Thread by @MJ_Leaver

Day two of #context19 This morning's speakers are @clairegcoleman @clementine_ford @RoyceRk2 and Manuela Akot. This set up is a long table, really interesting idea - like a brunch, with onlookers. The writers are going to speak on Writing To Tell The Truth.

This event is run by @writerssainc in partnership with @CityofAdelaide and hosted in the excellent @AdelaideLibrary It's a free event on today and tomorrow, so come check it out if you're in the city. #context19

Manuela is an award winning poet, and she's also a very wise woman because she quit twitter two years ago.

Claire "You can't write if you don't learn to listen."
Clementine "Learning to reflect, as well... We should strive always to being good... We are humans who constantly make mistakes." #context19

Royce, talking about goodness used as an excuse, goodness is about doing the work, wanting to do better next time, it's an ongoing process. #context19

Manuela - self-respect and looking into yourself, you're going to make mistakes, but trying to improve yourself from within - important to teach people everyone can improve. #context19

Claire has a slightly different perspective, she doesn't think people are inherently evil. She thinks it's normal people, doing bad things. "You don't have to be a bad person to do really, really bad things." #context19

Manuela talking about the idea that justice is a universal equaliser, but that isn't the case, as every person has their own bias which influences outcomes - based on race, gender, class community. #context19

I asked a question, which was mortifying, but started it off. 😂 @clementine_ford says "We all want to think we'd be the Rebel Alliance, but really, we'd all be the Empire." And she's right I mean look at our election results 🤷‍♀️. #context19

Manuela talking about how your writing needs to come from your truth - particularly in terms of poetry. Your life, your truth, and that's undeniable. #context19

Royce thinks part of the problem in Australia is that we struggle to think of ourselves as part of an overall narrative. Part of reflection is positioning a series of 'facts' within an overall story. #context19

Claire "The longer you can stretch out before you can get to the punchline of the novel, the truth of it, the more effective and impact it has. #context19

Clem says when she started, she used to use a quarter of her pieces to pander to the #notallmen demographic. But she says she still received similar abuse to now, but she found it was less effective because too many men slid themselves into that category #context19

Clem talks about how changing her narrative, and being persistent with her work has resulted in messages from men saying they'd thought and changed. "Change doesn't come from being comfortable". #context19

Respectability politics doesn't help anyway. Clem says she's done terrible things, like many of us have, but she says forcing herself to reflect on work that makes her uncomfortable is what leads to change. #context19

A question about utilising narrative to change minds, within works by "sneaking politics under the radar". @clairegcoleman entire novel #TerraNullius actually does this, narratives based on exposing truths, "trying to relate to people they wouldn't normally relate to" #context19

@RoyceRk2 talking about changing minds by creating a story, and striking a balance, "Show not tell", but also being aware sometimes you've got to be "Yeah that's racist." #context19

Clem says there's got to be a balance, stories can be manipulative in a good way, or a bad way. And rarely will one story change people in an instance - individualism is a problem. #context19 (Good migrant narrative? my thoughts not hers)

Dylan Coleman, Kokatha woman (Claire's cousin) and an award winning author in her own right, acknowledges we are on Kaurna land ( booktopia.com.au/mazin-grace-dy… ) and asks about truth telling, and how to do this when on colonised land. #context19

Dylan is speaking so beautifully, and I really hope this is recorded. Because 240 can't do it justice. "What are approaches that Non-Indigenous can writers engage people in for truth telling?" #context19

Manuela finds it weird, as a Sudanese woman, that many Australians cannot grasp the weight of colonisation, and the impact of it. She says she writes her truth, and hopes people can connect it with Australia and what happens here. #context19

Royce considers what he does to be journalism, and thinks of himself as a "professional witness", documenting an event, but it doesn't exist in a vacuum - things happen because of someone in power. #context19

Royce says that including own voices is essential. Clem is talking about her white privilege, and how she's done the wrong thing, and written out of her lane, says she's trying to use her platform more to signal boost the work of Indigenous women #context19

She also says that reading challenging works, and says it's important to constantly recognise the work of Indigenous writers and activists, whose work is their life - and to read those works, and position herself as a target of it, is essential (no #notallwhitepeople). #context19

Clem essentially speaking about white fragility now (though without naming it as that), and how it's human to respond with "Ow!" When something hurts, but that you shouldn't be "Ow! Fuck you!" But "Ow!" "Then how can I change?" #context19

We are wrapping up now, and Clem and Claire are sharing a chuckle at how many people dislike them. Claire says she thinks that antipathy comes from dislike of truth that people don't want to hear. #context19

Manuela "Don't change what you intended to write in the first place... Write for yourself more than anyone... Write things that are the truth to you." (Caveat for not being harmful to others). #context19

Royce "Don't be a jerk." 😂
Clem "An ongoing process for me, being a truth teller is recognising truths about yourself, and your own actions. She's still learning constantly. #context19

Royce - truth is work, screw-ups are inevitable, you have to keep working. Get up and do better tomorrow. #context19

This panel has been so freaking good @jessica_alice_ Like SERIOUSLY. This format has just been superb. Love it so much. #context19

Clem talking in response to audience comment, and about how disability activists speak out against inspiration porn, and how creating empathy shouldn't be a requirement for dismantling systemic oppression. #context19

And that's a wrap! Really glad I came in before work this morning, an excellent use of time! Hopefully my intermittent tweet storm was helpful for those who couldn't make it. Shout out to those who live tweet stuff often 😅 #context19