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Melbourne City of Literature
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25.01.2022 THE SEA AND SUMMER by George Turner ‘I won’t live to see it, but you will!’ Francis Conway is Swill - one of the 90% in the year 2041 who must subsist on the inadequate charities of the state. A young boy growing Life, already difficult, is rapidly becoming impossible for Francis and others like him, as government corruption, official blindness and nature have conspired to turn Swill homes into watery tombs. And now the young boy must find a way to escape the approaching tide... of disaster. shortlisted for the Nebular Award and winner of the The Arthur C. Clarke Award. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
24.01.2022 THE PHILLIP ISLAND by Vikki Petraitis The discovery of the body of Beth Barnard in her Phillip Island farmhouse in 1986, began a homicide investigation that rocked a peaceful community. It also created an enduring mystery, for no one was ever brought to trial for her brutal death, and the main suspect disappeared never to be seen again. Beth Barnard, a popular and attractive 23-year-old, had been having an affair with a local married man.... On the night of her brutal murder, a car belonging to Vivienne Cameron wife of Beth’s lover was found abandoned near the bridge that connects the famous tourist island to the mainland. No trace of Vivienne was ever found, and her disappearance has never been adequately explained. Nevertheless, a Coroner's Court found that Vivienne had killed her rival then jumped to her death into the waters of Westernport Bay. The case was closed but not forgotten. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
24.01.2022 ANGEL CREEK by Sally Rippin In her new falling-down home, in her new street, in her new suburb, Jelly waits for high school to begin. She can only feel happy up in the branches of the old apricot tree and by the creek at the back of the house. One night, Jelly and her cousins spot something in the creek’s dark waters. At first they think it’s a bird, but it isn’tit’s a baby angel with a broken wing. And they decide to keep it. But soon things start to go wrong, and Jelly dis...covers that you can’t just take something from where it belongs and expect that it won’t be missed. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
24.01.2022 As a part of our new collaborative series with Literary Hub, where Australian authors explore and dissect a book that has had an impact on their life, Kerry Greenwood dives deep into Lindy Cameron’s Redback. Kerry introduces us to her father, a ‘blokes’ bloke’, shearer, tent-fighter, and later foreman stevedore. All of these things and also a soldier at the tail-end of the Second World War. Kerry writes that her father was firmly of the view that women had no place on the ba...ttle-field, and also that women could never understand soldiering. She details how upon reading Lindy Cameron’s Redback, his opinion was completely turned around. What he liked best were books of the likes of Tom Clancy and Matthew Reilly, crammed with dauntless heroes fighting for justice against terrorists, the CIA, MI6 and more weapons specifications than the mind can comfortably imagine. Redback has all of this and more, save for the weapons specifications. The plot of Redback is alarmingly prescient, Kerry states that the the most notably skillful aspect of the narrative is the gradual revelation of what is going really on. The characters are as much in the dark for most of the book as the reader is. Without giving away any spoilers, Kerry assures us that Redback is the best book of its type she has ever read, she recommends it wholeheartedly. https://www.facebook.com/lithub/posts/2807930669485842
23.01.2022 THE PORTRAIT OF MOLLY DEAN by Katherine Kovacic The painting is filthy and the varnish has discoloured to a nasty yellow, which is probably part of the reason Lane & Co. has failed to recognise the artist. But I can see the jewel tones beneath the dirt, and as I gaze at the lovely young woman with her short dark bob and mischievous brown eyes, I know I am staring into the face of Molly Dean. An unsolved murder comes to light after almost seventy years...... In 1999, art dealer Alex Clayton stumbles across a lost portrait of Molly Dean, an artist's muse brutally slain in Melbourne in 1930. Alex buys the painting and sets out to uncover more details, but finds there are strange inconsistencies: Molly's mother seemed unconcerned by her daughter's violent death, the main suspect was never brought to trial despite compelling evidence, and vital records are missing. Alex enlists the help of her close friend, art conservator John Porter, and together they sift through the clues and deceptions that swirl around the last days of Molly Dean. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
22.01.2022 Are you ready for #vicbookshopbingo Download and print the bingo card! Complete your bingo card by visiting bookshops in person, using click and collect, or ordering online. ... Share your visit or purchase on social media, tagging the bookshop and using the hashtag Full details here https://imbineeme.com/vicbookshopbingo/ #VicBookshopBingo https://imbineeme.com/vicbookshopbingo/
