Dark Mofo appoints Adelaide Writers' Week's Laura Kroetsch as program director

Earlier in the week it was announced that after seven years of helming Adelaide Writers’ Week, Kroetsch would be stepping down from the role after 2018. Today with a media release from the Dark Mofo team, motivation behind that decision became clear with the announcement that Kroestch would be joining the sombre antipodean festival with a new curated showcase of literature, film and ideas.

“We are delighted to announce the appointment of DDT program director Laura Kroetsch,” said Dark Mofo director Leigh Carmichael in the release. “We’ll be asking her to draw on her wealth of experience as we program some of the more challenging and dangerous ideas being discussed in the twenty-first century.”

Kroetsch said she is “thrilled” to join Dark Mofo after her tenure at Adelaide Festival’s week-long literature event, and praised the festival for being “a festival that values freedom of expression.

“In these dark times, we need to insist on freedom of expression,” said Kroetsch.

Dark Mofo has grown in popularity every year since it began in 2013. Embracing the the Tasmanian winter, and thanks to Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (Mona), the festival is known to focus on generally dark themes of death, sex, rituals and feasting.

It appears that Kroetsch’s scope will focus on those themes rather than take on the broad remit of Adelaide Writers’ Week.

“We’ll be looking at a broad range of issues,” said Carmichael, “but it’s unlikely we’ll stray too far from the core themes of fucking and killing.”

darkmofo.net.au