THOUSANDS of would-be writers and wordsmiths flocked to the 10th annual Write Around the Murray festival on the Border.
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More than 60 events were held at the LibraryMuseum, MAMA and Hovell Tree Park throughout the five-day program, which opened on Wednesday.
More than 30 acclaimed writers and commentators held workshops, joined panel discussions and led literary lunches.
Write Around the Murray co-ordinator Ann-Maree Ellis earlier said the festival had grown steadily during the past decade.
Melbourne-based picture book creator Graeme Base, who published Animalia to worldwide acclaim in 1986, endeared himself to the audience in the Picture This panel discussion on Saturday.
He said his picture book Animalia – which had sold 3 million copies, inspired an animated TV series and had its own app – had to overcome obstacles.
“In my naivety I had drawn some Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Dumbo in my original book!” he said.
Base said Disney would not grant him permission to use the icons and he had to remove them from his drawings.
“There was quite of bit of work on the Letter P because I had to remove Winnie-the-Pooh and piglet down the bottom right-hand corner; you can see a Panda snap-locked into a suit. I got tired of drawing bushes.”
The innovative Publish Me! panel discussion on Sunday took cues from a similar format at the Bendigo Writers Festival.
Panellists Fleur Ferris, Sue Gillet, Jennifer McDonald and moderator Blaise van Hecke discussed nine works submitted from would-be Border authors through the Write Around the Murray website.
The first page of eight novels and the text for a children’s picture book generated discussion among the authors and editor for an audience of about 80.
Write Around the Murray event, the Solo Monologue competition, was judged at The Butter Factory Theatre in Wodonga on Thursday.
Winners in three sections were High School – Jesslyn Santosa, Grace and the Melancholy; Unpublished – Mark Dessaix, No Title; and Published – Maura Pierlot, Tapping Out.
Judges Paul Brosche, Margie Gleeson and Tahni Froudist said the 12 shortlisted monologues were expertly written with theatre and performance in mind.
Members of the HSC/VCE Drama Class, HotHouse Studio Ensemble, Black Border Ensemble and The Other Theatre Company performed the monologues.
The competition is run by HotHouse Theatre and sponsored by La Trobe University Albury-Wodonga campus.
