Lovers of fine writing and challenging ideas are devastated at the news of the Ayatollah Khameini’s sudden death in Tehran. The revered Iranian leader was to have been principal guest at the Gazaville (formerly Nimbin) Writers’ Festival this year. ‘The passing of this visionary figure, barbarously assassinated by the powers of evil, is an incalculable loss to the world of letters,’ says festival director Larissa Defarge from inside the Armani burqa she is wearing in mourning. ‘His avuncular presence and irrepressible smile were an inspiration to campaigners against tyranny everywhere.’

Ms Defarge was speaking at the launch of the festival programme, a glossy publication of 40 pages (the first eight an extended ‘Acknowledgment of Country’ plus a two-page apology for Gazaville’s location on ‘stolen and unceded land’) and a cover portrait of the Ayatollah hastily edged in black by the printer.

‘It is tragic the Ayatollah’s works are not better known in Australia,’ she adds. ‘A writer of great power and originality, much of his output has been in the field of beautifully expressed decrees for the mass execution of enemies of the revolution. This work is rich in the treasures of seventh-century Islamic jurisprudence. We had scheduled a number of seminars to examine these texts in detail for felicity of style. The Ayatollah had long had a reputation as a keen bibliophile and had an unrivalled collection of copies of the Koran translated into all the languages of the world, or the ‘Great Caliphate in Formation’ as he liked to call it. Unfortunately, there is no translation into the tongue of our own First Nations people. We had hoped to present him with one, once our indigenous editorial committee resolves its differences over which of the 120 or so pre-invasion languages to translate it into.’

In the email from his bunker accepting the festival’s invitation, the Ayatollah had said he had been reading the programme and was ‘particularly looking forward’ to a scheduled event with a delegation of Queers for Theocracy. This was to have been held in the Paradise Room on the roof of the Gazaville Sheraton with its open terrace giving spectacular views from the nineteenth floor. In a media release, the hotel management regretted that ‘this magical evening beneath the stars will not now take place. We had planned for our in-house orchestra to enchant the company as the Ayatollah and the Queers danced the evening away to the nostalgic strains of hits from his early revolutionary days such as “Believe it or not I’m walkin’ on air”.’

As part of the festival programme, an ecumenical memorial service for the Ayatollah will be held at the Gazaville recreation ground (reserved seating for women behind the changing rooms). Uniting Church minister Rev. Kirsty Drivel will preach on the intersectionality of Islam and Christianity. Islam has much to teach the Christian church, she believes. ‘We Christians often seem ashamed of our religion, riddled as it is with hate and homophobia. Muslims are proud of theirs and seek to propagate it by any means possible. Besides, Islam is infinitely more inclusive. The Christian tradition has only one virgin among its faith figures. Islam promises 72 as an end-of-life reward, some of whom, statistically, would have to be trans persons.’

A poetic reading in Arabic is also planned with the chief muezzin of Lakemba as guest artist. He will recite his extended reworking of the traditional adhan or call to prayer, accompanying himself on the zither (Thermos and sleeping bag recommended).

Another celebrity participant this year is writer and events manager Jock Lees, who specialises in the traditional genre of monographs. To mix art with the written word, Jock publishes his writing on pieces of cardboard from old packing cases to be ‘held high by ordinary people expressing their demand for a fair go for all oppressed minorities that we approve of’. Some of his vintage writings – ‘No to capitalist’s (sic) war on Iraq’, ‘I stand with Occupy’, ‘Yes to the Voice’ – have become collectors’ pieces for connoisseurs of ‘protest art’.

Of course no literary gathering is complete without renowned essayist Dr Morticia Kalashnikov, described by Ms Defarge as ‘a dinkum Aussie voice for moderation and reason’ in the fight to free Palestine. ‘The expulsion of  Palestinians from their ancestral land from the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf,’ she writes in her latest book, River and Sea (Australia Institute Press, paperback $84.99) ‘is the key issue of our time – well, perhaps that’s climate but that’s not the point.’ Her eyes blaze strabismically. ‘Above all, the heroic brides of the freedom fighters must be brought home as honoured patriots with a lifetime pension.’

The festival programme notes that, ‘A fierce commitment to free speech is in our DNA at Gazaville. We would only remind participants that ideas and opinions that conflict with our vision of a multicultural, non-racist Blak-governed Australia purged of settler colonialism cannot be tolerated.’

Dr Kalashnikov, it will be remembered, was herself the victim of a shameless political attack on free speech at an earlier writers’ gathering. ‘Far-right censorship,’ says Ms Defarge, ‘is the greatest threat to freedom today, as another ruthlessly silenced Gazaville guest can testify. After years of holding forth – that is, contributing his prophetic wisdom – in a national newspaper, Living National Genius Phillip Arblaster, has been brutally deplatformed by the Murdoch media. But not by Gazaville!’ she boasts. ‘Drawing inspiration from his memorable late-twentieth-century work of advertising, “Life. Be in it”, he will be with us to present his Ode for a Martyred Ayatollah under the title, “Life. Be out of it”.’

For a full list of participants visit the Writers’ Week website www.leftistbores@gazaville. You’ll find rich pickings indeed for devotees of contemporary literature.