Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival 2022: Opening Night celebrations at Geraldton Regional Art Gallery

Now in its 17th year, the 2022 edition of Geraldton’s Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival was launched with opening night celebrations last Thursday.

Held at Geraldton Regional Library, attendees were treated to food and drink while listening to a few special guests.

Geraldton local and award winning author Holden Sheppard shared a story from his first job interview at Supa Valu Central, which used to sit where the current library building does now

“It was my first job at 14 years and I was interviewed by Mr Righters.”

“He asked me some procedural questions, then asked do you smoke? I panicked as a 14 year old catholic boy and said, no,no,no i don’t smoke.”

“I then doubled down saying I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life, to which Righter replied ‘ok, if you smoke the smoking section is out there near the dumpster’, that still stays with me till this day,” Sheppard said.

MC Anne Williams entertained the crowd while Zain Laudehr-May provided the tunes in what was a great night.

Tracey Snowball was awarded the Big Sky Short Story Prize for 2022, beating out five other finalists, to receive $500 cash and VIP access to the festival.