21.01.2022 As a part of our collaborative series with Literary Hub, where Australian authors explore and dissect a book that has had an impact on their life, Leanne Hall examines her problematic childhood favourite, the Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson. Leanne speaks to the forming of intense friendships with fictional characters, beginning her piece: Dear Laura Tweedle Rambotham, you don’t know me, but I know you, and explores the aspects of Richardson’s work she enjoys.... The anachronistic language that ‘was catnip to my adolescent vocabulary-hoarding brain’. Explaining her young kinship with the novel’s protagonist Laura, but now as she’s older, her observations about another character. Chinky is a white girl who has a very long plait of hair and small, narrow eyes. That’s right, she has a plait that looks like a Chinaman’s queue, and squinty little eyes. Leanne can’t recall whether her English teacher drew attention to the racism in Richardson’s work, but Leanna suspects she didn’t because it was the ’90s, and we had already cured racism in Australia. Subtler things bother me: veiled racism, racism deniedbut not this sort. Leanne explains, I would rather read a racist 20th century classic, than a contemporary book by a white person writing shoddily from a person of color’s perspective, and patting themself on the back while they do it. Leanne Hall is an award-winning Australian author for young adults and children. Her debut novel, This Is Shyness, was the winner of the Text Prize for Children's and Young Adult Writing, and was followed by a sequel Queen of the Night. Her novel for younger readers, Iris and the Tiger, won The Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. https://lithub.com/leanne-hall-examines-her-problematic-ch/
21.01.2022 THE UNBROKEN LINE by Alex Hammond "Really, the law is the worst career for you. You should have been a social worker. You don't have that emotional distance that lawyers require, that protects them from the worst side of it - those blows that hurt the spirit, not the body." The violence of the past casts a long shadow a dark legacy with lethal consequences.... When defence lawyer Will Harris is attacked by masked men with a clear message to back off, he has no choice but to listen. If only he knew what they were talking about. Under siege as his fledgling law firm struggles to get off the ground, Will agrees to defend the troubled son of a family friend. But the case is far from clear-cut, and the ethical boundaries murky. Instead of clawing his way out of trouble, Will finds he's sinking ever deeper. At the same time, his search for his attackers unearths an unexpected source that points him towards Melbourne's corridors of power. But motives, let alone proofs, are hard to find. It is only when those close to him are threatened that Will realises how near he is to the deadly truth. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
21.01.2022 NIGHT STREET by Kristel Thornell Night was approaching, cool tattered mist blowing in from the bay. She appeared in the area of transparent air, drawing along a wheeled object the size of a largish dog. From a distance, she made a perplexing spectacle, seeming slightly misshapen, some hybrid creature. Inspired by the art and life of the Victorian artist Clarice Beckett (1887-1935), Night Street is the story of a painter who, having remained unmarried by choice, continues to... live with her ageing parents. Hers is an existence which, from the outside, appears both restrictive and monotonous. In fact, it masks a vibrant and passionate hidden life. With a mobile painting trolley in lieu of a studio, Clarice makes her way through the streets and coastline of Melbourne at dawn and dusk where she creates sombre, enigmatic landscapes. Through her art, she enters into a world of sensuality and freedom, away from the constraints of a conservative and disapproving society. New South Wales Premier's Literary Award Nominee for Christina Stead Prize for Fiction & UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing (2011), Australian/Vogel's Literary Award (2009), Dobbie Literary Award (2011) #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
21.01.2022 THE WHOLE OF MY WORLD by Nicole Hayes Today I am free. No guilt for who's missing, what's been left behind. My face aches from smiling in the wind and my voice rasps from all the screaming, and I know that it's been forever since I've felt so completely alive. Desperate to escape her grieving father and harbouring her own terrible secret, Shelley disappears into the intoxicating world of AFL. Joining a motley crew of footy tragics and, best of all, making friends with one o...f the star players, Shelley finds somewhere to belong. Finally she's winning. So why don't her friends get it? Josh, who she's known all her life, but who she can barely look at anymore because of the memories of that fateful day. Tara, whose cold silences Shelley can't understand. Everyone thinks there's something more going on between Shelley and Mick. But there isn't, is there? #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
