'fourW thirty-four' Wagga Wagga launch

 fourW thirty-four Wagga Wagga launch speech 

Dr. Tim Kurylowicz

I’m delighted to launch fourW thirty-four: New Writing 

I’m an Arts Administrator by trade, which means I have the rare privilege of getting paid to be excited about the arts. This is an all too rare thing these days. Having said that, I’ve never launched a book and am deeply honoured at the privilege.

Like some of you here today, I do have some experience as a writer, although the stuff I write hasn’t yet been accepted into the mainstream. If there is ever a compilation of great arts grant applications or eloquent letters of support, perhaps then my artistry will be recognised! More importantly, and I suspect the thing I have in common with everyone in this room, is the fact that I am a reader, a lover of books.

So let me start by reporting the sheer pleasure it has given me to spend some time in recent weeks dipping in to an advance copy of fourW thirty-four: New Writing. This year’s collection of stories and poems is a delight. You’ve got the features we’ve come to expect from a four W: A smorgasbord of Writings from across Australia in an enticing range of genres and styles, with a generous stable of Wagga Wagga writers and themes to anchor the mix and earn those four W’s. You’ll find writings formal and cheeky, speculative and intensely personal. Globs of magnificent prose that are chewy like toffee, whose beauty sometimes mask surprise and threat, as in Sarah Tiffen’s piece The Snake (that’s not a spoiler, the scary thing is in the title!). Clever turns of phrase that illuminate deeper truths, like Robyne Young’s talk of “D&M’s (and M&Ms)” in Who Needs Paris? – sounds like a perfect night in to me.

We should acknowledge from the outset the efforts of the selection panel of Claire Baker, Maurice Corlett, Jan Pittard and Ian Stewart in bringing together this diverse collection, in cahoots with 4W’s tireless editor David Gilbey. The gorgeous cover art, which highlights an exquisite detail from the work of Juanita McLauchlin deserves a linger. And I must take this moment to cross promote the incredible exhibition down at the old Ambulance Station that opens this afternoon – a mind boggling collection of exquisite textile works marking 50 years of the Wagga Wagga embroiderer’s Guild. Go see it!

Booranga's stalwart artistic Director Kathryn Halliwell and project officer Greg Pritchard also deserve our appreciation today for the work they do running Booranga’s program and projects.

Like any work of art, 4W is a work in time. I felt a knot in my throat as I read David Gilbey’s introductory essay, which records the national moment of Australia’s Voice to parliament Referendum loss. There’s something about reading it out of a book that makes it more final, something perhaps about the difference between memory and history. Perhaps this essay primed me to notice how many of these works focus on pivotal and profound moments, or perhaps that was a masterly curatorial decision: but this volume records moments in time that deserve pause, reflection and recounting. 

As you settle into your favourite reading chair with this book, you’ll encounter

• The moment a recovering child rings a bell in the children’s ward (Claire Baker’s 'Seventeen Months On')
•  A daughter contemplating what to say to her dying father (Sally Chik’s 'Good morning silences')
• A split-second moment of terror during a tree-lopping mishap in Mike Greenacre’s 'Seconds Between Us'…“as fear shot up my legs and spine as if a surgeon’s incision, two lives sliced together with only seconds between us.”
• And speaking of split-second reveals, Andy Kissane’s heart-rending short story 'The Amber Necklace' captures the moment before a lover deploys for war. In a single moment it traverses a sliding doors moment in a relationship and begs the question: is it possible that the tragedies of love can rival the terrors of war?

Moments where things pivot, where truths materialise, where characters are revealed.

As I contemplated the examples I would share today, I got thinking about an element of the written word that I find magical.

It’s about the gap between what the author sees in their mind, and the words they can conjure to capture that onto a page, and then there’s another leap of meaning as the reader – reading those words on the page a great time or distance away from the context in which those words were written – mediates those words through their own experiences and idiosyncrasies into a wholly new mental image as they read. How wonderful to think about all the profound experiences and images that have been had by readers, that no author ever thought of?  Isn’t that magic? Isn’t it a mystery and a joy, and perhaps also a sadness?

Maybe that is another special thing about a locally-edited collection of new writings. In terms of cultural context, time and distance, we the reader get to experience something that was written a bit more near to us. Maybe there are elements of this moment in time that will shape our collective experience of these writings.

In its 34^th iteration, fourW also teaches us something that I think we societally need to cherish: that is the value of an institution. Through their steadfast annual tradition of publishing fourW: New Writing, the Booranga team have created a generational, historical legacy for our nation, and yet another reason to be proud to live on Wiradjuri land.

To bring it back to the specific National moment referenced in the introduction of fourW thirty-four, The Guardian Essential report in October revealed that while 53% of all Australians voted ‘no’ in the referendum, if you cut the data according to civic participation, you see a very interesting trend.

It turns out that people in Australia who participate in something larger than themselves, whether a church, a sports club, a civic group or a union, were dramatically more likely to have voted in favour of change. It’s as if the simple act of spending time with people, of opening one’s mind to the lives of others plays a part in people choosing the more prosocial outcome. I wonder if this is true of the experience of reading also? Reading is a portal into someone else’s thinking, a way we can offer empathy and a listening ear to other lives.

If you’re looking for connection, or solace or a fellow traveler, I say look around this room. Join Booranga, and sign up for their newsletter at their website, participate in an upcoming workshop or open mic, or find a reading group at our wonderful library.

In our increasingly atomised, disconnected world, the chance to read, to imagine, to write and to share seem not only desirable, but foundational.

Well, those are just some musings. If you’d like to experience the much more eloquent thoughts and stories of more than 70 Australians writing today, why not buy this book instead! I’m absolutely delighted to launch fourW thirty-four, and grateful for the opportunity to spend this time with you all today.