The 2008 Melbourne Writers' Festival wrapped up on the weekend and by all accounts has been a success.

Over 45,000 people attended, with box office records increasing 40% on last year and with $580,000 taken. This is the first year the festival has been held in the heart of Melbourne at Federation Square and director Rosemary Cameron told WBN the move had been a good one. ‘It has been very exciting and there has been a real buzz around the festival,' she said. ‘It has been lovely to see people sitting and reading, catching up with friends to go to sessions, and just taking time out of their busy schedule to listen, to read and to engage.' 

As reported last week, there were a number of sell-out sessions. On the final weekend, the readings of Anna Akhmatova's poetry in English and Russian by Robert Dessaix, Orlando Figes, Anya Ulnich, David Francis, Helen Garner and Sophie Cunningham saw St Paul's Cathedral packed out in a unique and moving event.

One benefit of the new Fed Square location was the close proximity of theatres, rooms and stages holding events, just a short walk from one to the other. Though the stairs proved a challenge for some older festival patrons, Faccess at ed Square was nonetheless an improvement on The Malthouse. Cameron told WBN that some the festival would be looking to change some of the venues for 2009 but was generally very happy with the Fed Square location.

Some popular highlights overall were Germaine Greer's keynote address, attracting 2000 people, Paul Keating, David Sedaris, Maude Barlow, Orlando Figes, Andrew Davies, and Max Gilles on a range of topics from politics, economics, environment, writing, adaptation, humour, and inspiration. Other themes that emerged strongly at the festival were correlations between old and new media, feminism, historical representations and the blurring of lines between truth and fiction. The media debates were timely and interesting for the audience in the midst of strikes by staff at The Age after large job cuts before the festival's final weekend.

Emerging and established writers attended a number of masterclasses and workshops. The big screen in Federation Square was treated to literary remixes sent by laptop and mobile phone on Saturday, and WordPlay @ ArtPlay provided workshops and author readings for children.

Much fun was had in the Festival Club, from Josh Earl's hilarious jokes and songs derived from the Dewey Decimal System, to 15 Minutes of Fame for an emerging writer, to nightly LoveTV, where respected authors bared their souls on camera, including Augusten Burroughs, Jackie French, and Hannah Tinti. During the day the club also played host to a series of book launches.

Bestsellers for the Festival:

1. The Boat by Nam Le (Viking)
2. American Journeys by Don Watson (Knopf)
3. On Rage by Germaine Greer (MUP)
4. When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris (Little, Brown)
5. Stray Dog Winter by David Francis (A&U)
6. The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser (A&U)
7. When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday)
8. On Experience by David Malouf (MUP)
9. The Whisperers by Orlando Figes (Penguin)
10. The General: CHERUB Book 10 by Robert Muchamore (Hodder Children's)

http://www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au/articles/2008/09/09343/

This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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