21.01.2022 ONE TRUE THING by Nicole Hayes I know it’s only partly true. But truth, I’m quickly learning, is a slippery thing. What’s true one second isn’t even close to true the next. Sometimes it feels like there is no one true thing. When is a secret not a secret? When your whole life is public.... Frankie is used to being a politician's daughter, but it's election time, so life's crazier than usual. Add a best friend who's being weirdly distant, a brother to worry about, and the fact that Frankie's just humiliated herself in front of a hot guy - who later turns up at band practice to interview her about her music. Jake seems to like Frankie - really like her. But then everything crumbles. Photos appear of Frankie's mum having secret meetings with a younger man - and she refuses to tell the public why. With her family falling apart around her, Frankie is determined to find out the truth - even if it means losing Jake. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
20.01.2022 ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute It's not the end of the world at all," he said. "It's only the end for us. The world will go on just the same, only we shan't be in it. I dare say it will get along all right without us. After a nuclear World War III has destroyed most of the globe, the few remaining survivors in southern Australia await the radioactive cloud that is heading their way and bringing certain death to everyone in its path. Among them is an American submarine captain ...struggling to resist the knowledge that his wife and children in the United States must be dead. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up, transmitting from somewhere near Seattle, and Captain Towers must lead his submarine crew on a bleak tour of the ruined world in a desperate search for signs of life. On the Beach is a remarkably convincing portrait of how ordinary people might face the most unimaginable nightmare. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
20.01.2022 YARRA: A DIVERTING HISTORY OF MELBOURNE’S MURKY RIVER by Kristin Otto It was John Wedge, Batman’s private surveyor, who named the Yarra Yarra. In September 1835 he was at the Turning Basin with some Kulin and heard them identify the river as it came over the Falls as, he wrote, ‘Yarrow Yarrow’. It was only some months later that Wedge discovered they had been referring to the pattern and movement of water over the Falls, not the river itself. From the creation stories of Kuli...n owners and geologist blow-ins (and Robert Hoddle’s bad-tempered expedition to the headwaters) to the twenty-first-century waterside building boom, Otto traces the course of Melbourne’s murky river. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
20.01.2022 At last! An excuse to go on a book spending spree in the lead-up to Christmas. With the support of the good people at the Melbourne City of Literature, I laun...ched #VicBookshopBingo yesterday with the amazing Kate Mildenhall and Mandy Beaumont at Neighbourhood Books. Show NINE of Victoria's bookshops your love by downloading and completing our bingo card. See http://imbineeme.com/VicBookshopBingo for more details!
20.01.2022 THE ROSIE RESULT by Graeme Simsion I was standing on one leg shucking oysters when the problems began Don and Rosie are back in Melbourne after a decade in New York, and they’re about to face their most important project.... Their son, Hudson, is having trouble at school: his teachers say he isn’t fitting in with the other kids. Meanwhile, Rosie is battling Judas at work, and Don is in hot water after the Genetics Lecture Outrage. The life-contentment graph, recently at its highest point, is curving downwards. For Don Tillman, geneticist and World’s Best Problem-Solver, learning to be a good parent as well as a good partner will require the help of friends old and new. It will mean letting Hudson make his way in the world, and grappling with awkward truths about his own identity. And opening a cocktail bar. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
19.01.2022 THE STRAYS by Emily Bitto I was learning the habit of attention, of noticing the world in all its ravishing detail and complexity. The habit of being amazed. They told stories, looking at objects and people until they shook them clean of the dust of everyday and made them myth. On her first day at a new school, Lily meets Eva, one of the daughters of the infamous avant-garde painter Evan Trentham. He and his wife are attempting to escape the stifling conservatism of 1930s A...ustralia by inviting other like-minded artists to live and work with them at their family home. As Lily’s friendship with Eva grows, she becomes infatuated with this makeshift family and longs to truly be a part of it. Looking back on those years later in life, Lily realises that this utopian circle involved the same themes as Evan Trentham’s art: Faustian bargains and terrible recompense; spectacular fortunes and falls from grace. Yet it was not Evan, nor the other artists he gathered around him, but his own daughters, who paid the debt that was owing. Dobbie Literary Award Nominee for (Shortlist) (2015), The Stella Prize (2015), Reading Women Award Nominee for Fiction (2017 #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
