Brisbane Writers Festival
The Brisbane Writers Festival has a long history of connecting Queenslanders through story, celebrating leading writers and thinkers from around the world and inspiring deep thought and curiosity.
UQ is proud to be a Major Partner of the Festival as well as a Supporting Partner of Word Play, the annual education program for young readers, storytellers and illustrators from grades Prep to Year 12.
Festival reporters
Our partnership provides opportunities for UQ students to get hands-on experience in the organisation and execution of a major festival as well as media and journalism opportunities across the festival.
Student journalism project
In 2019, a team of seven undergraduate journalism and communication students participated in the student journalism project for course credit. The project aimed to highlight Festival sessions on Indigenous culture and history, and Australian politics in the UN Year of Indigenous Languages.
The students created an unprecedented volume of content, including hundreds of photographs of independent local authors, Kevin Rudd, Gillian Triggs, Baker Boy, Bob Brown, journalists, spoken word poets, comedians, researchers, and more.
Images of Chelsea Clark’s photo essay on the “Tirra Lirra by the River” activation – they had set up the house from the book, and Chelsea read the book and carefully photographed parts of the activation along with quotes from the novel.
Alys Marshall’s photography of the Angel’s Palace setup, celebrating Indigenous storytelling and highlighting the UN Year of Indigenous Languages.
Internship opportunities
UQ PhD student Daniel Seed took place in an internship with the Brisbane Writers Festival in 2019 through UQ’s HDR Industry Placement Program. Daniel’s thesis focusses on the use of news consumption and other media products by migrants in their process of acculturating to Australian society. A significant part of his thesis examines journalism practice, and how news media can use innovative and creative ways to make information accessible to a wide range of audiences through different technologies and platforms. Daniel also has a passion for teaching and believes in the power of diverse voices in developing a well-rounded understanding of the world.
In 2019, Daniel undertook a project involving student journalists from UQ. The project provided students with the opportunity to attend and report on a major Australian Festival. Students were invited to attend the Festival, report on sessions, and interview writers, key BWF staff members and other program participants. Students gained experience across a range of mediums including completing reviews, articles for BWF newsletters, social media posts, photo journalism projects and more.
Creating impact through research
Our Speakers - 2019
In 2019 the Brisbane Writer’s Festival featured eight academics, researchers and scholars from a range of disciplines across The University of Queensland.
- Anita Heiss - Indigenous language revival
- Bill von Hippel - The Wellspring of Wellbeing
- Bronwyn Lea - Shell
- Charlotte Nash-Stewart - Creating Good Readers
- Lisa Featherstone - Voices Written Out of History
- Mary Graham - Indigenous Knowledge Systems
- Peter Greste - Refugees and Generosity: When Charity is Not Enough, Kerry O'Brien: A Memoir
- Veny Armanno - The happy landing
Word Play
UQ is a supporting partner of Word Play, an education program for prep to year 12 students and teachers. Word Play presents children’s authors in presentations tailored to different age groups and stages of learning.
The program also provides professional development opportunities for teachers that align with the QLD school curriculum.
Microfiction competition
UQ is passionate about developing the writing skills of students around Queensland and have partnered with BWF to create the microfiction competition.
The competition calls for secondary students across Queensland to submit a 120 word microfiction in response to a set theme or topic.
The judging panel, including a UQ representative, award the winner with a cash prize of $1,000 and a book pack for the winning student’s school.
If you have any questions about this, or any other partnerships, contact us by email at sponsorship@uq.edu.au.