I love literary festivals and this one was special.
Living in Bali, of course, I attend the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival every year. It’s a great chance to meet and listen to writers, agents and publishers and an opportunity to socialise with like-minded people. I’ve also attended the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka a few times and loved the experience.
When Cunard Lines advertised their inaugural Australian Literature Festival at Sea earlier this year, I was interested. When I saw the list of participating authors included Alexander McCall Smith, Fiona McIntosh, Dr Anita Heiss, Graeme Simsion, Anne Buist, Paul Cleave, Sue Williams, and Elizabeth Stanley, I immediately bought my ticket.
This blog is about my experiences on board Cunard’s Queen Elisabeth.
The Australian Literary Festival at Sea ran from the 11th to the 16th December, 2024. Much of the first day was taken up with boarding, finding our staterooms and discovering restaurants, coffee shops, theatres, clubs and lounges before setting sail late in the afternoon from near Circular Key in Sydney. Cunard Queen Elizabeth cruise ship deck plan shows a total of 1043 staterooms for 2081 passengers (max capacity is 2503) served by 900 crew-staff (max 1001). The boat has 12 passenger decks (7 with cabins), 6 restaurants, 15 lounges and bars, 9 shops-boutiques, 3 swimming pools (1 hydrotherapy), 5 outdoor Jacuzzis (whirlpool hot tubs), 12 elevators, open deck area is 930 m2 (10,000 ft2), laundrettes (passenger-use laundry rooms). WOW! It had everything and way too much food!
Main events were held daily in the Royal Court Theatre.
The theatre seated about a thousand people and it was always packed. Presenters included Alexander McCall Smith, Anita Heiss, Graeme Simsion, Anne Buist, Fiona McIntosh, Sue Williams and Nick McKenzie.
All presentations were entertaining and informative. I gleaned inspiration from most. Alexander McCall Smith gets up each day at 3am and writes for a couple of hours before returning to bed to sleep. This suits my sleep patterns, so I’ll give it a try. Fiona McIntosh visits places to undertake extensive research before she starts writing her next historical fiction. I love travel, so trying this suits me. Sue Williams inserts dramatic events to up the tension in her books. This should work for me too. And the list goes on.
Workshops were difficult to get into.
Because of poor planning, we could not book workshops before the cruise and had to register once we boarded. They were quickly booked out and many people were disappointed. I managed to get into two workshops. Both Sue Williams and Graeme Simsion were inspirational. I also bought a copy of ‘The Novel Project’ which is a step-by-step guide to planning and writing a memoir or novel. I look forward to reading it and following Simsion’s advice.
A shore day in Hobart.
On the morning of the 13th December, we docked in Hobart and had the day to explore. Fiona, my travel buddy and long term friend, took me exploring Salamanca. She proved to be a great guide as we explored art and craft shops and even a bookshop. It was my first visit to Hobart and it won’t be my last.
And I must say, travelling with Fiona really enhanced the whole trip for me. She is a great friend and saved me seats at venues, while I squeezed in a little time at the on-board casino.
All good things must come to an end.
After five days, I was ready to leave the opulence of the cruise, inspired and ready to get back to my writing desk in Ubud, Bali. I was keen to get on with my next writing adventure.
So what’s my take-aways?
- Once is enough. I loved the luxury of cruising on the Queen Elisabeth and the line up of writers, but attending any land-based writers festival is much better value. The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival has ten times as many speakers and many more workshops and activities.
- My short stops in Sydney and Canberra have whet my appetite to return and explore both places.
- Graeme Simsion’s workshop and book, “The Novel Project,” have encouraged me to plan my next memoir instead of writing from the seat of my pants. I’ll give it a try.
- I bought some more books, so my TO READ stack is now even higher and very enticing.
- I’ve previously done a couple of on-line travel writing workshops with Sue Williams, and again I was inspired by her workshop, ‘History, mystery and everything in between.’ Her ideas have offered me new inspiration for writing both memoir and historical fiction.
- Fiona McIntosh’s presentation was both humorous and inspiring. Whilst she is a pantster, she also emphasised the extensive research and sight visits she does as she prepares to write a new historical fiction. I intend to use all future travels to inform the writing of a new series of gay romances.
I envy you Steve. I used to love attending writers festivals but age has caught up with me and I can’t make the physical effort. The brain is still working however and I keep on writing. These days I work on screen plays, as that is what I watch most and it fascinates me to find ways of indicating what is happening without telling the actors and directors to suck eggs. Bec sends her love. We live together now as she is likely to be my carer as I get less able to do things for myself.
Hi Mike, Great to hear from you and to know you are still writing and now sharing with Bec. Say HI to her from me. There is little joy in getting older, but writing is always fun. Stay well and happy. Steve
It sounds like this trip got your creative juices bubbling, Steve. Interesting Fiona McIntosh is a pantster but others plan their story to the nth degree. To each his own, but whatever you do, just keep at it, mate
Hi Mike and Marilyn. Merry Christmas. Fiona McIntosh was truly entertaining and she described in depth the sight visits she does with her husband to get a fell for the place and to gather information. She may be a pantster, but she had her head full of information. Regards, Steve
What a massive vessel! Thank you for including those details in your reflections on this adventure at sea! The sheer size is mind-bending! And how thrilling to be inspired in new ways. Is your brain already percolating with story lines? I’m eager to know where you’ll start.
Hi Steve, very interesting to read your comments on land-based versus cruise literary festivals. I have been to the Ubud literary festival a few times and it was absolutely terrific, so full of interesting activites. I am wondering if the overtourism that Ubud is suffering from at the moment affected this year’s festival at all? Was there any difficulty getting to the venues?