The Sensory Hit Of My First Large Event Since the Pandemic Began
The 2021 Sydney Writers Festival from an Autistic Perspective
I live in Australia and last weekend I went to the annual Sydney Writers Festival. I missed out last year: everyone did. The 2020 Melbourne Writer’s Festival was a little further along the Pandemic trajectory so the organisers were able to launch an impressive online version.
Attending a writers festival in person is a totally different experience and I jumped at the chance. Once you get beyond the sweet convenience of watching a festival online, you realise it’s a very solitary experience. You miss other people’s reactions and the interplay between audience and presenter. There’s an energy that comes from the collective presence of people who are into writing and reading. There’s atmosphere.
Being there in person engages the senses for a richer experience that’s more likely to be encoded in memory. It’s the common wisdom about university lectures these days: that there’s an engagement students experience in person that can’t be replicated remotely.
I find writers festivals exciting in the way that others might experience a music festival or sporting event. Hearing writers talk about how they get their ideas and develop them is highly engaging. Learning…