19.01.2022 MEDEA’S CURSE by Anne Buist "'Let it never be said that I have left my children for my foes to trample on.'...Medea killed her children to punish her husband." Forensic psychiatrist Natalie King works with victims and perpetrators of violent crime. Women with a history of abuse, mainly. She rides a Ducati a size too big and wears a tank top a size too small. Likes men but doesn’t want to keep one. And really needs to stay on her medication.... Now she’s being stalked. Anonymous notes, threats, strangers loitering outside her house. A hostile former patient? Or someone connected with a current case? Georgia Latimer charged with killing her three children. Travis Hardy deadbeat father of another murdered child, with a second daughter now missing. Maybe the harrassment has something to do with Crown Prosecutor Liam O’Shea drop-dead sexy, married and trouble in all kinds of ways. Natalie doesn’t know. Question is, will she find out before it’s too late? Anne Buist, herself a leading perinatal psychiatrist, has created an edge-of-the-seat mystery with a hot new heroine backed up by a lifetime of experience with troubled minds. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
18.01.2022 WHAT CAME BEFORE by Anna George ‘My name is David James Forrester. I’m a solicitor. Tonight, at 6.10, I killed my wife. This is my statement.’ David Forrester and Elle Nolan are sophisticated, mature people who don’t understand love. They live in a world where love is revered but marriages commonly end in divorce, or worse.... When jaded lawyer David meets Elle, he decides she’s his last chance of happiness and does everything he can to woo her and keep her. Everything, that is, except face his demons. Elle, a lawyer herself once but now a blossoming filmmaker, is done with heartbreak. But romance can be intoxicating and David is determined. Over the course of one ill-fated night, David and Elle recount the journey of their love affair. And it begins with David admitting into his dictaphone to the killing of Elle. Hovering above her broken body, Elle sees the sweep of her life, its triumphs and its mistakes. She sees how, when she first met David, her newfound success as a filmmaker had made her reckless and her idealised ideas about romance misled her. As the night progresses, we learn their story of a love of unprecedented intensity; a love David was compelled, at turns, to destroy. A love that Elle has yet to survive. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
18.01.2022 THE SECRET ART OF POISONING: THE TRUE CRIMES OF MARTHA NEEDLE by Samantha Battams At the end of the 19th century, Martha Needle became known as ‘The Black Widow’ of the Richmond poisoning case after secretly poisoning her husband and children. The Black Widow was a media sensation in her day, as infamous as Ned Kelly (even sharing the same lawyer). After poisoning her husband and two of her children, Needle became obsessed with the kind-hearted son of a Danish immigrant and b...egan picking off his brothers one by one. Reported as far afield as the New York Times, Martha’s story was front page news in Australia, edging out many stories of the day that remain in the public consciousness today. And yet very few remember Martha Needle’s name. Stranger still a generation later Martha Needle’s nephew Alexander Lee seemed to follow in his aunt’s footsteps when he poisoned his wife and three of his children. What strange quirk of fate led these two relatives connected through family to commit virtually the same crime? And was their fate at the end of a rope the true end of the story? This story explores these crimes and the social and historical context surrounding them #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
17.01.2022 THE STRAY SWANS by David Witteveen Vee has been dead for twenty-five years when she calls me in the middle of the night. Cat and Vee are two lonely teenagers who start a grunge band called the Stray Swans. But Cat is haunted by the shadow, a demonic presence that threatens to devour everythingand everyonethat she loves.... Can Cat keep Vee safe from the shadow? Is friendship stronger than death? #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
15.01.2022 RESURRECTION BAY by Emma Viskic Spoken names should be banned. Rose looked like Ross, Matt looked like Pat, Ian looked like nothing at all. Everyone should have a sign name. Caleb Zelic, profoundly deaf since early childhood, has always lived on the outside - watching, picking up telltale signs people hide in a smile, a cough, a kiss. When a childhood friend is murdered, a sense of guilt and a determination to prove his own innocence sends Caleb on a hunt for the killer. Bu...t he can’t do it alone. Caleb and his troubled friend Frankie, an ex-cop, start with one clue: Scott, the last word the murder victim texted to Caleb. But Scott is always one step ahead. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
