It is my pleasure to introduce WordStorm 2012 and the National Poetry Festival; a collaboration between the NT Writers’ Centre and Australian Poetry that brings this already renowned festival to the national stage.
WordStorm truly is the festival of Australasian writing, this year welcoming distinguished writers from the Territory’s remote areas, interstate, as well as Indonesia, Singapore, Scotland and the USA. Not merely a festival of entertainment, WordStorm 2012 brings opportunities to NT writers and strengthens our already flourishing writing community.
This year’s program sees the first Indigenous Editing forum, a day long intensive which aims to create strategies for supporting and training Indigenous editors and writers, to increase publication and ensure Indigenous voices are not compromised in the literary world.
I congratulate the NT Writers’ Centre on an exciting and stimulating program, the benefits of which will be felt well into the future.
I extend a warm welcome to the many people who have come to participate in and enjoy WordStorm 2012.
Hon. Gerry McCarthy MLA
Minister for Arts and Museums