IT could be the most Freo event ever.
On Sunday, local childrens author Andrew R Litster is holding a festival at Leighton Beach with sound healing, live music and kids mural painting.
At the heart of the festival is a dramatic spoken word performance by Litster – vivid tales from his storytime dreaming book series The Gift of Fire.
• Beautiful artwork from Andrew R Litster’s storytime dreaming series The Gift of Fire.
“It is my own original story from my time with the late Dr Raffle G Locke, as part of a vision Quest in the centre of Australia with the permission of the Western Desert Woogie Elders, as well as local Pingarro Elders in Alice Springs,” Litster says.
“Entertaining and educational, the performance gives an insight into the Medicine Wheel as part of my studies with Dr Locke, who founded Sotems Spirit of the Earth Medicine Society.
“The Gift of Fire storytime dreaming is a means to recognise the traditions of First Nations people and honour the culture of over 40,000 years, as well as touch on the science behind the evolution of and changes 250,000 to 15,000 years ago, when the last of the mega marsupials were living around the last ice age.”
At the festival, kids and parents will get a chance to create a community mural of “animals of the dreaming of Australia Marsupials” and create artwork for Litster’s storytime dreaming series, including his latest book The Journey around Gondwana Land.
“This story is a myth about the creation of men and women from Birdwomen and Lizardman in a journey around Australia (Gondwana land),” he says.
Litster says a proportion of sales from his new book will go to The Australian Literary and Numeracy foundation for Children, and Protect Ningaloo, which aims to safeguard Exmouth Gulf from the threat of industrialisation
Throughout the day there will be live music including ukulele group MissyLaneous, ‘cat meow music” with kids encouraged to play and dance, and Johnny 33 and the The Two Jam band.
There will also be sound healing and a welcome to country.
The free festival will be held from 2:30pm-8pm tomorrow (Sunday December 10) at 14 Leighton Beach Boulevard, North Fremantle.
by STEPHEN POLLOCK