Arts

Northern Rivers artist, Bangalow resident Karena Wynn-Moylan, recently won Best Special Interest Programming at the National Australian Audio Awards, a project built around an idea she believes could change the way people discover books.

Christobel Munson asks Byron Writers Festival Artistic Director and CEO, Jessica Alice, about the challenges faced in relocating the festival from Bangalow Showgrounds to Byron Bay. 

Who doesn’t love a good whodunnit? I think that Irish-Australian author, Dervla McTiernan, is competing for the crown of queen of murder mystery. She is churning out one, sometimes two, a year. Honestly, her books just keep me enthralled – and there is no feeling that she is following a formula to the point that it becomes tedious. A natural…

Escaping into books has long been a tonic for world-weariness, a remedy for sluggish creativity or a pick-me-up when life lacks zest. Above all, reading is an act of solitude that quietens distractions, fills our consciousness with imaginative possibilities – and simultaneously generates introspection and outward magical thinking. This year’s Byron Writers Festival theme, ‘Sanctuary’, encompasses the role of books…

As the Byron Writers Festival approaches, local author Tristan Bancks shares with Herald readers an extract of his latest book for readers aged 10 years+, Raised by Wolves, a story inspired by adventure, resilience and the complexities of growing up. Tristan is host of the free Kids Program on Sunday 16 August at the Bay Street Stage, 9-11.30am

Sometimes the biggest opportunities arrive looking exactly like junk mail.

Indefatigable artist and gallerist Caitlin Reilly was preparing the latest multi-artist exhibition at her Station Street gallery when she learned she’d been accepted into one of the world’s top contemporary art competitions, ‘almost hyperventilating’ at the news. Digby Hildreth reports.

Four decades after finding his place in Melbourne’s Goth and post-punk scene, Bangalow musician and artist M.E. Baird is opening a new creative chapter. Digby Hildreth discovers how illness, survival and a lifelong search for meaning continue to shape his music. 

After a decade down south studying and establishing her career as a prosthetist-orthotist, Camille Wiseman, 28, returned home to Bangalow earlier this year – via a 12-month sabbatical in Italy honing her formidable skills as a painter. Georgia Fox found out more.

Debra Oswald, for those who don’t know, is an Australian author of novels, plays and TV dramas, the most notable being the very popular Offspring series. She has written several books, but this is the second one I have read, and I enjoyed it immensely. Betty, the book’s protagonist, is about to celebrate her 100th birthday and narrates the story…

Bangalow-based artist Hilary Herrmann explores the beauty and complexities of life through her enchanting paintings, which first mesmerise viewers and then draw them into deeper exploration, writes Adele Scaysbrook.

This month’s Bangalow Film Festival will be something of a family affair, with a father and daughter filling two key, but very different, roles, reports Digby Hildreth.