Member Loginmenu

Upcoming Events

Author Talk: Robyn Annear at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (VIC)

Join us for a conversation with Robyn Annear, author of Corners of Melbourne, at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. 

Street-corner ‘galvanisers’ offered the thrill of electric shock at threepence a time; Fitzroy’s rude boys became the original ‘larrikins’; and civic reprobates disc added orange peel in the streets—to the endangerment of life and limb. Join Robyn Annear and Andrew Lemon at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria for a chat about Melbourne’s corners, while Robyn offers up fascinating anecdotes and bizarre truths from her archival research. 

With drinks from 5:30pm. Bookings essential. 

More information and bookings
right
Author talk: Gail Jones in conversation with Susan Midalia about One Another (WA)

Join Text author Gail Jones in conversation with Susan Midalia about One Another

They will discuss, among other things, the novel’s exploration of biography, place, the role of reading in making a self, and the challenges and methods of the writing process. 

Gail Jones’s masterly new novel traverses the borders between art and life, between life and death, in a journey through literary history and emotional landscapes. Elegantly written, deftly crafted, One Another covers new territories of grief, memory and narrative.

Includes wine and nibbles from 6pm.

Tickets are $10, bookings are required. 

More information and bookings
right
Author Talk: Gail Jones at Gleebooks (NSW)

Join Gail Jones to discuss her new novel, One Another.

Eminent Australian author Gail Jones examines the intersections of art and life in her distinctively immersive and rich prose. 

At Cambridge University, in the summer of 1992, Australian student Helen is completing her thesis on Joseph Conrad. But she is distracted by a charming and dangerous lover, Justin, and by a ghost manuscript, her anti-thesis, which she has left on a train.

Haunted by this loss and others, by Justin’s destructive tendencies and by details of Conrad’s life, Helen is unmoored. And then the drama of the lost manuscript sets in motion a series of events-with possibly fatal consequences.

In her masterly new novel, Gail Jones traverses the borders between art and life, between life and death, in a journey through literary history and emotional landscapes. Elegantly written, deftly crafted, One Another covers new territories of grief, memory and narrative.

More information and bookings
right
Author Talk: Bernadette Brennan at Newcastle Writers Festival (NSW)

Writing the Lives of Writers

Bernadette Brennan, Catharine Lumby and Brigitta Olubas have written about literary greats such as Helen Garner, Gillian Mears, Frank Moorhouse and Shirley Hazzard. They speak with Susan Wyndham about literary biography and the extraordinary privilege of diving into the often-secret lives of writers.

Dr Bernadette Brennan is an academic and researcher in contemporary Australian writing, literature and ethics. She is the author of a number of publications, including a monograph on Brian Castro and two edited collections: Just Words?: Australian Authors Writing for Justice (UQP 2008), and Ethical Investigations: Essays on Australian Literature and Poetics (Vagabond 2008). She has also written A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work. She lives in Sydney.

More information and bookings
right
Author Talk: Fiona Murphy on a panel at the Newcastle Writers Festival (NSW)

Life on the Page

Jessica Kirkness grew up close to her grandparents, who were deaf in a hearing world. Sophie Matterson walked across Australia with her beloved camels. Ben Mckelvey experienced a sudden stroke, and then a heart attack, in his twenties. Eye-opening and honest, all three lay bare some of the most intimate and vulnerable moments in their lives. They speak to Fiona Murphy about what compelled them to share their stories.

Fiona Murphy is a Deaf poet and essayist. Her work has been published in Kill Your DarlingsOverlandGriffith Review and the Big Issue, among other publications. In 2019, she was awarded the Overland Fair Australia Essay Prize and the Monash Undergraduate Creative Writing Prize. In 2018, she was shortlisted for the Richell Prize and highly commended by the Wheeler Centre Next Chapter program. She is the author of The Shape of Sound.

More information and bookings
right
Author Talk: Brenda Matthews at the Newcastle Writers Festival (NSW)

Giyi Para, The Convening of a Gathering

For thousands of generations First People in our country have gathered in a continuing practice of coming together to share knowledge, celebrate country, and strengthen ongoing relationships.

In the spirit of this continued gathering practice, The Wollotuka Institute, in partnership with Newcastle Writers Festival, invites you to an evening of community, corroboree and celebration.

6.00pm to 6.40pm The Last Daughter
When she was two years old, Brenda Matthews and her siblings were taken from their parents. For the next five years she was a much-loved daughter in a white family, unaware of the existence of her Aboriginal family or how hard her parents were fighting for her return. Then, suddenly, she was reunited with her birth family, the last daughter to come home. Decades later, Brenda searched for her foster family and her beloved white sister. Brenda speaks to Victoria Haskins about her journey to discover the truth about her past – and unite two families.

More information and bookings
right
Author Talk: Kate Grenville at Newcastle Writers Festival (NSW)

Kate Grenville starts each book with a question. The latest one she asked is ‘What happened in my grandmother’s life to make her cranky and a bit scary?’ The result is Restless Dolly Maunder – a novel that blends history, biography and memoir to get to the heart of Kate Grenville’s grandmother, Dolly Maunder. She speaks with Ashley Hay about family history and the potential of literary art to heal and redeem.

This is a free event. No booking required.

More information and bookings
right
Author Talk: Bernadette Brennan hosting panel at the Newcastle Writers Festival (NSW)

Finding it in the Family

When stories are passed through generations, how does that shape the ones we tell ourselves? These novels use memory and lore to blend the real with the imagined. Tony Birch, Andre Dao and Laura Elizabeth Woollett share how family history helped inform their fiction. Hosted by Bernadette Brennan.

Dr Bernadette Brennan is an academic and researcher in contemporary Australian writing, literature and ethics. She is the author of a number of publications, including a monograph on Brian Castro and two edited collections: Just Words?: Australian Authors Writing for Justice (UQP 2008), and Ethical Investigations: Essays on Australian Literature and Poetics (Vagabond 2008). She has also written A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work. She lives in Sydney.

More information and bookings
right
Author Talk: Brenda Matthews in conversation at the Newcastle Writers Festival (NSW)

Brenda Matthews in Conversation

At two years old, Brenda Matthews and her siblings were taken from their parents. For five years, she lived happily as a much-loved daughter within a white family, before being swiftly reunited with the birth family she barely remembered. Decades later, Brenda searched for her foster family and learned the truth about her past. Brenda appears in conversation with Melissa Lucashenko about her memoir and Netflix documentary, The Last Daughter.

More information and bookings
right
Author Talk: John Morrissey on panel at the Newcastle Writers Festival (NSW)

Reimagining Colonial History

At the heart of the recent works of fiction by Sharlene Allsopp, Jane Harrison and John Morrissey lies the question: ‘What if?’ What if history could be rewritten to reflect the truth? What if the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 had turned out differently? What if we could better understand colonialism through the lens of magic realism? In conversation with Kirli Saunders, these authors discuss writing speculative fiction about a nation that largely refuses to acknowledge its past.

In Firelight, the award-winning John Morrissey investigates colonialism and identity without ever losing sight of his characters’ humanity. Brilliantly imagined and masterfully observed, Firelightmarks the debut of a writer we will be reading for decades to come.

This is a free event; no bookings required.

More information and bookings
right