Sweet end to Geraldton Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival

A weekend of bookish conviviality ended with a Sunday high tea in the City of Greater Geraldton’s Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival 2019.

“We have received some fabulous feedback already from our visiting special guests,” the City libraries, heritage and gallery manager Trudi Cornish said.

“They remarked on how friendly and welcoming the Geraldton community is, and we had feedback from participants in terms of the value and enjoyment of the sessions they attended.”

Several pre-festival events included sessions for oral history, romance writing, local historians and female writers, with writers also visiting schools on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday’s opening night at Geraldton Public Library was also the opening for Marina Baker’s exhibition Sightlines, which was displayed at the library on the night and installed the next day at Geraldton Universities Centre.

This was followed by a Big Sky Feast at Geraldton Multipurpose Centre with chef Paul Iskov, of Fervor.

The festival proper had numerous weekend sessions at Geraldton Universities Centre.

Guest presenters included Marina Baker, Peter Bridge OAM, Dr Howard Gray, Dr Anita Heiss, Steve Heron OAM, Paul Iskov, Dr Michelle Johnston, John Kinsella, Bill Lawrie, Claire Moodie, Charmaine Papertalk-Green, Tracy Ryan, Holden Sheppard, Alli Sinclair, Lisa Walker and David Whish-Wilson.

It all wrapped up with a Literary High Tea at Ngala Midwest and Gascoyne.

This was the 10th time Geraldton had hosted the estival.