This was some sort of experience. Kununurra is about as far from Canberra as you can get while still being on the Australian continent, and the festival was about as far from a big-city festival as you might imagine.
For a start, Kununurra, population 5,300, sits right at the top of Western Australia, not far from the NT border. It doesn’t even have a bookstore, so all the books for the festival had to be sourced from hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. The festival is centred on the remarkable library, and is organised, for the most part, by the library staff.
Another big difference is the number of authors. At large festivals, there are many ofdozens of authors, appearing on multiple stages. At the KWF there were five authors and a photographer, plus a local writer. Over three days we did somewhere between five and eight sessions each, including talking to kids in the adjacent school. It was exhausting and rewarding.
As well as getting to know the other authors, we all got to know the audience, socialising together and sharing stories.
And the landscape was so brilliant.