Molly Ringwald at the Sydney Writer’s Festival 2013

In a flash back to the 1980s, Molly Ringwald was in Sydney to promote her first fiction book When it Happens to You and perform with her jazz band.  It was fascinating to hear how she met her husband in an online writer’s forum and how she read at every chance she had in between filming scenes.  I purchased her book “Getting the Pretty Back” and waited in line for her autograph.

I enjoyed several other sessions as well (May 25-26):

• Is Rhetoric Dead: In the Age of the Soundbite? There was a hearty debate amongst the panelists which include ex-speechwriter for Kevin Rudd, James Button, Federal Member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull, political journalist and social commentator Annabel Crabb and Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation Neil James.
• The Misogyny Factor a book by Dr. Anne Summers who has worked as a senior bureaucrat and political adviser, and is the former editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine
• Gillian Mears: Foal’s Bread and Living LifeThe Closing Address:  Claire Messud who addressed her American, Canadian and French identities and growing up in Sydney and a writer’s rootlessness in the global era.

During the Writer's Festival, the Sydney Festival of Lights was also on and the Sydney Harbour Bridge was also a part of the light-show.