15.01.2022 NOTES FROM THE TEENAGE UNDERGROUND by Simone Howell Things I love about the National Gallery: How on the outside it looks like a big public toilet block, but inside it’s full of treasure. Seventeen-year-old Gem loves movies, her feminist mom, and Dodgy, her coworker in a video store (at least she thinks she loves Dodgy). When a school trip inspires Gem to make an underground film, her best friends Lo and Mira are quick to join the project, taking on the roles of producer an...d star. The film is intended to cement the girls' friendship as well as their superiority over their sucker high school peers. But when the fragile balance of their friendship begins to falter, and intentions lead to betrayals big and small, it will take great movies, bad haiku, and a pantheon of great voicesfrom Dostoyevsky to Emerson to The Beatlesto help Gem find the meaning of love, friendship, and being true to herself. Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction Prize (2007), The Inky Awards for Gold Inky (2007), The Inky Awards Shortlist for Gold Inky (2007) #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
15.01.2022 THE TRAUMA CLEANER by Sarah Krasnostein Compassion, Brené Brown explains, is the expression of ‘a deeply held belief that we are inextricably connected to each other’ by the bonds of shared human imperfection, of suffering and of love and of goodness. If we make the vulnerable choice to connect with empathyto be vulnerable, excruciatingly so, in order to access that in me which has suffered as you are now sufferingwe bring compassion alive by communicating that bond, so ot...hers know they are never alone. Sandra Pankhurst founded her trauma cleaning business to help people whose emotional scars are written on their houses. From the forgotten flat of a drug addict to the infested home of a hoarder, Sandra enters properties and lives at the same time. But few of the people she looks after know anything of the complexity of Sandra's own life. Raised in an uncaring home, Sandra's miraculous gift for warmth and humour in the face of unspeakable personal tragedy mark her out as a one-off. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
14.01.2022 POWER WITHOUT GLORY by Frank Hardy This is a tale of corruption stretching from street corner SP bookmaking to the most influential men in the land - and the terrible personal cost of the power such corruption brings. John West rose from a Melbourne slum to dominate Australian politics with bribery, brutality and fear. His attractive wife and their children turned away from him in horror. Friends dropped away. At the peak of his power, surrounded by bootlickers, West faced a ...hate-filled nation - and the terrible loneliness of his life. Was John West a real figure? For months during the post-war years, an Australian court heard evidence in a sensational libel action brought by businessman John Wren's wife. After a national uproar which rocked the very foundations of the Commonwealth, Frank Hardy was acquitted. This is the novel which provoked such intense uproar and debate across the nation. The questions it poses remain unanswered #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
14.01.2022 THE BOOK OF ORDINARY PEOPLE by Claire Varley A grieving daughter navigates the morning commute, her mind bursting with memories pleading to be shared. A man made entirely of well-cut suits and strictly enforced rules swims his regular morning laps and fantasises about his self-assured promotion. A young lawyer sits in a fluorescent-lit office, typing indecipherable jargon and dreaming of everything she didn't become. A failed news hack hides under the covers from another loom...ing deadline, and from a past that will not relent its pursuit. And a young woman seeking asylum sits tensely on an unmoving train, praying that good news waits at the other end of the line #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
14.01.2022 PHRYNE FISHER SERIES by Kerry Greenwood A young man in one’s hotel bedroom is capable of being explained, but a corpse is always a hindrance. The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honourable Phryne Fishershe of the green-gray eyes, diamant garters, and outfits that should not be sprung suddenly on those of nervous dispositionsis rapidly tiring of the tedium of arranging flowers, making polite conversations with retired colonels, and dancing w...ith weak-chinned men. Instead, Phryne decides it might be rather amusing to try her hand at being a lady detective in Melbourne, Australia. Almost immediately from the time she books into the Windsor Hotel, Phryne is embroiled in mystery: poisoned wives, cocaine smuggling rings, corrupt cops, and communismnot to mention erotic encounters with the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisseuntil her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
