Jordan Hamel Photo: supplied
Dan Goodwin Photo: supplied
There have never been so many outlets for young writers wanting to share their work with their friends and indeed the world.
But there's nothing like a festival to allow them to get together, talk about their work and throw around all kinds of ideas.
The theme for the seventh New Zealand Young Writers Festival, set to take place in Dunedin at the end of the month, is "Collapsing the Conventional". And that's certainly what the participating poets, playwrights, novellists, essayists and performance artists plan to do.
It's a genre-busting festival programme, full of events that explore the limitations society places on our bodies, and how literature can help overcome them.
Lynn Freeman talks to two of the guest speakers: National Slam Poetry Champion Jordan Hamel's workshop is called "How to Speak Words and Influence People". He'll also take part in a discussion about climate change.
Playwright Dan Goodwin, meanwhile, will look at writing mental health and disability theatre. They're part of a performance about fluidity, gender, the body and how to write about it.
The Young Writers Festival starts on the 28th of October in Dunedin.
