Senator the Hon Helen Coonan

Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate

Address to the Inaugural Sydney Jewish Writers Festival

Sydney

Wednesday 17 May 2006

Thank you [Ilona Lee – MC, and President of the Shalom Institute]

• Mr Hilton Immerman [CEO – the Shalom Institute];
• The Honourable Bob Carr [Patron – Sydney Jewish Writers' Festival]
• Tanya Cawthorne [Director - Sydney Jewish Writers' Festival]
• The wonderfully talented writers gathered here.

INTRODUCTION

I am delighted to be here this afternoon to officially open the inaugural Sydney Jewish Writers' Festival.

I congratulate the Shalom Institute as the principal sponsor of the Festival. Coming on board as a sponsor for an inaugural event is always harder than for something that has an established presence and I particularly recognise the involvement of the Shalom Institute today. The Shalom Institute has a well-deserved reputation for the work it does in providing educational programmes and services to the Jewish community and in the promotion and engagement of Jewish learning in Australia .

I know from the organisers of this inaugural Sydney Jewish Writers' Festival, and the many supporters here today, that the Festival aims to inspire, provoke, delight, challenge and stimulate.

I also believe that the Festival will provide an excellent opportunity a yearly forum if you like for Jewish writers to speak about their work, for the audience to hear from their lips (and not just their pages) and engage with the many authors here on a number of levels.

And with a ‘room of their own' – an annual space for Jewish writers to explore and examine the essence of their genre - it is also hoped that this Festival will encourage more would-be authors, particularly young ones to take up the pen (or indeed plug in their laptops).

Who knows, we may even bring to the attention of the broader literary community undiscovered writers already in our midst who have wonderful stories to tell and an important contribution to make to Jewish writing and indeed writing in general.

Without the written word, life would be a very dull place and as one who uses the word as a professional tool in my daily life (as do many in this room) it is an intrinsic part of being human. Being able to connect and communicate.

Growing up in country NSW, with very limited exposure to more mainstream cultural opportunities, books were my way to engage with my city counterparts and indeed the world.

Who here today hasn't read a book and been transported to another place, lived the experiences of another time or often, even another gender?

I often marvel at how quickly, when asked, people can tell you their favourite books that they can give you a list of three or four novels or even authors who have touched their lives and whose stories live on in their psyche.

And increasingly, as the nature of writing expands and responds to the challenges and I would say the opportunities of technology, books are one of a suite of opportunities to deliver the written word – be they readers of books, journals, columnists, bloggers or the internet more broadly.

FESTIVAL ORIGINS

So what does it mean to be a Jewish writer and what is Jewish writing as a genre? I know that there has been much debate about this and no doubt this will continue.

There is no doubt that the Jewish community has had a major impact in all facets of our life – in a global context, but also more particularly, within the Australian community.

In recent history, each year an important part of the Australian Jewish calendar has been Limmud Oz.

Whilst Limmud Oz is an important event as its growth in attendance can testify what became clear to organisers of today's inaugural event, is that the Sydney community was deserving of an annual cultural festival of its and the result we see here is today's launch of the inaugural Sydney Jewish Writers' Festival.

The Festival will bring together a wonderful array of contemporary writing talent to discuss a variety of topics with one simple goal –to make literature relevant to our lives.

And although the name might suggest otherwise, this festival is not just about Jewish writers. The Festival has a broader ‘ownership' encompassing Jewish authors, stories with Jewish themes or even stories where the central character is Jewish.

FESTIVAL PROGRAM

So in the broadest of terms, the inaugural Sydney Jewish Writers' Festival will celebrate the stories of Judaism in our modern, multicultural community.

The celebration of the Jewish literary voice – through the many varied elements of the Festival programme – will, I hope, provide another chapter in Australia 's rich story of Jewish scholarship and culture.

Over the next five nights, audiences will be able to hear from some of Australia 's finest writing talent (I can only hazard a guess at the number of Australian and international literary awards awarded to Festival participants) and gain first hand insight into the thoughts and motivations of such celebrated authors.

Morris Gleitzman and Ilana Kresner, two of Australia's most popular children's authors, will host a session ‘Writing For Younger Children ' .

And indeed, the resurgence of reading amongst young people with the success of Morris and Ilana and authors such as J K Rowling, gives me hope for the future development and imagination of young minds.

As well, Diane Armstrong, acclaimed journalist and novelist will host a panel to present ‘Preserving the Past: Memory and History' .

As a political professional, I am reminded frequently of the lessons of history and cognisant that too often, history is disregarded whereas if properly regarded, it can provide a telling ‘road-map' for the future.

And I note with interest the inclusion of author Arnold Zable whose first book , ‘ Jewels and Ashes' , won five Australian literary awards in 1991 – 92 in the Festival programme.

WHO IS THERE

Others adding to this wonderful talent will be Yael Unterman, the Shalom Institute's visiting scholar-in-residence and international lecturer.

Alan Gold, author of fifteen books published internationally and translated into Asian and European languages; and

Ruth Wilson, producer of several teaching manuals for the implementation of oral history in the classroom.

