Past events
The Extra Life of Words
2019’s Creative Conversations, a collaboration between Curtin University and Shanghai’s Fudan University, brought together three writers who all have a profound attachment to words on the page.
Together with facilitator Meri Fatin, Kim Scott, Wang Yin and Jo Jones explored how they have bought words to life in contexts other than on the page, engaging audiences in innovative and often surprising ways.
The event was held at one of Curtin University’s city venues, in Perth’s oldest educational landmark, the
Old Perth Boys’ School on 139 St Georges Tce.
Recordings of the event are currently under production and will be available free to public soon.
Creative Conversations in Shanghai
The China Australia Writing Centre (CAWC) produced their first overseas Creative Conversations event in China in November, 2018. In conjunction with a two-day symposium hosted by Fudan University, the event was hosted by Shanghai bookstore, Zhida, on November 7.
Special guests include one of China’s most influential contemporary poets, Xi Chuan, and Miles Franklin award winner, Josephine Wilson.
William Yang at the Perth Festival
Australian-Chinese artist William Yang is a born storyteller, who brings his tales vividly to life whether he’s using words or pictures.
Join Yang for a very personal and touching performance as he explores spoken and written encounters with men, a friend dying of AIDS, his relationship with his mother, his uncle’s murder and his Taoist life philosophy through words and images.
This highly-regarded photographer, performer and writer will close Writers Week with this event on Sunday the 25th Feb, 2018, at 7.00 PM in the Octagon Theatre.
Presented by Perth Festival in association with the China Australia Writing Centre.
Please visit the Perth Festival event page for further details.
Creative Conversations: Looking Forward/Looking Back
October 28, 2017
The second series of Creative Conversations, a collaboration between Curtin University, and Shanghai’s Fudan University, brought together four engaging panel discussions under the title of ‘Looking Forward/ Looking Back’.
Together with presenters Meri Fatin and Geraldine Blake, panelists explored how Chinese and Australian artists approach problems of positioning, distance and perspective in relation to the past and the future.
Each of the hour long panels are available on the Creative Conversations podcast.
Dialogue #3
October 25-26, 2017
The third annual China Australia Writing Centre Symposium, in collaboration with Fudan University, was held in Fremantle over two days. Focusing on the same theme as Creative Conversations 2017, it centred on the question of how Chinese and Australian writers and creators, now and in the past, differently approach problems of positioning, distance and perspective in relation to the sociocultural past and the future?
CAWC welcomed a delegation of six academics from Fudan University, and panels included Curtin Faculty and postgraduates, plus guests from local, national and international universities, including Dr Wayne Price from the University of Aberdeen.
The program can be viewed here.
In 2018 the symposium will return to Fudan University in Shanghai.
Guest writer: Prof Dai Fan
July 24-26, 2017
It was a pleasure and a privilege to host Prof Dai Fan, founding director of the Sun Yat-sen University Center for English-language Creative Writing. Prof Fan was a 2012-2013 Fulbright researcher of the nonfiction program at University of Iowa, and has taught one of the few creative writing courses in English as a foreign language at Sun Yat-sen University since 2009. She publishes in both Chinese and English, with four collections of essays in Chinese, and the novel Butterfly Lovers in English.
Prof Fan gave a lecture at Curtin University for our creative writing faculty, and the following evening was hosted at the Centre for Stories, where a public conversation was held with our former director, the much-loved writer Liz Byrski, and the current Program Director at the China Australia Writing Centre, and local poet, Lucy Dougan.
This lively and charming conversation was recorded and is available at the Centre for Stories website.
Creative Conversations 2016
Writers, activists, poets, novelists, journalists and readers came together in conversations about the experience and the craft of writing across cultures at our inaugural event at Curtin University, Bentley campus, in September 2016.
Listen to Creative Conversations
ABC Radio National broadcasts of some of the panel discussions are available to listen to and download now: