The History of Blak and Bright
The entity that became Blak & Bright began as an initiative of the resident writing organisations at the Wheeler Centre, in conjunction with First Nations Australia Writers Network, who applied for a grant to employ an Indigenous Project Officer with a view to developing a festival.
The grant was successful and in 2015 they advertised for a project officer. Jane Harrison was employed on the one year contract. Jane, a Muruwari woman, was a writer and playwright who had also worked as a researcher and policy officer in Aboriginal Affairs. Jane worked closely with a steering committee made up of representatives from the Wheeler Centre, Emerging Writers Festival and Melbourne Writers Festival to design and deliver the very first Blak & Bright Indigenous Literary Festival in 2016.
The four day Festival programmed over 60 First Nations writers from across the country – poets, fiction writers, young adult writers, non fiction writers, academics and more. From the very start Blak & Bright wanted to do things differently, so our programme included very emerging writers in the form of ‘yarn bombers’ who popped up at the start of sessions to deliver scripted 3 minute pieces. A practice Blak and Bright still holds dear and continues every year with festival participation in MWF and EMW. Including continuing these Yarn Bombers throughout our own festival.
The idea was to include writers who wouldn’t have been programmed in the usual writers festival a chance and we supported those mainly unpublished writers by providing them with a masterclass with an established writer to help them craft their pieces. We also aimed to include theatre writers in our programme and worked with Ilbijerri to develop a session called 6 plays in 60 minutes – excerpts from the Ilbijerri theatre company’s canon delivered by actors.
Our opening night event, helmed by the incredible Anita Heiss, had a performative element too with two actors on stage delivering selected excerpts from books that illustrated Anita’s theme of 20 reasons to read Blak Books. The books featured sold out in the bookshop at the back of the room after her event. Another innovation was The Bogong - our version of New York’s The Moth – which featured 7 minute original stories based on a theme and drawn from lived experiences.
We of course partnered with the writing organisations in the Wheeler Centre building and those partnerships continue to this day. Indeed many of the sessions became stalwarts of the programme over the four Festivals up until 2024 and under the creative direction of Jane Harrison. Of course no Festival is pulled together with one person and Jane managed to bring together small but mighty teams to bring watch Festival to fruition.
Right from the first festival audience members have been enthusiastic about Blak & Bright, with 100% of those surveyed in the first festival declaring that they would attend again. And audiences have continued to grow and engage with our work in all aspects.
In 2022, post lockdown in Melbourne Blak & Bright livestream the majority of its sessions and audiences online have also increased.
How has Blak & Bright changed the literary landscape? Blak & Bright is the only major literary festival in Australia to deliver 100% First Nations artists. All the panelists and moderators are First Nation people and that brings about a different type of conversation as our guests and audiences have noted.
And we are more than just a biennial literary Festival with the organisation incorporating in 2023 and going on the delivery year round literary activity including our annual Education Day, in partnership with the State Library of Victoria, which brings in secondary students from across Victoria to hear from and engage in workshops delivered by young adult authors.
Other partnerships include those with the City of Melbourne to deliver truth telling events and First Nations centred literary galas with the Wheeler Centre. We also deliver sessions for other Festivals including Byron Bay Writers Festival and from 2025, Sydney Writers Festival.
We believe Blak stories are for everyone and we encourage all people in the community to engage with Blak literature. Stories are the backbone of our culture and sharing them leads to a more inclusive and educated society. Blak & Bright will continue to thrive under the new leadership of Bebbe Oliver, appointed as Festival Director and CEO in late 2024.