Adelaide Festival’s Writers’ Week hosts last-minute tribute to Shane Warne
Adelaide’s literary community has paid tribute to cricket legend Shane Warne, with a Writers’ Week event celebrating the great after his sudden death at 52.
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The sudden passing of Australian cricket legend Shane Warne at 52 has reached far and wide, with the Adelaide literary community coming together to celebrate the sporting icon’s life in an impromptu memorial service held on Sunday.
Remembering Shane Warne was added to the Adelaide Festival’s Writers’ Week program after news of the leg spinner’s untimely death from a suspected heart attack on Friday shocked the cricketing world.
The event was hosted by Nick Ryan with cricket writers Bharat Sundaresan and Malcolm Knox sharing anecdotes about Warne’s career on and off the field, much to the delight of a hundreds-strong crowd.
Outgoing Writers’ Week director Jo Dyer said the cancellation of another event provided the opportunity for the festival to pay tribute to ‘Warnie’.
“He’s such a big personality and has made such an impact, not just on cricket, but I think on Australian culture and sensibilities,” Ms Dyer said.
She said a Writers’ Week event was a unique setting for people to discuss Warne’s life, as well as the themes of death and loss and the event came together “quite naturally”.
Mr Ryan said Warne transcended the sport and the unusual setting of the memorial spoke volumes of his impact on Australian culture.
“There’s a certain irony that Shane Warne is being commemorated at an event he wouldn’t even know existed,” Mr Ryan said.
“I think that probably summed up the impact the man had.”
The South Australian Cricket Association released a statement on Saturday paying tribute to Warne and his impact on the state.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened for his family and his many friends in the cricketing world,” SACA President Andrew Sinclair said.
“Vale Shane Warne”.
Warne’s name was added to the Adelaide Oval scoreboard on Saturday alongside fellow cricket legend Rod Marsh, who passed away from a heart attack on Friday.
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