Featuring crime writers Sandi Wallace, Ellie Marney, Kathryn Ledson and Sue Williams.

This foursome writes thrillers and rural crime novels that range across gritty, romantic, young adult and comedy-crime, all with a distinct Australian style. Join them at Castlemaine Library for a crimally entertaining conversation!

Sue Williams is a science and travel writer and a chartered accountant who also holds a PhD in marine biology. Her articles have been published in a range of magazines and on ‘The Science Show’ on ABC Radio National. Sue lives in Melbourne with her husband. Murder with the Lot is her first book.

International adventurer and author Carl Hoffman will speak about the intrepid and painstaking mission he undertook when writing his latest book, Savage Harvest. 

Since 1961 the mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in New Guinea has kept the world and his powerful, influential family guessing for years. In Savage Harvest, Carl Hoffman uncovers startling new evidence that finally tells the full, astonishing story.

As a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler and a former contributing editor for Wired, Hoffman has traveled to more than 75 countries, writing for a number of diverse publications.

Eltham Bookshop, Text Publishing and St Helena Secondary College welcome you with great pleasure to the celebration of a memoir in parts, from one of Australia’s best-loved playwrights.

Hannie Rayson—writer, mother, daughter, sister, wife, romantic, adventuress, parking-spot optimist—has spent a lifetime giving voice to others in the many roles she has written for stage and television.

In her new book, she shines the spotlight on herself. This collection of stories from a dramatic life radiate with the great warmth and humour that has made Hannie one of the best-known playwrights in the country. From a childhood in Brighton , from a body buried under the house to a play on a tram, Hello, Beautiful!: Scenes from a Life captures a life behind the scenes—a life of tender moments, hilarious encounters and, inevitably, drama.

Hannie Rayson is a playwright and screenwriter. Her works—including Hotel Sorrento, Inheritance and Life After George—have been performed around Australia and internationally. She has been awarded two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, four Helpmann Awards, two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. Her play Life After George was the first play to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. 

Prepaid early bookings are essential, please call 9439 8700 or email  elthambookshop@bigpond.com

Join the Sun Bookshop team and Hannie Rayson to discuss her brand new memoir, Hello Beautiful!: Scenes from a Life.

Hannie Rayson—writer, mother, daughter, sister, wife, romantic, adventuress, parking-spot optimist—has spent a lifetime giving voice to others in the many roles she has written for stage and television.

In her new book, she shines the spotlight on herself. This collection of stories from a dramatic life radiate with the great warmth and humour that has made Hannie one of the best-known playwrights in the country. From a childhood in Brighton , from a body buried under the house to a play on a tram, Hello, Beautiful!: Scenes from a Life captures a life behind the scenes—a life of tender moments, hilarious encounters and, inevitably, drama.

Hannie Rayson is a playwright and screenwriter. Her works—including Hotel Sorrento, Inheritance and Life After George—have been performed around Australia and internationally. She has been awarded two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, four Helpmann Awards, two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. Her play Life After George was the first play to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. 

Hannie will be joined by Amanda Smith for an 'In Conversation' discussion.

Clunes welcomes Ilka Tampke, author of Skin, as the first Sunday Selections guest author for 2015.

Set in Iron-Age Britain on the cusp of Roman invasion, Skin is a thrilling, full-blooded, mesmerising novel about the collision of two worlds, and a young woman torn between two men. 

Ilka Tampke was awarded a Glenfern Fellowship in 2012. Her short stories and articles have been published in several anthologies. She lives in Woodend, Australia. Skin is her first novel.

Find it hard to keep up with The Next Big Thing in books and writing? The Wheeler Centre is here to help. The Next Big Thing is all about showcasing exciting new writers – those we believe are ones to watch.

This is a golden opportunity to discover the work of writers hand-picked by us from around Australia, in the cosy surrounds of The Moat, where you can enjoy a drink and a bite as you’re entertained and enlightened.

Text author's Anne Buist and Ilka Tampke will be joined by Abigail Ulman and Jeremy Clark.

These are the literary stars of tomorrow. Come and hear from them today. 

Ilka Tampke was awarded a Glenfern Fellowship in 2012. Her short stories and articles have been published in several anthologies. She lives in Woodend, Australia. Skin is her first novel.

Anne Buist is the Chair of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne and has over 25 years clinical and research experience in perinatal psychiatry. She works with Protective Services and the legal system in cases of abuse, kidnapping, infanticide and murder. Medea’s Curse is her first mainstream psychological thriller. Professor Buist is married to novelist Graeme Simsion and has two children. 

Readings St Kilda welcomes Hannie Rayson to disucss her new memoir, Hello Beauitful! Scenes from a Life. 

Hannie Rayson has spent a lifetime giving voice to others in the many roles she has written for stage and television. In Hello, Beautiful! she shines the spotlight on herself. Hear Hannie share stories from her life behind the scenes with the great warmth and humour that has made her one of our best-known playwrights.

Hannie Rayson is a playwright and screenwriter. Her works—including Hotel Sorrento, Inheritance and Life After George—have been performed around Australia and internationally. She has been awarded two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, four Helpmann Awards, two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. Her play Life After George was the first play to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. 

Looking West: A Panel Discussion

Griffith Review turns the spotlight on Western Australia in the latest edition, Looking West. Western Australia is central to national prosperity. Perth has grown into a boomtown the likes of which Australia hasn’t seen since the 1850s, and some of the world’s richest people now hark from WA. But what will be left when the mining boom deflates? 

Join Griffith Review editor Professor Julianne Schultz; Helen Trinca, managing editor of the Australian and is the author of Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John; David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, and Professor Geoff Gallop, former premier of WA and Director of the Graduate School of Government at the University of Sydney, in a discussion about the history, environment, politics and creative impulses that inform the state. 

WA is on the cusp of reconciling the past and creating a new future. Looking West will challenge what you think you know about the state.

Beaumaris Books in association with Text Publishing, proudly presents an evening with highly respected playwright & screenwriter Hannie Rayson to discuss her new memoir, Hello Beautiful!: Scenes from a Life. 

Hannie Rayson is a playwright and screenwriter. Her works—including Hotel Sorrento, Inheritance and Life After George—have been performed around Australia and internationally. She has been awarded two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, four Helpmann Awards, two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. Her play Life After George was the first play to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Hannie lives in Melbourne.

Bookings essential. Please call  9589 4638 or email read@beaumarisbooks.com.au

What better way to discover (and toast) new Australian writing than over a meal and wine on the Mornington Peninsula?

Playwright Hannie Rayson is a much-loved Australian institution. The Age has called her ‘Melbourne’s most influential playwright’ while Theatre critic, Helen Thomson, has labelled her Australia’s leading playwright in ‘capturing the zeitgeist’. She made history when her stage hit Life After George became the first play to be shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, and her first major success, Hotel Sorrento was made into a feature film and is a staple of VCE reading lists. She has also written for television, including popular hit Sea Change.

In her long-awaited memoir, Hello Beautiful!: Scenes from a Life, Hannie presents scenes from her own life, with all the insight, wit and narrative flair she has perfected in her plays. From a childhood in Brighton to a urinary tract infection in Spain, from a body buried under the house to a play on a tram, she shares a hilarious (and often dramatic) behind-the-scenes look at the life of an Australian success story.

With the Wheeler Centre's Good Conversation. Great Wine series you can enjoy all the elements of the very best dinner party: wonderful guests, good conversation and great food and wine. All you need to do is turn up.

Arrive 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start.