The Australian Muslim Writers Festival 2022 will be held Friday 30 September – Saturday 8 October involving 43 Muslim panelists mostly online, with two days of in-person events in Melbourne from Sat 1-Sun 2 October at La Trobe University and Lalor Library and will be opened by the Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Mehreen Faruqi.
The 2nd Australian Muslim Writers Festival (AMWF) will showcase and celebrate the work of Australian Muslim writers.
There will be 43 Australian Muslim panellists consisting of academics, journalists, children’s authors, illustrators, and screenwriters, with the youngest panellist being just 15 years old.
Organised by The Right Pen Collective (TRPC), this year’s theme ‘Our Table’ explores what it means for diverse writers to have a “seat at the table” in the Australian publishing world, and whether having a seat at the table is enough.
Director of AMWF, Özge Sevindik Alkan, says that despite the 2021 census ranking Islam as the second largest religion in Australia, Muslim writers and artists are under-represented within the Australian spheres of art and literature.
“At this year’s festival we’re inviting everyone, from all faiths and none, to take a seat at the table made up of Australian Muslim writers,” Sevindik Alkan says.
TRPC co-founder and festival MC, Annie McCann says the success of last year’s festival, which was fully booked out, demonstrates the enthusiasm in Australia to see more Muslim writers at festivals.
Check TRPC website https://linktr.ee/therightpencollective for the full schedule and list of panellists. The festival tickets are now available to book.
AMWF is funded by the Australian Government through the Australia Council’s arts funding and advisory body.
TRPC partners include La Trobe University, Moreland Library Service, Yarra Plenty Regional Library, Writers Victoria, Australia Council for the Arts, SAARI Collective and IBC.
Further information from:
The Right Pen Collective
Özge Sevindik Alkan
info@therightpencollective.com
In the spirit of reconciliation TRPC acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community and pays respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. Sovereignty was never ceded, it always was and always will be First Nations’ land.
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