These are but a few of the many talented writers who will bring their insights to the Festival and enrich the programme over the next five days.

JEWISH WRITING AS A GENRE

I am sure this comes as no surprise to the people in this room when I say that historically the Jewish community have been among the most literate and literary of people.

Judaism has always placed great importance on the holy texts and not just the written word but the study of holy texts, the Tanakh and the Talmud.

However, Jewish writing as a genre belies this historical underpinning and also exists as a contemporary body of authorship, much defined by history – but not necessarily of history itself.

The atrocities of the Second World War have done much to shape the development of Jewish writing as a genre – it has shaped the origins of modern Jewish writing and taken Jewish stories into classrooms and homes across Australia .

Yet now, in 2006 with events such as today's Festival, we have seen the evolution of Jewish writing into a contemporary, more encompassing, genre of work.

AUSTRALIA 'S JEWISH HERITAGE

This development of Jewish Writing in Australia and its emergence as a distinct voice owes much to the engagement of the Australian Jewish community throughout our nation's history.

Jewish scholarship and intellectual life has long been at the forefront of Australia 's political and cultural life.

CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN JEWISH WRITERS

Today, little more than 100,000 Jews live in Australia – about point five of a per cent of the population – yet they continue to make a distinguished contribution to Australian life perhaps disproportionately to their numbers.

And, borrowing the words of the Prime Minister's, “punch well above their weight”.

Stories such as Arnold Zable's – ‘ Cafe Scheherazade' , a story about love and loss, which Martin Flanagan from the Melbourne Age describes as:

“a Yiddish Australian folk tale, with humour and quiet dignity.”

holds a place in the hearts of Australian readers that transcends a solely Jewish readership.

And Alex Skovron's poetry ‘ The Rearrangement' ; ‘Sleeve Notes' ; or ‘ Infinite City ' .

These are pertinent examples of outstanding Jewish writing that has enveloped very Jewish subjects and themes and along the way, captured the imaginations of many readers here and overseas and simply transcends being Jewish.

POLITICS AND THE WRITTEN WORD

Whilst I don't claim to be a writer in an audience of luminaries such as are here today, the written word has always been a key tool in my professional life.

And as a parliamentarian too, the written word is fundamental to my life in politics.

As many of you here would attest, as politicians, we are just as likely to be remembered for what we say, as we are, for what we do.

And if we are not, then as Ronald Reagan once said:

“Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.”

I certainly hope I will never have to take his advice and pen a book covering my tracks – I think Mr Latham has well and truly penned the political tome of my generation – so I will leave it to others to go down this path!

WHAT PEOPLE READ

However – thinking about writers and what inspires people to write begs a natural corollary about readers and what they like to read.

Last month, Lisa Jardine and Annie Watkins at the University of London 's Queen Mary College interviewed 500 men about the novels that changed their lives.

I am not sure what this actually says about men and their character but the study found that, overwhelmingly, men preferred books by men, in fact, dead white men.

For instance, some of the men's favourite books were:

Albert Camus's - ‘ The Outsider';
JD Salinger's - ‘Catcher in the Rye '; and
Kurt Vonnegut's - ‘Slaugtherhouse-five'.

In fact , only one book by a woman, Harper Lee's - ‘ To Kill a Mockingbird' - appeared in the list of the top 20 novels with which men most identify.

And although this was a British study, what rings true is that readers like a connection with their author and the story – be it gender, experience or the instance of today's Festival, the ‘voice' of the story.

As we have found, with the nurturing of our authors and increasingly support from publishers, Australians enjoy distinctly Australian stories, told in Australian voices.

The rich and varied nature of the Australian story mirrors both our landscape and our sense of self – to be an Australian in modern Australia is to exist in a multicultural world that it is very much removed from the narrow, restricted template of what is was to be an Australian as recent as 40 years ago.

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

Today, I am proud to say that all of our cultural industries are receiving such strong support.

In my portfolio, three particular Government programs are making an impact the Educational Lending Right program the Public Lending Right program; and the Books Alive initiative.

Together, these programmes aim to keep books as an integral part of Australian life – in our homes, on school and library shelves, discussed in coffee shops and as part of our shared humanity.

CONCLUSION

Over the next five days, you will hear from authors as they discuss their work, engage in thought-provoking panel discussions, and take part in exciting and creative workshops for all ages.

I congratulate the efforts of the stellar organising team, in particular the Director, Tanya Cawthorne and kind benefactors, the Shalom Institute.

A festival such as the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival relies heavily on the engagement of writers and to our writers here tonight, and to your colleagues who will be involved over the next week or so, my sincere commendation for your efforts in telling the Jewish story and my appreciati0n, for your efforts in promoting the written word and reading more broadly.

I wish you the heartiest of Mazel Tov's in establishing this very worthy event on the Sydney (and indeed national calendar) and it now gives me great pleasure to officially open the inaugural Sydney Jewish Writers' Festival.

Thank you.