SHwf 2017 Gallery
The 2017 Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival took place on Saturday 15th July at the Highlands School of Performing Arts and the Gibralter Hotel in Bowral. It featured some of Australia’s greatest writers, thinkers and performers including Andrew Ford, Simon Longstaff, Julia Baird, Joyce Morgan, and Meg Keneally. The night concluded with a dinner with Stefano Manfredi and a performance by Marco Quaglia and Michaela Bolzan, written by Luigi Pirandello and directed by Sarah Dowland.
A special shout-out to our official photographer Greg Jackson for capturing the Festival so beautifully. Enjoy the photos from this year.
Saturday 15 July
Andrew Ford
Host of The Music Show on ABC Radio National, Andrew, told his life story, in a moving and evocative memoir, The Memory of Music. From his early childhood in the Beatles-crazy Liverpool, to his evolving work as a composer and choral conductor Andrew shared the vivid musical experiences that have shaped his life.
Simon longstaff
Simon is the Executive Director of The Ethics Centre, co-founder of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, and has been named one of the True Leaders of the 21st century by AFR BOSS magazine. In Everyday Ethics, Simon explained how we can live a more ethical life, starting with the decisions we make every day.
Julia Baird
Julia is a journalist, broadcaster and the host of The Drum on ABCTV. Her biography of Queen Victoria was published simultaneously in the US, UK and Australia, and has been a critical and commercial success.
Joyce Morgan
Joyce is a former arts editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, and has worked as a journalist in London, Hong Kong and Sydney. In her latest work, Martin Sharp – His Life and Times, Joyce explores the life of the charismatic, unconventional, unique and surprising Martin Sharp, the founder of Oz magazine.
Meg Keneally
Meg started her working life as a junior public affairs officer at the Australian Consulate-General in New York, before moving to Dublin to work as a sub-editor and freelance features writer. Currently, Meg is co-writing a gripping historical crime series, under the title The Monsarrat Series, with her father, author Tom Keneally.
Literary Dinner
stefano manfredi
The 2017 Literary Dinner was a celebration of Italian food and theatre. Guest chef, Stefano Manfredi, cooked from his latest cookbook, New Pizza. The highlight of the evening was a performance by renowned Italian actor, Marco Quaglia, and SHWF Festival Director, Michaela Bolzan, in a one-act play by Nobel-prize-winning author, Luigi Pirandello. The play, A Dream, But Perhaps Not?, was directed by New York-based, producer/director, Sarah Dowland.
SPECIAL THANKS
Thank you to the wonderful teams from the Highlands School of the Performing Arts and the Gibraltar Hotel, we couldn't have done it without you.
A huge thank you to our Festival Partners including: The Bookshop Bowral, Highlife, Escape Southern Highlands, The Empire Cinemas, King Computers, Gibraltar Hotel, Cuttaway Hill, Rob & Paula McLean, Officeworks, HarperCollins Publishers, University of Wollongong Australia Southern Highlands, The Bookkeeping Studio, and Alexandra Springett. Without your generosity, kindness and support the Festival could not continue.
Finally the biggest, most heartfelt thanks to my amazing little team of volunteers, James Norton (my incredible Art Director and 2IC), Saneia Norton (my brilliant Front of House Manager), Sarah Dowland, Rachel Armstrong and of course my mum Roz - you make the Festival a reality! Thank you for your time and extraordinary expertise in making the SHWF so unique, along with your grace and sensational good senses of humour!