Published 20 February 2009 · Main Posts CAL-Meanjin lecture Jeff Sparrow Overland readers might be interested in the event series hosted by Meanjin. Meanjin is pleased to announce the first of the CAL/Meanjin lectures, to be held at the Perth Writers’ Festival (February 28 – March 2). The CAL/Meanjin lecture series, will be held at major writers’ festivals throughout 2009 and 2010. As Australia’s foremost literary journal, Meanjin takes seriously its responsibility to engage, provoke, confront, reflect and inspire. The series, funded by the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), is intended to draw the spotlight to issues facing the creative industries today. In Perth, on Sunday 1 March at 2pm, Jane Gleeson-White will talk about the power of different storytelling traditions and the capacity of literature to influence our lives. The lecture will tie in with Gleeson-White’s essay ‘To Prevent Contact’, published in the 2008 December edition of Meanjin. Gleeson-White has worked as a writer and editor since 1990, and is the author of Australian Classics: 50 great writers and their celebrated works. Editor Sophie Cunningham will also appear on a panel with the editors of Westerly and indigo to discuss the role of literary journals in discovering new talent and their function as alternatives to mainstream publishing. At the Sydney Writers’ Festival (May 18 – 24), the CAL/Meanjin lecture will feature Lynne Spender on the question of whether intellectual property can or should be owned, a discussion which builds on the issues brought to light by her essay in the forthcoming June edition. Sophie Cunningham will take part in a panel on literary journals, as well as co-hosting a social event with Overland aimed at giving writers, publishers, editors and readers a chance to meet and connect. The final talk for 2009 will take place at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival (August 7 – 9), with Sian Prior, Colin Friels and Sophie Cunningham. The discussion will spring from an essay by Sian Prior in the forthcoming June edition on the effects of shyness and introversion. Here, panellists will focus on the tension between public faces versus private selves, and how perception and the media can influence our professional lives. Jeff Sparrow Jeff Sparrow is a Walkley Award-winning writer, broadcaster and former editor of Overland. More by Jeff Sparrow › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 28 March 20249 April 2024 · Main Posts Why we should value not only lived experience, but also lived expertise Sukhmani Khorana In the wake of this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I want to extend the central idea of El Gibbs’s 2022 essay on 'lived expertise' and argue that in media accounts of racism, analytical expertise and lived experience ought to be valued together and even in the same body. 5 March 2024 · Main Posts Andrew Charlton’s school assignment Alex McKinnon Australia's Pivot to India exists for three reasons: so that when Andrew Charlton is interviewed on the radio or introduced on Q+A, his bio includes the phrase "he has written a book about Indian-Australian relations"; to fend off accusations that he is another Kristina Keneally engaging in electoral colonialism in western Sydney; and to help the Albanese government strengthen economic and military ties with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.