14.01.2022 MY BROTHER JACK by George Johnston My brother Jack does not come into the story straight away. Nobody ever does, of course, because a person doesn’t begin to exist without parents and an environment and legendary tales told about ancestors and dark dusty vines growing over outhouses where remarkable insects might always drop out of hidden crevices. Through the story of two brothers who grew up in patriotic, suburban Melbourne, George Johnston created an enduring exploration... of two Australian myths - that of the man who loses his soul as he gains worldly success, and that of the tough, honest, Aussie battler. The Miles Franklin Award in 1964 #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
13.01.2022 ONCE A COPPER: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BRIAN ‘THE SKULL’ MURPHY by Vikki Petraitis Once a copper, always a copper. At least that's how it seems for Brian 'The Skull' Murphy, long-retired but sought out by a trail of journalists and cops who regularly beat a path to his door. Once known as Australia's toughest cop, The Skull was both charged with manslaughter (and acquitted), then awarded a Valour Award for bravery in the line of duty. It is these two sides to the complex man that intrigue audiences to this day. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
13.01.2022 NICE TRY by Shane Maloney They confronted him at the Royal Exhibition Building, just before the first lift of the final round. It was safer there, away from all the prying eyes at the Athletes Village, and he did not suspect anything until it was too late. When the Lords of Five Rings-the IOC-come to town to choose a site for the summer Olympic Games, you know the money will fly and the ambitions boil. Murray, advisor to the minister for Water Supply and the Arts, would jus...t as soon steer clear of the frenzy and confront his inner beanbag on an exercise bike. But the future of the government depends on its bid, and Murray is recruited to help the cause. When a young athlete is found dead, Murray learns that murder is a contact sport. He is soon mixing it up with a wily Aboriginal activist, a body-building psychopath, a gorgeous aerobics instructor, and the enigmatic Dr. Phillipa Verstak. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
11.01.2022 Valuing our Communities and Cities is the theme of this year’s celebration of World Cities Day (October 31st). The UN originally proclaimed World Cities Day as a call for states, municipalities and urban dwellers to work together for transformative change, to mobilize political engagement and resources to address global challenges, and to celebrate and reinforce the achievements of humanity. To help show the breadth and depth of Cities of Literature Network world wide, we’re introducing you to some of our sibling cities, cities like Slemani UNESCO City of Literature!
11.01.2022 THE GOOD DAUGHTER by Amra Pajalic Although both my parents were from Bosnia, I didn’t have anything to do with the community. When I was six years old, Mum and I moved to the inner-city Thornbury. Now that I was fifteen we were back where we started in St Albans, ‘Sh’nawb’ns’, we say. Fifteen-year-old Sabiha has a lot to deal with: her mother's mental health issues, her interfering aunt, her mother's new boyfriend, her live-in grandfather and his chess buddy, not to mention... her arrogant cousin Adnan. They all want to marry her off, have her become a strict Muslim and speak Bosnian. And Sabiha's friends are not always friendly. She gets bullied by girlfriends and is anxious about boyfriends, when she just wants to fit in. But two boys, Brian and Jesse, become the allies of this fierce and funny girl. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
11.01.2022 WHILE YOU WERE READING by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus Meet Beatrix Babbage 29-year-old dog-earer of books and accidental destroyer of weddings. After ruining her best friend's nuptials, Bea relocates to the other side of the country in search of a fresh start, including meeting new people, living life to the fullest and finally pulling off balayage.... But after a few months, life is more stagnant than ever. Bea’s job is dead-end. Her romantic life? Non-existent. And her only friends are her books, her barista and her cleaning lady. Then Bea stumbles across a second-hand novel, inscribed with notes. Besotted with the poetic inscriptions, Bea is determined to find the author ... and finds herself entangled in one hell of a love quadrangle. Funny, poignant and insightful, While You Were Reading reveals that there’s no such thing as perfection, the value of true friendship and, most importantly, the power of not living in fiction, but still reading it Often. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
