Liane Moriarty at #PWF15

Last month I went to the Perth Writers Festival to meet one of my favourite authors f all time – Liane Moriarty. I went to all three sessions she was at and I got to meet her and have all my books of hers signed. What’s even better was that I won her secret Facebook competition, the prize being a signed book of hers, and luckily I had every single book of hers already, except for one! The Husband’s Secret – so she signed it and gave it to me. Yay!

I’ve already read The Husband’s Secret but I’m glad I own it now, the cover is gorgeous, and the book itself isn’t too shabby either, haha! (You can read my review of The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty here)

The first session of Liane’s was her main one I suppose, featuring her newest book Big Little Lies (a review of that one coming soon!). I was pretty darn excited for it, to say the least. I sat in the second row from the front. In this session I questioned my pronunciation skills and learnt that Liane is pronounced Lee-AHn, and not how I thought it was pronounced. After this session I went straight to the signing, practically walking beside Liane and failing to muster the courage to say hello and speak that secret phrase for the Facebook competition. But even though I was like 10^th in line at the signing, I managed to win! I was thrilled and confounded as to how I was the first person to whisper that secret phrase (“I wasn’t born in an earthquake either”) and win. Liane signed all 100000 of the books I brought plus the one I won and she was delightful. I should have asked for a photo with her.

But I found a photo of me in the line for the signing! Pan Macmillan Australia posted it on twitter.

I'm the asian-looking girl third in line :P

The second session was a panel with a few other authors, talking about ordinary lives, and the extraordinariness of them. I do kinda wish Liane spoke more because there was one quite boisterous and loud author on the panel (although she was funny at times, I found her a tad obnoxious) and Liane has quite a gentle and unassuming personality. Basically I was only interested in what one author had to say.

The last session was all about turning the book into a film, and Liane was joined with the author of The Rosie Effect, Graeme Simsion. Liane told us about meeting with Nicole Kidman for coffee, how Reese Witherspoon’s production company is making the film, and how Nicole Kidman wants to play the role of Celeste and Reese Witherspoon wants to play the role of Madeline. Some of what she said was repeated from earlier sessions but I didn’t really mind. Graeme also had really interesting things to say because he’s a screen-writer as well as a novelist, so he knows about the process. I haven’t read his books yet but I still found everything he had to say rather insightful. The authors were asked about their dream casts, and Liane promptly said, Matt Damon, in any role. I would heartily agree. 
Big Little Lies is going to be set in the US, which makes sense, but is still a little sad to think of – to think of all the lovely Australian things infused into the novel, and knowing the world will be seeing quite a different version of Pirriwee Public on the big screen. But anyway, it’s probably for the best – I always feel a little strange watching big blockbusters set in Australia. It’s weird to me, watching movies with characters that have Aussie accents, it’s just too real, or something. I don’t know.

Finally this post is up! It took me ages to write. Anyway, I need to go review Big Little Lies now, and another book, and those posts shall be up next. If you haven’t picked up Big Little Lies, I suggest you find it in a bookstore or Big W or online, buy it, and read it! It’s really really good. And funny, and those characters will take your heart for a little spin.

my day at Perth Writers Festival (2012)

This was the first time I attended the Perth Writers Festival. 

It went from Thursday to Sunday (23rd-26th Feb, 2012). 

Because this was the first time I went to the writers festival, I didn't have very high expectations (nor very low ones!). 

So I was pretty blown away by how much FUN I HAD! 

I was supposed to go with my friend Jess, but she bailed which was a bummer... 

But then I bumped in to a different Jess, fellow book-blogger Jess from The Tales Compendium! Which was lovely. :) 

Anyway, here's what happened from beginning to end (btw, the first half of the recount below was written on Saturday, the day I went, whereas at the end of the post I say today as in Monday):

1. I got to uni (the festival was held at UWA campus, aka my uni) at 9.15am and went to the Dolphin Theatre for "What's the problem with poetry?", a panel discussion with poets Dennis O'Driscoll, David Brooks and Cate Kennedy with William Yeoman as chairperson. 

It was one of the first sessions of the day and I was already having a lot of fun. There were a lot of older folks in the audience which I did not mind at all, in fact I even favour that aspect. William read an article talking about how poetry has become unpopular over the years; how people in society these days are looking to other media of arts/culture that are maybe more accessible, trendier or easier to consume (like technology, tv and the internet); and just generally how meagre the reception of poetry has become in today's society.

I wish I had a better memory (but I am really tired right now, it's 10.25pm and I was there from 9.15 to 6.15 today) but I can't recall everyone's response to that article. I think Dennis talked a lot about the importance of poetry in his own country (Ireland) and Irish history. How politics and politicians often sought the advice of poets. Or something like that. :P On the other hand David kinda agreed with the article, saying how Aussie culture is more like how the article described 'us'. I can't remember what Cate said. 

It was just a really interesting discussion and I found myself really glad that I came to this 'early' session. I mean, it was a free event and I got to hear some really interesting stuff, and gain a bit of knowledge about poetry. (I don't write it, but I used to). All in all, it made me really think about how significant poetry can be, and that I should definitely read more of it. 

2. I really needed to pee so I did that and then hopped into a long queue to get my ticket for "Tapping into the Zeitgeist" with YA authors James Roy, David Levithan and Chetan Bhagat. The line for the tickets was so long I was almost late for the 11am start. This panel discussion was televised I think (not sure where it was broadcasted, but they had cameras all around and spiffy lighting!), and it was one of the highlights of my day! It'll probably be one of the highlights of my month. Maybe even year. 

James Roy went on a little rant about the significance of YA today - in particular the big three - Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games. He mentioned that David Levithan actually edited The Hunger Games, which was a really awesome fact for me to learn! James was really funny - all three of them were, actually. David talked about how as a YA writer the aim isn't really to tap into the zeitgeist, but rather create it. Chetan joked a lot, it was just a really amazing/hilarious/interesting panel to be able to watch and I was pretty surprised that there weren't more people in the audience!

3. Straight after the Zeitgeist panel I went to the Dymocks tent and picked up Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan, and also The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan. I got both of them signed by him straight after, as well as my copies of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (which I brought along).