What's the Story? - Fremantle Shipping News

So, just what is the Totally Lit story?

The idea for Totally Lit sprang from one of those light-bulb moments. I was attending The Literature Centre’s ‘Celebrate Reading’ conference a few years back and at some point I looked around the Town Hall auditorium and realised that so many of the people both on stage and in the audience were resident Fremantle writers, illustrators and publishers.

The event was also supported by Paper Bird | Children’s Books & Arts, who were busily selling books out in the foyer. There was such a positive vibe, built on a shared love of writing and books – and the notion that Fremantle was genuinely a ‘city of literature’ just hit me in the face.

Fortunately, the concept resonated with a lot of other people and the idea for the Totally Lit festival was born.

From the outset, it was clear that celebrating Fremantle/Walyalup as a place of stories meant that Totally Lit would have a focus on oral storytelling as well as on the written word. Thinking about where stories had been created, who the authors of those stories were, and where stories might be shared also gave me a lot of freedom to think about going beyond auditoriums and established venues and taking events into different spaces.

Obviously the first stories of this place, Noongar stories, needed to be at the koort or heart of the program and we’re truly honoured that Kim Scott, a two-time Miles Franklin Award–winning author, has agreed to give the festival keynote on 26 September.

We’re also excited to have several generations of First Nations writers and storytellers participating in the festival, like Jayden Boundry and Aunty Marie Taylor sharing their culture and stories with us over five nights of Yarning Manjaree on Victoria Quay.

Fremantle’s diverse migrant communities – and the many contributions they’ve made to shaping Fremantle’s identity and culture – are also celebrated in a program of events at the WA Maritime Museum. Writers and artists of Greek, Italian, Ethiopian, Kenyan and Indonesian heritage will be sharing their stories in talks, film and song.

Several months ago I was eager to meet with Jacqueline Wisdom and Bill Samson and to be given a tour of the Fanny Samson Cottage Museum. I’m sure many others will also be intrigued to discover this hidden gem of architectural history and its stories of the Samson family’s unbroken connection to Fremantle since 1829. We’re thankful to have the opportunity to share that history over two public talks/tours on 28 and 29 September.

Totally Lit will delve further into Fremantle’s heritage with events such as Port Walks and ‘If these walls could talk, what stories would they tell?’.

For audiences who like a little spice mixed with a dash of humour and baked into a great night out, the incredibly popular Barefaced Stories team will be presenting ‘Spicy Little Secrets’ at Republic of Fremantle on 1 October and the brilliant Annabel Smith will be bringing her unique ‘Letters of Complaint’ to Sailing for Oranges on 2 October.

That’s my story for this week. Next week’s edition of What’s the Story will be … well, that’s another story.

By Sharon Flindell, Totally Lit Curator/Producer