10.01.2022 QUEEN KAT, CARMEL AND ST JUDE GET A LIFE by Maureen McCarthy A tumultuous year in the lives of three unforgettable women. Exploring the lives of three very different girls in their first year out of school, who share an inner city Melbourne house. All three girls come from the small country town of Manella. Katrina, privileged, beautiful, & sophisticated, is the daughter of a wealthy medical family; Carmel, from a struggling farming family is overweight & inhibited, but has a... gift for music, & Jude, a medical student, is the daughter of a Chilean doctor who was murdered when she was two. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
10.01.2022 WHEN BLACKBIRDS SING by Martin Boyd ‘He had very simple ideas of honour, as had Helena. If he had not gone to the war, they might not have continued to be happy, knowing that their honour stood rooted in their dishonour. Also Dominic had been intended for the army, but he had failed in his examinations, and he thought that now he had the opportunity to remedy this disgrace, which had overwhelmed him at the time’ First published in 1962, this last of the four Langton novels fe...atures Dominic Langton, for whom the harsh realities of war on the Western Front force a reappraisal of values. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
10.01.2022 RELATIVELY FAMOUS by Roger Averill Michael and Marjorie Madigan refuse to be interviewed by biographer Sinclair Hughes for his new book Inside the Lion's Den: The Literary Life of Gilbert Madigan. This is not surprising as Gilbert is Marjorie's ex- husband and Michael's mostly absent father. Gilbert Madigan is Australia's first Booker Prize winner, a feted and much lauded author that the U.K. and U.S. now likes to call their own. Michael cannot escape his father's life and wo...rk, and at times his own life seems swallowed by it. His father's success is a source of undeniable pleasure but also of great turmoil. How does one live in the shadow of a famous relative who we never seem to be able to live up to? #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
09.01.2022 PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME HERE by Tania Chandler Is Brigitte a loving wife and mother, or a cold-blooded killer? Nobody knows why she was out so early on the morning she was knocked down in a hit-and-run. Or why a man was found beaten to death in her apartment that same day.... Brigitte claims she has no memory of what happened, but when the investigation is reopened fourteen years later, unwanted questions start cropping up: What was Brigitte doing before she was run over? Who killed the man in her apartment? And why is she haunted by the face of Kurt Cobain, who reminds her of someone she’d rather forget? As Brigitte’s world begins collapsing in on her, she is forced to confront the truth about that night even if it means losing her husband, her kids, and maybe even herself. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
09.01.2022 MUDEYE: AN AUSTRALIAN BOYHOOD AND BEYOND by Barry Dowling Here is a snapshot of Australia as it once was, of old gold town Ballarat during the second world war occupation by American troops. There are shades of All Creatures Great and Small as a vet and his son travel the country together, but this childhood story grows and matures into a haunting spiritual journey. Barry Dowling is a reviewer, nature writer and travel writer who has been a farmer and gardener for most of his working life. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
08.01.2022 THE SPARE ROOM by Helen Garner I had always thought that sorrow was the most exhausting of the emotions. Now I knew that it was anger. How much of ourselves must we give up to help a friend in need? Helen has little idea what lies aheadand what strength she must musterwhen she offers her spare room to an old friend, Nicola, who has arrived in the city for cancer treatment. Skeptical of the medical establishment, and placing all her faith in an alternative health center, N...icola is determined to find her own way to deal with her illness, regardless of the advice Helen offers. In the weeks that follow, Nicola’s battle for survival will turn not only her own life upside down but also those of everyone around her. The Spare Room is a magical gem of a bookgripping, moving, and unexpectedly funnythat packs a huge punch, charting a friendship as it is tested by the threat of death. Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction (2008), Queensland Premier's Literary Awards for Fiction (2008), Barbara Jefferis Award (2009), Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) Nominee for Literary Fiction (2009) #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
08.01.2022 OUR TINY USELESS HEARTS by Toni Jordan And he is bewildered and beatific and so pretty, prettier than a hundred roses or a thousand stars, and it strikes me there is no one like him and there never will be. Not now, not if I live to be a hundred. Henry has ended his marriage to Caroline and headed off to Noosa with Mercedes’ grade three teacher, Martha.... Caroline, having shredded a wardrobe-full of Henry’s suits, has gone after them. Craig and Lesley have dropped over briefly from next door to catch up on the fallout from Henry and Caroline’s all-night row. And Janice, Caroline’s sister, is staying for the weekend to look after the girls because Janice is the sensible one. A microbiologist with a job she loves, a fervent belief in the beauty of the scientific method and a determination to make a solo life after her divorce from Alec. Then Craig returns through the bedroom window expecting a tryst with Caroline and finds Janice in her bed, Lesley storms in with a jealous heart and a mouthful of threats, Henry, Caroline and Martha arrive back from the airport in separate taxisand let’s not even get started on Brayden the pizza guy. Janice can cope with all that. But when Alec knocks on the door things suddenly get complicated. Voss Literary Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2017) #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
