November 18th 2023,

Festival of Stories is at Berninneit, Cowes

We are pleased to be partnering with Bass Coast Council Arts and Culture team to bring you a unique offering on November 18th at the new centre in Cowes

Thank you for your continued support of our volunteer committee and this endeavour. Please see below a selection of our presenters for this year, with the full programme coming out soon.

Festival of Stories is Proudly Supported by:

Our Programme

9:30am, Forecourt: Smoking Ceremony and Welcome

Uncle Steve Ulula Parker, artist, mentor, ceremony maker  

10.00am, Auditorium: Deep Listening and Truth-Telling Panel 

Daniel Church- Darug Artist

Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir OAM, educator, activist

Uncle Steve Ulula Parker

Hosted by Dr Laura Brearley - intercultural and environmental arts specialist  

11.00am, Auditorium: Lorin Clarke

Would this Be Funny?

1.15pm, Auditorium: Sue Hines

Concurrent Presentation – Australian Publishing from the Inside  

2.15pm, Auditorium: Sam Drummond

Concurrent Presentation – Broke: bones, family system  

 3.15pm, Auditorium: Megan Rogers

The Pathway to Publication  

4.15pm, Auditorium: Penguin Foundation and Puffin Books 

Launch of co-produced book, The Littlest Penguin  

 7.30pm, Auditorium: Brian Nankervis

With special guest Jane Clifton 

Find out more about our presenters

Brian Nankervis: Stories from a Consummate Performer

Daniel Church: First Nations Stories through Art

Daniel Church was born on Darug Country in Liverpool in New South Wales, where his parents, grandparents, great grandparents and his Ancestors were also born. He is currently pursuing his creative arts practice on Gunaikurnai Country in Gippsland, Victoria.

His practice predominantly revolves around woodcarving and painting on canvas, which for him is about passing down songlines and cultural sharing.

Daniel’s family of carved and painted wooden pelicans is currently on display at the National Gallery of Victoria and a sculpture of his totem, the Brahminy Kite, won the Lechte Corporation Acquisitive Award in 2021. In June 2023 at Confined 14, Daniel won the Melbourne Rd Art & Canvas Stretching Award for overall excellence in art practice.

Daniel’s artworks reflect stories of his Country along the Dyarubbin (the Hawkesbury River) or are tributes to the Country of the Gunaikurnai where he resides. Following the art practices of his ancestors brings him peace and keeps him connected to culture which gives his life meaning and purpose.

Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir, OAM: Cultural Advocacy, Education, Language Revival

Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir is a highly respected Elder who has demonstrated strong leadership and community service for over forty years in Victoria in the fields of health, Koori prisoner programs, language revival, cultural advocacy and education. Aunty Fay was born in Swan Hill on Wamba Wamba Country into a culturally strong, loving and closely-knit family. She is a freshwater and saltwater woman, with Wamba Wamba heritage on her father’s side and Boon Wurrung heritage on her mother’s side. 

Aunty Fay provides cultural guidance to students and teachers at all levels of the Victorian Education system, providing cultural and curriculum advice in pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary education contexts. She contributes to professional learning and resource development and is a published author. In 2018, Nganga: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Words and Phrases, which Aunty Fay co-authored with Sue Lawson, was published by Black Dog Books. Nganga is an authoritative and concise collection of words and phrases related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and issues. 

Aunty Fay was appointed by the State Government to undertake the role of Koori Court Elder. She sits on the bench as an Elder and provides cultural advice and mentoring in Juvenile Courts, the County Court and the Magistrates’ Court. She facilitates cultural awareness training for members of the Victorian Corrections system, including judges. She also undertakes prison visits and provides support, cultural guidance and language education for Koori prisoners.

Uncle Steve Ulula Parker: Country, Culture, Health and Climate

Uncle Steve is a Traditional Custodian of Boonwurrung Country. He is an artist, musician, performer, cultural educator and a mentor of Indigenous youth. He has lived on Country most of his life and has spent the last twenty years living on Millowl. He is a descendant of the Boonwurrung, Yorta Yorta and Erub people.

Uncle Steve brings in dance, art, story-telling, ceremony and regenerative land management practices into the work he does. He is a strong believer in sharing his culture and sharing it with non-Indigenous people to be proud of the culture we have in our Country. His work brings people together from different backgrounds, deepening understanding and connecting people and Country. In his view, telling stories through pictures or songs crosses over language barriers and strengthens our interconnections. It’s about bringing everybody together and educating the wider public.

It’s about listening to our Land and our ancient culture and deepening knowledge and awareness so that everyone can live on this Country with peace and understanding.

Lorin Clarke: Would that Be Funny?

Lorin is bringing to the Festival her reflection on the imperceptible things that make a family: from long-told folklore, in-jokes, and archetypes, to calamities like world wars, deep-seated traumas, and sudden loss.

