This week Lucy Neave and I spoke about 'The Science of Writing' at the Woden Library. Thanks to a great audience for thoughtful questions, comments and responses.
Why do writers feel the need to write? What does science say about creativity? To what extent is writing a discovery process for authors? Join Lucy Neave and Saskia Beudel as they discuss these questions, and explore the art and science of writing creatively, The talk will be followed by a discussion with the audience.
Lucy Neave is the author of Who We Were, a novel published by Text (Melbourne, 2013), which was shortlisted for the ACT Book of the Year Award in 2014. She has published in Best Australian Stories 2009 & 2014, and in Australian and American literary journals. Her scholarly essays are on fiction writing process, writers' practices and pedagogy. She is the recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts grant, a Varuna Second Book Fellowship and is a former Fulbright scholar. She teaches creative writing at Australian National University.
Saskia Beudel is the author of three books including A Country in Mind(UWAP 2013), Curating Sydney: Imagining the City’s Future(with Jill Bennett, UNSWP 2014) and Borrowed Eyes(Picador 2002). Her books have been shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the Kibble-Dobbie Award and the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. Her essays appear in Best Australian Essays, The Conversationand a wide range of Australian and international literary journals. Her research interests encompass history of science, environmental writing, narrative nonfiction, life writing, and contemporary art. She teaches in the writing program at the University of Canberra.
Lucy Neave (left) and Saskia Beudel, Woden Library, 20 August 2018. Photographer: Barbara Holloway