As I reviewed Musk & Byrne a while back elsewhere, I did not comment on Fiona Capp's post on reluctant blogging on the State Library's Summer Read blog, but I am going to quote her here on writing and writers' festivals because I think she has written something rather fine about the matter.
I have been nattering there to Nam Le, who has written at length about blogging and festivals, but Fiona's come up with a physically evocative simile that begs to be shared more widely. (Also there's a commenter on this post who has a ripper suggestion for festival promotions, too.)
The thing that puzzles me about Writers’ Festivals and similar events is that writing and reading, like surfing, are silent activities in which one loses oneself, and yet these festivals are all about performing and talking. What I would love to see is a Readers’ Festival where everyone gathers – if they want company – at a particular venue and sits quietly reading, and occasionally talking to people around them about the books they are reading.
As in the work of Robert Gray where simile is deliberately favoured above metaphor, we are left to consider for ourselves deeper questions posed by this perfect picture - are readers, then, surfers on an ocean of writing, waiting for a wave?
And with regard to Fiona's Readers' Festival, I can't help wondering if that's what we do when we talk about books online. Is it?

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