Top Ten Tuesday - Writer's I've Seen at MWF

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Book Events/Festivals I’d Love to Go to Someday (Real or Fictional) which was  submitted by Nandini @ Unputdownable Books)

Is it too much of a cop out to say all of them? It feels like it is!

I am very lucky to live in a city which was the second city in the world to be named as a UNESCO City of Literature and there are plenty of festivals or conferences around the city. The main one, the Melbourne Writers Festival, is announcing it's line up and format tomorrow! If the program had been released today then my Top Ten post would have been about that, but instead, it is out tomorrow, so instead I have decided to use my post this week to talk about some of the authors who I have heard speak in previous years.

I have been going to Melbourne Writers Festival for around 10 years now. Not only have I had the chance to listen to some great authors speak, but also I have been able to meet up with other book bloggers over the years. Some of the authors I have heard speak at MWF include:

Ann Patchett - I saw Ann Patchett back in 2011, where she was talking about her book State of Wonder. I did enjoy that book. I do still need to read her newest book The Dutch House too.

Sarah Dunant - I saw a couple of sessions with Sarah Dunant back in 2013 and both were fascinating. The first session was talking about Italian art and history, with a particular focus on Lucrezia Borgia. I got her book, Blood and Beauty, at that time. Still haven't read it!

Kate Grenville - I saw a session with Kim Scott and Rohan Wilson back in 2011 talking about the challenges of writing about the settlement of Australia, particularly in relation to native Australian portrayals. Kate Grenville has a new book out and looking at the current MWF website, I would suggest she is going to be a featured author again this year.

Kim Scott -After hearing Kim Scott speak in the same session as  Kate Grenville, I knew that I had to read his book That Deadman Dance, which I thought was excellent.

Kevin Kwan - Kevin Kwan was a speaker in 2013at as session which focussed on books as objects of beauty which was fascinating.

John Boyne - This session was memorable for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I could have listened to him talk for hours, but also because a friend of mine who lives in Sydney happened to walk in and sit down in front of me. I had no idea she was in Melbourne, and for her it was a impulsive decision to attend a session.

Melina Marchetta - This was one of the sessions I attended last year because I do love her books! And I would totally go and listen to her talk any time!

Justin Cronin - In 2016 I attended several MWF sessions, including Rainbow Rowell and David Leviathan, but for the purpose of this post I am going to mention seeing the author of the Passage trilogy.

Susan Johnson - I saw Australian author Susan Johnson speak back in 2013 at a session called Sex and Sensibility. You know that a session exploring sex and sensuality in literature is going to be fun, which it was!

Margo Lanagan - My final author for today's post is another Australian author, Margo Lanagan who I saw speak back in 2013.


Back in the day I was very diligent and wrote recaps of many of the sessions I attended which you can revisit through the links I have included above. The last couple of years I haven't written anything! Whoops! This year I will try to do better and do something between those two extremes.

Oh, and in answer to the actual question for this week, in addition to all the Australia capital city festivals (Perth, Adelaide, Sydney etc) I would like to visit the Ubud festival in Bali, Hay on Wye festival in the UK, and Book Expo America. Closer to home there is a small town in country Victoria called Clunes which has an annual weekend festival which I would like to visit one day.