I am very excited to share that next Saturday I am travelling to Clunes Booktown Festival
(Clunes facebook page ) as official Social Media Reporter for the day . I am there to spread the word and celebrate regional literary festivals that sometimes not celebrated as much as urban festivals.  I will be sketching and posting continuously during the day on my instagram page at alissaduke1  and facebook Alissa Duke Art with the hashtags #FestivalsRoadTrip and #clunesbooktownfestival.

I applied for and was thrilled to be awarded the position as Social Media Reporter by UNESCO Melbourne City of Literature based on my Melbourne Rare Book Week (MRBW) sketches, where I sketch on location at events over the week.  I am very excited as this role combines my love of sketching and books – what more could I ask for ???!!!

Below are some MRBW sketches

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Located approximately 90 minutes from Melbourne by car, the small country town of Clunes is a member of the International Organisation of Booktowns, the only one in Australia. The original is Hay-on-Wye in Wales.  A Booktown is a small, regional, community-focused town with a concentration of booksellers – mainly secondhand or antiquarian bookshops.

Each year Clunes (pop 2000) Booktown Festival attracts over 15,000 people across the two day event to the historical town, tempting book lovers with its sensational line-up of speakers and enticing weekend explorers with its culinary delights and surprises.  

Here are photos from last year . I am hoping the weather will be the same – The predicted weather is 16 degrees and possible showers . Fingers crossed for no rain.

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I will be sketching everywhere all day – on the streets amongst the books and stalls, at the talks and everywhere in between. As mentioned I will be posting continuously during the day on my instagram page at alissaduke1  and facebook Alissa Duke Art with the hashtags #FestivalsRoadTrip and #clunesbooktownfestival.  I plan to do some very quick sketches 10 – 20 minutes and maybe a few longer ones of up to an hour . Some will be in ink pen, with or without colour and others may be in watercolour pencils.  I will see what happens on the day.  It will be a full on day of sketching walking, looking, sketching and..  sketching.  I will be engaging with the events and sharing impressions of the moment through my sketches. Follow me and see what I sketch on he day.

The Festival features Australia’s largest book shop, with the whole of the main street given over to bookstores, with festival-goers able to browse rare and collectible books, go inside heritage buildings, listen to live music while sampling local food and wine, watch street performers, visit exhibitions, and immerse themselves in stories,

Clunes Booktown Festival is on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May at Clunes, Victoria. Tickets are $10 from clunesbooktown.com.au. and extra for  some speaker events.

Just going to fill my ink pen and sharpen my pencils now. !!!

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