Adelaide Writers Week 2008

(As posted on HorrorScope)

Adelaide Writers Week 2008 is fast approaching.

I went into a local Dymocks store today and purchased a very nicely produced programme for $6 to eagerly check out what sessions I would be interested in attending. The same program of events can be found here for free.

I brought the program hoping it had more detail than the web version in regards to the sessions and the authors. It was advertised on the Festival web site as; “A detailed program of events with full information on sessions and participating writers.”

Unfortunately, the reality is much less inviting than the glossy 50 or so page programme, at least less inviting for genre writers among us.Out of the 61 authors listed as attending and being involved in a specific event, none are from the horror genre.

The agenda is full of crime writers, poets, playwrights, biographers and other non-fiction writers. A few have dabbled in the fantasy realms but none in science fiction or the darker side.It seems the Adelaide Writers Week is for the "so-called" literary elite, not the lowly genre writer.

I’m sure there is still information to be learnt from writers who have succeeded in their chosen field but it would have been nice to have heard from one of our own.For those of you who would still like to attend:

Adelaide Writers Week (Part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts)
2-7 March 2008
Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens
Free Admission