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Jan Cornall is a renowned singer, song writer, performance artist, playwright, screen writer, teacher, and facilitator, based in Sydney, Australia.
Jan began her performance career at La Mama, Melbourne in 1969, and her writing career as writer in residence, at the Pram Factory, Melbourne, in 1979, (writing the acclaimed musical “Failing In Love Again”). Jan‘s standing as a…
DIRECTORY
Singapore-based writer Zafar Anjum’s blog about literary news and views with special focus on Asian writers. Also includes occasional discussions on general interest themes.
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Editorial
Vaka Moana: Navigation by Talkstory
VAKA MOANA : NAVIGATION BY TALKSTORY
EDITED BY CATH KOA DUNSFORD
Tena Koutou, Talofa Lava, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Kia Orana, Malo e lelei,
Taloha ni, Ni Sa Bula, Greetings to all
Pacific peoples have always navigated our Vaka [waka] or canoes by the brilliant stars in the night skies and by our shared talkstories that root us back to our whakapapa, our origins but also take us forward when new stories burst out, like stars, from our souls.
At the inaugural PEN Asia and Pacific Writer’s Conference, held in Melbourne, November, 2005, I was one of three keynote speakers alongside Aboriginal author Alexis Wright and Kirpal Singh. This was an incredibly exciting and electric conference, directed with skill and deep humanity by Berni Janssen, PEN and all their helpers.Tales of torture and threats endured by many of the Asian authors present gave a wider perspective to the concept of writing for survival. We acted as witnesses to the wider world and none of the writers there will ever forget this shared time together, nor the many debates over aspects of writing, interpretation and translation over our many cultural borders. There were many more Asian than indigenous Pacific authors present and this was addressed at the conference and a commitment was made to better balancing at the next conference and through the Asia andPacific Writer’s website. Both Mohit Prasad, director of the Pacific Writer’s Forum at the University of the South Pacific and I agreed to work towards more indigenous Pacific editions and also encouraging more Pacific writers to submit their work. I promised Berni Janssen I would edit an edition of indigenous Pacific writing early in 2008 after my global touring schedule ended.
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Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.
Oscar Wilde