where I live. For the first time ever I did not go to anything, nor did I bother to watch any of the "live stream" at the local library. I just did not want to hear any of the "writers" who were speaking.

Yes, I put the word in inverted commas because too many of those who were speaking were not actually writers at all. They were activists, politically correct activists who had a message they were intent on telling the rest of us. They were there to tell us not just what they were thinking but how we should be thinking. 

The past balance was not there any more. Any pretence about that has now been removed.

I used to love Writers' Week. It only came on alternate years. It really was for writers. There were some public events of course, both free and paid for and a lot of school events, but there were sessions for writers too. I was lucky enough to go to many of these. I may still be a kindergarten level writer but I did learn a lot. I heard well known writers from all over the world talking about their craft and their concerns.

There were some fiery sessions at times. "Just sit tight Cat, Patrick will rile someone" and "Max and Alec on the same panel? This will be interesting." I can still hear my mentor, the late Judith Wright, saying these things about Patrick White, Max Harris and AD Hope. There would be discussions about "the Ern Malley" affair. 

Patrick White was a Nobel Prize winner of course. He was rude to everyone I ever heard him in conversation with - and that was many people. He was as dismissive of me as he dared to be when Judith was standing next to me. I still managed to learn from what he had to say. He came and he participated. I am not sure how willing he was but he was there. 

The "Ern Malley" affair was a hoax. Look it up if you are interested. The Senior Cat knew Max Harris well and we kittens were warned about how pompous he could be. He ran a bookshop in the city - a shop selling "remainders" at reduced prices. The general view was that he deserved to be taken down a peg or two. Really though he did not do too badly out of it. If he had actually read the postcard he was sent he might not have been fooled at all.

These things were topics of discussion of course but they were not seen as radical politics of the left or right. We listened to Russians and Peruvians on how they approached the characters they wrote about. We listened to South Africans and Indians about they tried to invoke a sense of isolation in an otherwise crowded space. We listened to arguments about grammar and poetical forms. At any time some writers would be gone. They would be out visiting schools and talking to students.

All that has gone. The sessions are now held in the parklands. The "writers" have sometimes not actually written their books at all. They speak from a stage and barely mix with the readers, if at all.  They are there to promote a politically correct or controversial message or their latest "best-selling" book which is borrowed but returned unread from the library.  

Two or three years ago I asked why two very good Downunder writers had never been at the week. Had they ever been asked? The answer was, "No. That's not the sort of writing people want to read." Really? There are multiple copies of their books in the library system but they are rarely on the shelves. There are always waiting lists for any new books by those authors. I have met both of them but only briefly. They seemed to be very nice people and they both work with young writers. Perhaps they will one day be invited to sit on the stage and talk about actual writing. I can hope.