A Text-Crazed Night

“Look, I think we all get inspired at night,” says Sam Twyford-Moore from a campervan in New Zealand. Far from positing any vampiric notions of daylight avoidance, Twyford-Moore is speaking in his capacity as director of the Emerging Writers' Festival and making particular reference to the aptly monikered upcoming nocturnal literary marathon that is All Nighter. Unsurprisingly the idea here is that a roomful of scribes sit up all night tapping away, geeing each other up and tuning into what their fellow writers have to read out.

It's all part of White Night Melbourne on the weekend of 23 and 24 February, the multi-event overnight spectacle that aims to transform the city into an up-late playground of food, film, art and light. More than that though, All Nighter is also about the romantic mythology of the late-night writer. “I think this has something very basic to do with writing, which is that it can be hard to concentrate on,” Twyford-Moore theorises. “And so the night, when most people are asleep in bed, or out having a wild time, can be a really productive period for a writer because they can just be left alone. But I wouldn't wanna take away from that certain mythic quality that the night, the dark, the moon and the stars all possess.”

Whether they care to admit or not, writers can be, well, a little precious and bitchy. (My aphorism is better than yours.) So how is putting them in room for a whole night going to work? Will they get anything done? Sure that the night will prove productive, Twyford-Moore says, “When writers get into the zone, they can really concentrate and get a lot of work done. I've seen it happen.”

However, there will be additional distractions. All Nighter will feature hourly performances from some well-known literary types, including Luke Ryan, Lawrence Leung and Briohny Doyle. An open mic will also give participants to chance to share their gems. In addition, a 12 hour playlist selected by the bods at The Lifted Brow will enhance the mood.

“White Night might see our writers challenged,” Twyford-Moore admits. “There could possibly be a general audience who might come in to see the performances. But I hope the performances will inspire the writers too, and they might get inspired by the crowd too; details to describe, things to add to their work.”

Apart from serving as an inspiration and networking opportunity, All Nighter will doubtless be an outlet for caffeine addicts to indulge their passion. After all, writers need stimulation, right? Good thing the Emerging Writers' Festival folk have already thought of coffee solutions. Although not wanting to directly address the wider literary drug intake question, Twyford-Moore is quite prepared to talk about the morning after. “I would love it if a bunch of writers went out for breakfast on Sunday morning,” he muses. “I have no idea how I'm going to be feeling; but I might be up for a big cook up and a chat about how it all went. I just hope my body clock will keep up through it all.”

The spectacle of a gaggle of red-eyed wordsmiths shambling out of the Wheeler Centre with their laptop bags and stumbling into nearby cafes will surely be something to, erm, write home about. (Oh yeah – my pun is bigger than yours.)