As part of the Brimbank Writers and Readers Festival, Vision Australia radio and library teams have collaborated to present an immersive experience of different ways of writing and reading for people who are blind or have low vision.
Read My Way, is a free event that will be held at the Sunshine Library in Victoria on March 22, that takes people on a journey through audio, braille, tactile literacy and learning.
The panel includes library members along with writers with lived experience who will discuss the creation of accessible formats, the challenges of finding alternatives in a print-saturated world, and the impact for people who have a print disability. There will also be a fun immersive experience of games and braille.
The event has further strengthened the radio’s community partnership with the Brimbank Readers and Writers Festival, which began in 2023.
Vision Australia Radio community engagement coordinator, Jason Gipps welcomed the opportunity to be back as a media partner of the festival. “Our deepening involvement will highlight ways the local blind and low vision community can access information in alternative formats with the power of our audio and braille library, radio, and podcast services,” he said.
First Nation’s author, Tony Birch, will be in conversation about his recent book Women & Children, a novel about the love and courage between two sisters, and a sudden loss of childhood innocence. Brimbank local Amra Pajalic is running a self-publishing workshop and Dinuka McKenzie will be discussing her third instalment of the Detective Kate Miles series, Tipping Point.
Special interest sessions include Exploring Audio Book Production and Narration with Bolinda, and LGBTQIA+ History with local historian Noah Riseman and exploring the ups and downs of menopause, Goodbye Aunty Flow, from First Nations ILBIJERRI Theatre, a hilarious play created by ‘mob for mob’.
For young readers and writers there’s Hey Dee Ho’s The Fiction Factory storytelling adventure, and chances to hear from Real Pigeons author Andrew McDonald and illustrator Ben Wood, along with a talk with young-adult fiction author John Marsden.
Visitors can try their hand at zine (self-publishing) or attend the launch of Bold Source Issue 4, created and published by the young people of Brimbank.
Details for Read my Way March 22, from 2pm-3.30pm, at the Sunshine Library. Bookings are essential, book via Eventbrite here
The festival runs until March 23, 2024. All sessions are free, but bookings are essential. Visit the Brimbank Writers and Readers Festival website here