Writers at the Convent - #2. Stephanie Dowrick

Continuing on from my last post, I went to three other sessions at the Writers at the Convent Festival.  After lunch was the an interesting session with Stephanie Dowrick, author of books dealing with "personal, social, and ethical development" such as "Choosing Happiness"  (for more on Stephanie see her website at http://www.stephaniedowrick.com/.

Why Stephanie you might ask?  The "Mind, Body, Soul" genre is one of the fastest growing genres in book sales in the US and I'm sure that is so for Australia also.  Why are we looking for answers on happiness, intimacy, solitude, and forgiveness (all the subjects of some of Stephanie's bestselling books)?  I wanted to hear more from someone who is working in this genre everyday.  Stephanie's latest book "In the Company of Rilke" started life as a Phd thesis, and looks at the work of the 20th century German poet, Rainer Rilke.

Why Rilke?  Rilke lived during a time when the world was changing rapidly, becoming more mechanistic.  He wrote poetry about how we experience life - how my life connects with yours.  Rilke's poetry conveyed the message of not struggling to have answers, and to live the questions, at odds with the society in which he was living.  Stephanie could see parallels in society today, and talked about the idea of "surrendered living" to "awaken to whatever it is with freshness, and not be burdened by our preconceptions".  Putting it in my own context, I likened it to current parenting styles where "control" over outcomes has been the goal in recent years.  (That's the subject for another post).

Stephanie admitted that this book is very different from her previous books and thus would have a smaller audience, but she really wanted to make people less afraid of poetry, so that they might give it a go.  While much of what she said reflected the spirituality of her role as an interfaith minister, I did find much to ponder as I left the room.

Writers at the Convent

On Friday I gave myself an early Valentine's Day present - I booked myself some sessions at the "Writer's at the Convent Festival" which is put on by Readers Feast, a bookshop in Melbourne city.  I'm sure my lovely husband would have done it for me if he knew about it, but as he didn't, I decided to take the initiative and do it for him!  This is an annual event, which runs from the evening of Friday 12th February this year until Sunday 14th.  From the media press release:

This year’s Reader’s Feast ◊ Writers at the Convent, Melbourne’s summer celebration of reading, writing, books and ideas will feature the now traditional diverse range of topics, including a look at when Melbourne was Australia's capital, the passion of football supporters, parenting, Jewish emancipation, parlour games, Weary Dunlop, Paris, sex, food, fire, crime and economics. Writers from the US, UK and New Zealand will join local luminaries.

I'll hear from Shannon Bennett and Elizabeth Bard on Paris, the subject of their books Shannon Bennett's Paris, and Lunch in Paris respectively.  Paris is a place I have visited twice under different circumstances, the first time with my husband as a young married couple where we did all those adult things such as sitting at an outside table in a cafe in Montmartre with a glass of beer watching the artists in the square, and dining at a small restaurant and laughing over trying to understand the menu with my limited french.  The second time with children, the the highlights were the Eiffel Tower, the merry go round at the base of the hill to the Sacre Coeur, the children's science museum, and, of course, Euro Disney.  I think I will enjoy hearing Shannon and Elizabeth's views of this legendary city.