Liminal Festival

Bringing together some of the continent’s most talented writers, the Liminal Festival contemplates the language of our shared histories and future.

Liminal is delighted to announce the inaugural Liminal Festival for writers and readers. After eight years of conversations, Liminal is moving beyond print and screen for three thrilling days at The Wheeler Centre and beyond. From August 2 to 4, catch some of the nation’s most talented writers, artists and thinkers as they contemplate the ways language has dictated and transformed our cultural landscape. Join us as we speculate on possible paths forward.  As Audre Lorde writes in Sister Outsider: ‘Each of us is here now because in one way or another we share a commitment to language and to the power of language, and to the reclaiming of that language which has been made to work against us. In the transformation of silence into language and action, it is vitally necessary for each one of us to establish or examine her function in that transformation and to recognise her role as vital within that transformation.’ How might writers use the repetitions of history to imagine a different future? At once a celebration and interrogation, join the Liminal Festival to discuss the future of the novel, how language twists and turns under colonial occupation, the profound joys that come with collaboration, and much more.  In conjunction with the in-person festival program, Liminal has curated a series of digital events from some of their favourite writers at home and overseas. Pulling together Australian and international writers to think through collective desires and concerns, these events hope to provoke a shared literary future that writers and readers deserve.   

Presented by The Wheeler Centre and Liminal.

The Liminal Festival is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

Language Under Occupation
Past Event

Evelyn Araluen, Hasib Hourani and Mykaela Saunders discuss the careful craft of shaping a language unsettled.

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Live Event
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Language Under Occupation

Visions & Revisions
Past Event

Poets Bella Li and Lucy Van think through poetics, histories, and how to wield language on one’s own terms. Hosted by James Jiang.

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Live Event
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Visions & Revisions

The Novel
Past Event

What is the future of the great Australian novel? Novelists Jessica Au, Brian Castro and André Dao contemplate the novel, the nation and its literature with Lynda Ng.

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Live Event
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The Novel

Critical Limit
Past Event

Critics Eda Gunaydin, Michael Sun and Cher Tan examine the present state and potential futures of literary criticism.

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Live Event
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Critical Limit