Amplify Lit Festival Live program announced
Aotearoa New Zealand writer and editor Jackie Lee Morrison has announced the program for the inaugural Amplify Lit Festival Live program, running 5–31 July on Instagram and TikTok.
The line-up includes 25 queer, BIPOC or marginalised writers and publishing professionals across seven different time zones in 10 sessions via Instagram and/or TikTok Live features.
Among headliners are Emma Pei Yin (When Sleeping Women Wake), Melanie Saward (A Good Kind of Trouble, Love Unleashed), Kat Cho (Wish Upon a K-Star, Wicked Fox) and Brigid Kemmerer (A Curse So Dark and Lonely, Forging Silver into Stars).
The online festival will feature events on the publishing industry – covering topics such as book marketing, working with an agent, and indie publishing – as well as sessions focusing on authors, including events on Asian Australian authors, balancing writing with chronic illness, and traditional publishing for First Nations authors.
Based in Wellington, Morrison is presenting the festival, as well as acting as chair across the live events. She is a writer and editor with a Master of Arts in Creative Writing, and her writing has appeared in literary journals and magazines.
Morrison said, ‘Amplify Lit Fest Live was born both out of the anxiety of having my debut novel out on submission, and from a conversation I had with my friends, Aussie Asian debut authors, Tzeyi Koay, Emma Pei Yin, and Jacquie Pham.’
Morrison said she was originally intending to host a TikTok live event with the authors to promote their books and discuss working as Asian authors in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, but the conversations prompted a broader idea for Morrison: ‘What if I could do a series of talks with writers and those in various aspects of the publishing industry to help other aspiring authors and promote authors in my networks, but do everything on TikTok and Instagram Live to make it as accessible as possible?’
She added, ‘My hope with Amplify Lit Fest Live is that I’ll not only be able to support and promote local and marginalised authors (I’m really pleased eight of the authors are debuts), but also provide valuable insider knowledge to aspiring authors, across both traditional and self-publishing spaces.’
‘Publishing is famously a gatekept industry, and can seem like a lot of smoke and mirrors. By opening up the doors, it can only make things easier for more aspiring authors in the future, especially those who are marginalised.
Further information about the program is available on Morrison’s social media accounts.
Category: Events Festivals Local news
