From all sides, writers in Adelaide grieving for social cohesion

For Don Dunstan, Adelaide was, “the Athens of the South” and this year’s Adelaide Writers Week lived up to that billing.

Over six days, some 240 writers shared their thoughts on writing about love, war, loss, inequality, human rights and often, themselves. They shared the joys of gardening, art and architecture and even of watching football. Listening to all this, the audience exuded gratitude.

At the same time, the civility of the park setting was tinged with palpable grief. At a personal level, Geraldine Brooks and others shared their devastation at the sudden loss of their beloved partner/s. Other writers drew on their loss of family and friends as their source of both trauma and inspiration.

At a macro level, there was profound grief that our world has once more become seriously unstable. War and disharmony abound. In Australia, the social cohesion facilitated by 50 years of multiculturalism is dissolving. We are also still reckoning with our colonial past.