Lorin Clarke is the creator of the award-winning observational audio fiction serial, The Fitzroy Diaries, three series of which have been to air on ABC RN, and as a podcast. Lorin writes regularly for children’s television (Beep & Mort, Bluey, Kangaroo Beach). Her children’s book, Our (Last) Trip to the Market was published by Allen & Unwin in 2017 and she writes the popular Public Service Announcement column for The Big Issue. Her recent book, Would That Be Funny? (Text Publishing) is a family memoir about life with her father, Kiwi satirist John Clarke, her mother, art historian Helen McDonald, and her sister, Lucia. The family have spent their holidays at Phillip Island since the eighties and Would That Be Funny touches on the family mythologies, in-jokes, and linguistic peculiarities that develop between families over time. 

Sam Drummond: Broke - bones, family, system

Sam will sharing his story, telling us what’s it like for a kid to grow up with a disability in a single parent family.

Sam Drummond’s memoir Broke explores downward mobility, housing insecurity, regional disadvantage, intergenerational trauma and a system that ultimately lets down our most vulnerable people. While set in the 1990s, the lessons resonate with extra importance today.

Sam Drummond grew up in country Victoria before moving to Melbourne to study arts and law at Monash University. 

He began his career as a broadcaster and producer on community, commercial and public radio, before moving into politics and finally into law, having studied Arts and Law at Monash University. He now specialises in discrimination law.

When he is not parenting, writing or working, he can be found swimming laps of Melbourne’s outdoor pools, tending to his native garden or discovering parts of the world he didn’t get to experience as a child.

Sue Hines: Australian Publishing from the Inside

Sue will be showing the Festival an insider’s glimpse into the publishing industry

For most of the last 35 years Sue Hines has worked in book publishing as a senior executive. She has worked with a wide variety of authors from household names to first time writers, and she has acquired and published books on the broadest imaginable range of subjects. 

Publishing has been her life, and she gives the Festival an inside glimpse into the industry’s history and the workings of its daily operation - how publishers think, and how they choose the books they publish, and the constraints they work under. She has seen bestsellers come and go, and published many a book that didn’t reach those giddy heights but which, nonetheless, brought pleasure to its readers, and occasionally did that rare thing that a good book can do and changed the culture that produced it.

Megan Rogers: The Pathway to Publication

Megan will be telling the story of how do she went from being a work-from-home Mum to getting your debut novel published?

When submitted by her agent, Megan Rogers’ debut novel The Heart is a Star was bid on by five major Australian publishers and was in the end signed by HarperCollins Australia. Join Megan in conversation as she shares her story and the pieces of advice she would give aspiring writers no matter where they are on their journey. She will also talk about her debut novel, its story and themes and what has happened since it’s been out in the world. Whether you have the spark of an idea or a finished manuscript, whether you are a non-fiction, children’s or fiction writer, this session aims to inform and inspire everyone.

Megan Rogers began her working life as an editorial assistant at Allen & Unwin, before moving into communications and eventually headed up the marketing at the State Library of Victoria. In 2014 Megan finished a PhD in Creative Writing at RMIT, which resulted in the book, Finding the Plot, A Maternal Approach to Madness in Literature published by feminist publisher Demeter Press. She also has a Bachelor of Arts/Science (Monash), a Diploma of Professional Writing & Editing (RMIT), a Graduate Diploma in Professional Communication (Deakin), and a Masters of Marketing (Monash). Megan taught creative writing at university level for over ten years and lives in the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbourne. The Heart is a Star is her first novel. Her second novel The Anatomy of Tears will be published by HarperCollins Australia in 2025.

The Penguin Foundation & Puffin Books

The Penguin Foundation are bringing their gorgeous new book to Phillip Island the home of the little penguin. They will be sharing with Festival attendees the journey from a non-profit organisation raising funds for the protection and rehabilitation of penguins, habitat restoration and preservation and other threatened wildlife species, to publishing.

A charming story for young readers that follows a group of gorgeous little penguins out to sea and back to their beloved Phillip Island.

Beautifully illustrated by Jedda Robaard on every page and packaged as a small gift-hardback format, this is as irresistible as the cuddly little birds the story is based on.

Published by Penguin Random House’s imprint Puffin, The Littlest Penguin, published October 2023, is based on the amazing journey behind Phillip Island's Penguin Parade, a well-loved locale on beautiful Phillip Island.

More information on the Foundation may be found at penguinfoundation.org.au

Lucinda Bains & Rees Guildford: Spark It Up - Writing Creative Non-fiction

Lucinda and Rees, with Catherine Watson are bringing us their expertise at writing creative non-fiction, with a Q&A session and launching The Bass Coast Prize for Non-Fiction Anthology

Catherine Watson

is publisher of the online magazine Bass Coast Post and was cofounder with Phyllis Papps of the Bass Coast Prize for Non-Fiction. She was a judge for the 2019 and 2020 prizes.