I have been an Adelaide Festival Volunteer ‘stage assistant’ for Adelaide Writers’ Week for some years. One of my duties has been to usher writers from the green room (tent) to the stage, and then to the book signing table after their session.
One year, I was honoured to escort the incumbent Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo. As is customary when meeting someone new, we shook hands. It was Wednesday, the 4th of March 2020. Global news was already spreading about the mysterious coronavirus that we now know as COVID-19. As we shook, Joy and I looked one another in the eye. Our eyes said it all: We shouldn’t be doing this, should we? Little did we know that by the 11th of March, we would be living with a declared pandemic. Joy, yours in the last hand I have shaken in almost two years.
About Adelaide Writers’ Week
The event is held in early March each year as part of the Adelaide Festival. And in 2022, it will run from 5–10 March (full program here). It is Australia’s largest free annual literary festival. For many, this is the time to take annual leave so they can wander from stage to stage, see and hear their favourite writers, and enjoy the company of other readers, writers, dreamers and thinkers.
The primary venue is the shady Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, where different stages and tents are scattered amongst the trees. There’s catering from morning until closing time and a book sales tent for books and merchandise. The catering and book tents are intersected by shaded and grassy areas with tables and chairs. Attendees can meet, mingle with friends over a bite to eat or drink, share tips on books and authors, and discuss sessions.
If this sounds snooty or high-brow, it isn’t. That’s not to say you won’t gain some knowledge or be enriched by the sessions. You will struggle not to go away with substantial food for thought. A diverse demographic of writers of various genres are invited, and the session moderators are always well-considered.
The week starts on Saturday with general sessions on two main stages and a day dedicated to Kids, then Middle and YA readers. Poetry reading also takes place at the Plane Tree stage. Special topic days or evening sessions vary from year-to-year. Still, you can be sure that the Writers’ Week program offers something for everyone.
Adapting to a pandemic
During 2020, the first year of the pandemic, Adelaide (and the whole state of South Australia) experienced a low volume of infections and little in the way of lockdowns. But, as the Adelaide Festival is a major international Arts event, extra measures were in place for the 2021 edition of Writers’ Week.
In 2021, before the arrival of the Delta variant, we had no mask mandates for outdoor events. I saw only a handful of masks at the sessions I attended. Volunteers were kept busy between sessions, spacing chairs out to comply with social distancing. We all became Covid Marshalls.
For many years, Adelaide Writers’ Week has had radio coverage on the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (known as ‘The ABC’). In 2021, video technology augmented coverage, allowing overseas authors to appear (via a Zoom link) on a large screen next to the session chair. The session chair interacted from the stage with the audience looking on. Selected libraries, retirement villages and community centres around the state could participate in live links where smaller groups gathered according to each venue’s Covid-safe capacity. This will continue in 2022.
In addition to the video links to the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden stages, is a new initiative called the ‘Curated Dozen’. The idea is to allow anyone with an internet connection to stay engaged should they choose to stay at home and watch sessions. The Curated Dozen requires registration and is on a Pay What You Can basis.
These initiatives are working to make Writers’ Week accessible and safe.
The Adelaide Festival website has specific COVID Management information regarding entry to the Writers’ Week grounds. Note that any important information about masks, cashless purchases, COVID-Safe Check-In requirements and more will be available closer to the event date. Bookmark the policy at this link: Covid Management Policy.
Who’s on When in 2022?
Printed programs are available in bookstores and some cafes and hotels. I won’t list all of the writers and sessions of the festival but look at the program online if you don’t have access to a printed guide. Whether live or virtual, the schedule of all sessions is available on the Adelaide Festival Writers’ Week site.
If you’re into the hashtag thing, search for these two on Twitter and Instagram for photos and commentary of past events and things to come:
Adelaide Writers’ Week specific tag #adlww
Adelaide Festival general tag #adlfest
Happy and safe festival-going to all.