Side Walks is an annual pop-up storytelling, ideas and literature festival run by Centre for Stories. In unique venues across Perth and Northbridge, Side Walks is a curated whirlwind of talks, performances and readings with a special emphasis on homegrown talent. Side Walks was made possible in 2021 with funding from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, Centre for Stories Founders Circle, Rayner Real Estate, and Aspen Corporate Financial Planning. Thanks also to our in-kind venue partners, Randal Humich, North Metropolitan TAFE, and St George’s Cathedral.

The Jury is Still Out is a conversation with memoir writers Daley Rangi, Franchesca Walker, Kosta Lucas and Sunili Govinnage. They discuss the challenges, practice, and responsibilities of memoir writing.

Daley Rangi is a Māori antidisciplinary artist generating unpredictable works and words. A proud advocate for bodily integrity and neurodiversity, they evade categorisation and invade the status quo; speaking truth to power and reorientating hierarchies. Through eclectic and autodidactic research and practice, they share rousing stories which take many forms, from poetry to plays to performance to paintings and beyond. Daley is inspired by ancestry and fuelled by injustice.

Franchesca Walker (Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Pāhauwera, Pākehā) is a writer and storyteller living on Whadjuk Noongar land. Born and raised in Aotearoa New Zealand, she arrived in Australia after her father had what can only be described as a mid-life crisis. Franchesca’s work has most recently been performed at Barefaced Stories, and published in Centre for Stories’ online publication, Journal.

Kosta Lucas is a researcher, practitioner and writer in the field of extremism, polarisation and community resilience in Australia and abroad. Kosta is passionate about using the power of conversation to affect social change and currently hosts two podcasts: the deeply personal and introspective, This Is Sparta, and the outward-facing, conversation series about the world’s “wicked problems”, Undesign by DrawHistory.

Sunili Govinnage (they/them) is a facilitator, trainer, writer and speaker with a passion for social justice and community building. Sunili writes on human rights and issues regarding the representation of people of colour in the media and popular culture for publications including The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, and New Matilda.

Credit: Simeon Neo