Season 7: Episode 84: Festival directors: Corrie Perkin and Veronica Sullivan

Karen and Irma chat about how to decide on the POV(s) for a novel, and how to listen to what the book itself wants to be.Then Irma talks to Melbourne Writers Festival Director Veronica Sullivan and Sorrento Writers Festival Director Corrie Perkin about their pathways to becoming directors of two of Australia’s biggest festivals, the way they plan their programs, practical advice on what writers and their publishers can do to break into the festival circuit, what writers do wrong when pitching to festivals and how to get it right, the controversy around the Sydney Writers Festival exclusivity clause and the Bendigo and Adelaide festival boycotts, what makes both a good panellist and a good panel, how Corrie’s devastating experience of closing her bookshop led to creating a new festival, and why an event with Behrouz Boochani had a profound impact on Veronica.About Corrie and VeronicaCorrie Perkin began her career as a cadet reporter at the Age and over the next three decades, worked in a variety of editing and writing roles. In 2009, she opened an independent bookstore in Hawksburn that ran that for 12 years. Then in 2023, she founded the Sorrento Writers Festival, which has quickly grown to become Australia’s second-biggest literary festival.Veronica Sullivan began as a volunteer at Melbourne Writers Festival, then went on to intern at the Emerging Writers’ Festival. She was a founding board member and then program manager of the Feminist Writers Festival, and then became head of programming at The Wheeler Centre, before assuming her current role as Director of Melbourne Writers Festival.Show NotesMelbourne Writers FestivalSorrento Writers FestivalFind out more about Irma and KarenVisit Irma Gold’s website, or follow her on Instagram and FacebookVisit Karen Viggers’ website, or follow her on Instagram and FacebookFollow Secrets From the Green Room on Instagram and Facebook