Upcoming Events
Art history, politics and romance converge in Pulitzer Prize winner Sebastian Smee’s latest book, Paris in Ruins.
The Washington Post art critic brings to life the turbulent beginnings of the Impressionist art movement and the political and personal lives of the artists who defined it.
Marked by violence, war and the burning of central Paris, the 1870–71 winter siege was a formative backdrop for artists trapped within the city, to which they responded with artistic liberation. An indelible portrait of the city, Paris in Ruins captures the chaos of that year, and reveals how it had an incalculable effect on the development of modern art.
At the center of the movement were Édouard Manet, hailed the father of Impressionism, and Berthe Morisot, the group’s only female member in its early years. Entangled in the convulsive politics of the time and embroiled in an affair, these two luminaries were inextricably linked through a creative and complicated bond.
Join Sebastian in conversation with long-time friend Annabel Crabb and uncover love, war and the birth of Impressionism.
Bookings are essential.
Join us for an evening with award-winning author Michelle de Kretser, discussing her new novel, Theory & Practice.
Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka. She lives in Warrane/Sydney on unceded Gadigal land. An honorary associate of the English Department at the University of Sydney, she has won several awards for her fiction. Theory & Practice is her seventh novel.
Join us for a fascinating evening of art and aistory with Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee. The Washington Post writer discusses his new book Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism with curator and Vault editor Alison Kubler.
Impressionism was a complex reaction to 1870, otherwise known as 'The Terrible Year’. Fighting a losing war with Prussia, Napoleon III was swiftly defeated, deposed and exiled. A fledging republican government came to power at the same time as Paris entered a long siege. Rebellion, starvation and horrific violence ensued.
Smee tells this story through the eyes of key artists, with a special focus on the intimate, enigmatic relationship between Manet and Morisot. Paris in Ruins is both an indelible portrait of the city and of modern art.
THEORY & PRACTICE by MICHELLE DE KRETSER LAUNCHED IN CONVERSATION WITH FIONA GILES
It’s 1986, and ‘beautiful, radical ideas’ are in the air. A young woman arrives in Melbourne to research the novels of Virginia Woolf. In bohemian St Kilda she meets artists, activists, students—and Kit. He claims to be in a ‘deconstructed’ relationship, and they become lovers. Meanwhile, her work on the Woolfmother falls into disarray.
Theory & Practice is a mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It makes and unmakes fiction as we read, expanding our notion of what a novel can contain.
Michelle de Kretser, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, bends fiction, essay and memoir into exhilarating new shapes to uncover what happens when life smashes through the boundaries of art.
Join us as Jo Peck discusses her uplifting, witty and hilarious memoir, Suddenly Single at Sixty, about a devastating breakup and a fabulous new life.
Free, bookings essential. Tickets are required for everyone attending this event.
Branch Information - If you require further information regarding this event or require assistance booking your tickets, please phone the Library on (03) 5950 1710.
From the land-rights movement, to Treaty borne from the ashes of an unsuccessful referendum, Clare Wright (Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions) and Inala Cooper (Marrul) discuss the long, powerful history of First Nations sovereignty and activism. With Tom Griffiths they will discuss the Yirrkala Bark Petitions and what this founding document can teach us about Australian democracy as we journey towards Treaty.
Theory & Practice is a mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It makes and unmakes fiction as we read, expanding our notion of what a novel can contain.
Michelle de Kretser, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, bends fiction, essay and memoir into exhilarating new shapes to uncover what happens when life smashes through the boundaries of art.
Crime fiction authors Candice Fox, Catherine Jinks and Hayley Scrivenor talk all things criminal with panel moderator Lisa Finn Powell. We ask the question, what kind of creative mind delves so deeply into the darkness?
Catherine Jinks’ books for adults, young adults and children have been published in a dozen countries and have won numerous awards, including a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the CBCA Book of the Year Award (four times). She lives in the Blue Mountains.
Catherine's most recent title Traced is a powerful examination of domestic abusive and coercive control.
This panel will be moderated by Lisa Finn Powell, writer, presenter, producer, publicist, musician and TedX speaker.
QBD the Booksellers will be there. Purchase books to have them personally signed.
Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided.
Join us for a conversation between Michelle de Kretser and Sarah Holland-Batt about Michelle's new book Theory & Practice.
ABOUT THE BOOK
It’s 1986, and ‘beautiful, radical ideas’ are in the air. A young woman arrives in Melbourne to research the novels of Virginia Woolf. In bohemian St Kilda she meets artists, activists, students—and Kit. He claims to be in a ‘deconstructed’ relationship, and they become lovers. Meanwhile, her work on the Woolfmother falls into disarray.
Theory & Practice is a mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It makes and unmakes fiction as we read, expanding our notion of what a novel can contain.
Michelle de Kretser, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, bends fiction, essay and memoir into exhilarating new shapes to uncover what happens when life smashes through the boundaries of art.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka. She lives in Warrane/Sydney on unceded Gadigal land. An honorary associate of the English Department at the University of Sydney, she has won several awards for her fiction. Theory & Practice is her seventh novel.
Join award-winning author and professor of history Clare Wright in this free webinar discussing her landmark new book, Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the people of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian democracy.
In 1963—a year of agitation for civil rights worldwide—the Yolŋu of northeast Arnhem Land created the Yirrkala Bark Petitions: Näku Dhäruk. ‘The land grew a tongue’ and the land-rights movement was born.
Näku Dhäruk is the story of a founding document in Australian democracy and the trailblazers who made it. It is also a pulsating picture of the ancient and enduring culture of Australia’s first peoples.
And it is a masterful, groundbreaking history.
Clare Wright’s Democracy Trilogy began with The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka and continued with You Daughters of Freedom. It concludes with this compulsively readable account of a momentous episode in our shared story.
Australia's Biggest Book Club is brought to you by the Australia Institute.
