Melbourne to host Blak & Bright Indigenous writers festival
From September 3 to 6, Naarm (Melbourne) will host the Blak & Bright festival, Australia’s only event for Indigenous writers and storytellers. As ABC News Australia reports, its participants will discuss the richness, complexity and power of Indigenous storytelling.
Hostility on social media
Poet Evelyn Araluen, of the Goori and Koori peoples, said that in Twitter’s early years, the platform helped Indigenous people communicate and share culture, history and personal experiences. According to her, she met many members of Indigenous communities on the social network at that time and felt a sense of collectivity there.
Araluen now considers the renamed platform X to be a dangerous space for marginalized communities. She said that posts about Indigenous peoples are accompanied by a stream of violent and abusive comments. The poet also believes that following the 2023 referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, hostile statements intensified not only online, but also in schools, universities and workplaces.
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In 2022, Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter, later renamed the platform X and introduced a number of changes, including dismissing outsourced content moderators.
Ten years of Blak & Bright
The festival’s announced speakers include Evelyn Araluen, Melissa Lucashenko, Chelsea Watego, Tony Armstrong, Bruce Pascoe, Tasma Walton, Brooke Boney, Anita Heiss and Claire G. Coleman. Araluen invited people from diverse backgrounds to the event, emphasizing that the festival is open to the general public.
Blak & Bright artistic director and executive director Bebe Oliver, an author, poet and illustrator of the Bardi Jawi people, said that Indigenous stories are for everyone. He urged people not only to attend the festival, but also to read and listen to such stories more. Blak & Bright has been held every two years since 2016; this year, the festival marks its tenth anniversary.
