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 Rave’s ZENOBIA FROST chats with author BEN LAW about BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL. And also about penises.
According to Ben Law, whose recently released memoir The Family Law was so popular it required a second launch, Brisbane Writers Festival is an opportunity for “writerly nerds to get away from the goddamn desk for once and remind ourselves we’re capable of social interaction. And drinking. Lots of drinking.” And, knowing that typing-for-24-hours-straight-and-only-talking-to-the-cat feeling, I can’t help but agree.
ZENOBIA FROST: Any favourite moments from past BWFs?
BEN LAW: One of my favourite experiences was hosting a conversation with my friend Krissy Kneen, whose sex memoir Affection had just come out. People always think of writers festivals as these tame, writerly, polite things, but the fact that we ended up talking about mushroom-shaped dicks and sexual experiences involving animals to a raucous and receptive audience pretty much killed that idea off.
ZF: Did you have any inkling The Family Law would be so well received?
BL: I was totally chuffed and taken aback that the first launch for The Family Law sold out. The fact that a second launch sold out too was even more surprising, and I was basically waiting for Avid Reader to call me up and tell me it’d been a cruel joke. On paper, I think the memoir I wrote sounds pretty obscure, but for some reason, it’s resonated with people. What’s really nice is that readers come up and relate my stories to their own lives. I spent my teen years mortified by the fact my family and I were such freaks, so it’s been comforting to discover that everyone belongs to a family like that. Or maybe it’s horrifying, I don’t know. Maybe we should call a social worker.
ZF: What are you looking forward to attending at BWF this year?
BL: With both major parties taking a pretty piss-ant approach to climate policies, I want to hear what Tim Flannery has to say. I also want to see Jana Wendt, Ben Naparstek and Jessica Rudd – and Miguel Syjuco, who I’ve heard awesome things about. I’m cut to be unable to make a session where Anna Goldsworthy and Linda Neil will discuss their books about piano and violin-playing (respectively) with their actual instruments in the room. Also look for anything featuring Daniel Evans: he’ll make you shit yourself laughing. And whatever you do, don’t miss any session that features Anna Krien. She’s one of my best friends, and has just written a blistering, sharp and sometimes – unexpectedly – funny account of Tasmania’s forestry industry and its protestors, called Into The Woods. Compulsory reading. Plus, she’s a smoking babe.
ZF: With so many writing festivities in August, will we be all writered out by BWF?
BL: This is the big misconception about writers and writers festivals: that we just talk about the practice of “writing” in and of itself. I’d rather feed my dick through a meat grinder than watch a panel of people talk about sitting at a desk all day and bashing out words. That’s not entertaining, and that’s not what a writers festival is about. What people forget is that writing is basically communicating ideas. So if you’re interested in ideas – whether it’s politics or sex, rock music or art, technology or travel or the environment – then a writers festival is right up your alley. Scan through the program right now: I promise you there’s something for you.
BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL runs from Wednesday Sep 1 to Sunday Sep 5. The full programme can be found at www.bwf.org.au. THE FAMILY LAW is out now through Black Inc. Publishing. www.benjamin-law.com
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