International travel may be on the back burner indefinitely, but some of the most exciting performing writers from around the world come to Australia this November as part of not-for-profit arts organisation Word Travels’ Story Week. Embracing the possibilities of online to connect the brightest minds here, there and anywhere, the festival’s roll call is incredible.
“This year’s line-up is a handpicked selection of provocative writers, exploring themes of race, ancestry, identity and more,” says Story Week’s creative director Miles Merrill. “We’re living in strange times. The global [lockdown] has had a large impact on the lives of artists and people of colour in particular this will be something that audiences see explored in the many works presented during Story Week.”
That includes a powerful First Nations cohort from both Australia and Canada in honour of NAIDOC week. First Person Voice will platform Indigenous artists from both countries, throwing their words and songs into four stream-able shows, featuring the likes of Australians Dobby and Barkaa, and Canada’s Cobra Collins.
Elsewhere, Sydney poet Mel Ree joins hip hop artist Kween G and vogue troupe Kiki House of Silky for the activist-driven Answer Story. International stars include American hip-hop poet Reg E. Gaines, New York’s beat box champion Darian Dauchan, and out and proudly queer 2019 Canadian Poetry Slam champion and artist Nisha Patel, as well as hip hop-charged Inuit throat singers Silla + Rise. Word Travels Around the World connects the brightest lights of international spoken word festivals including Singapore’s Sing Lit Station, Spoken Word Namibia and Zimbabwe’s Shoko Festival.
There’s plenty of fun for the little ones too, including Habla, a multilingual event aimed at primary-aged kids, and the daily Sto-Re-Mi, an interactive storytelling program inviting parents to share the bedtime stories they’ve made up for and with their children.
Every night at 7pm, Aloud will broadcast the sweet sounds of spoken word artists spanning Australia, India, South Africa and Singapore. The whole thing wraps up with the Australian Poetry Slam National Final, challenging 16 of our fiercest wordsmiths to a head-to-head battle of the wits, with last year’s winner Wāni La Frère headlining. Word up and get booking here.
