Festival of Stories 2019
Festival of Stories 2019 was held at the North Australian Festival of Arts (NAFA) in July 2019.
The 2019 festival was a repositioning of the previously successful Savannah Writers’ Festival presented by Townsville Citylibraries. This festival attracted local, national, and internationally renowned authors, presenters, and storytellers to Townsville. The aim was to entice people to explore, challenge and enjoy storytelling in all its forms.
Usually a stand-alone event, Festival of Stories 2019 joined many other art forms to be included in the inaugural NAFA. It was well supported across its 49 events with 3,054 people attending throughout the month of July 2019.
This attendance comprised 1,746 (57.17%) adults and 1,308 (42.83%) children (under 18) and equated to over 88 hours of program delivery, a great presentation of literature to the wider community of Townsville.
A post event survey was conducted of Festival of Stories attendees which saw 144 responses, of those 144 responses a resounding 77.5% of respondents stated the festival met or exceeded their expectations. Below are a few Highlights/ Comments from the surveyed attendees.
Events included:
- Puppet classes with Dead Puppets Society
- Children’s workshops with Sean Murphy
- Graphic novel workshops with Mirranda Burton
- Dreamtime stories and performances including Boori Monty Prior
- One Title One Townsville with Clementine Ford
- Panel discussion with Clementine Ford, Jane Caro and Brodie Lancaster
- Author talk and writing sessions with Fleur McDonald
- Play date with Justine Clark.
Everybody has a story to tell.
Exceeded my expectations. My tween nephews never show enthusiasm for anything that isn't video games and they had a great time despite their efforts not to enjoy themselves. We had a great conversation on what the book meant after the event.
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