08.01.2022 THE SLAP by Christos Tsiolkas She did not want the pleasurable and comfortable mediocrity in which she now wallowed to be the sum of her life. At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own.... This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the slap. Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2010), Exclusive Books Boeke Prize Nominee (2011), Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction (2009), Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year (2009), Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (2008) Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book Overall (2009), Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for Literary Fiction and for Book of the Year (2009), ALS Gold Medal (2009), Bad Sex in Fiction Award Nominee (2010) #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
08.01.2022 THE WAITING ROOM by Leah Kaminsky If I don't journey forward along these tracks then you will never be born. Then who will there be to tell my story? Born to two survivors in the smoky after-haze of WWII, Dina has never been able to escape her parents’ history. Tortured by memories of Bergen-Belsen, her mother leaves Dina to inherit her decades of trauma.... Dina desperately anchors herself in familya cherished young son, a world-weary husband, and a daughter on the wayand her work as a doctor, but she is struggling to cope, burdened by both the very real anxieties of her daily life and also the shadows of her parents’ ghosts, who follow her wherever she goes. A witty, sensitive narrator, she fights to stay grounded in the here-and-now, even as the challenges of motherhood and medicine threaten to overwhelm her. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
07.01.2022 ONE WICKED WEEK by Nicola Marsh Jayda York. His nemesis. It’s been six years since multimillionaire tech genius Brock Olsen has seen her, but one glimpse of those lush curves and he’s transported back to that steamy night. His fingers tracing her curves, worshipping her body Now Jayda is standing right in front of him, and Brock’s reminded of the socially awkward geek he used to behungry with lust and a seriously overheating hard drive. Jayda has a business proposition for ...Brock. Six years ago, he gave her exactly what she neededa sizzling one-night stand that emboldened her in every way. He made her feel wanted. Now Jayda is starting a new business and wants Brock’s expertise during the dayand mind-blowing sex at night. Brock is more than happy to meet her needs in every deliciously naughty way. But this deal has strict no-strings terms. One week. No emotional entanglements. Now Jayda is in deep trouble. She’s already breaking all the rules. Will Brock seduce her into wanting the one thing she can’t havehim? #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
06.01.2022 THE RIP by Mark Brandi 'It's funny how quick it happens and without you really noticing. Anton said once that it's like walking out into the sea, and you think everything's fine and the water's warm, but when you turn back you're suddenly miles from shore. I've never been much of a swimmer, but I get what he means. Like, being caught in a current or something. A rip.' A young woman, living on the street has to keep her wits about her. Or her friends. But when the drugs kick i...n that can be hard. Anton has been looking out for her. She was safe with him. But then Steve came along. He had something over Anton. Must have. But he had a flat they could crash in. And gear in his pocket. And she can't stop thinking about it. A good hit makes everything all right. But the flat smells weird. There's a lock on Steve's bedroom door. And the guy is intense. The problem is, sometimes you just don't know you are in too deep, until you are drowning. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
05.01.2022 MELBOURNE by Sophie Cunningham My mother remembers that when she was a little girls, just after the Second World War, she would go to her grandmother Lucy Wawn’s house in a suburb of Melbourne that Lucy called Windsor but was really Prahran Melbourne's city life told in diary form, this contemporary and personal portrait depicts major events from the Australian heat wave, which culminated in more than 400 bushfires, to the destructive deluge of a hailstorm. While walking th...rough Melbourne's oldest suburb to its largest market, experiencing an Australian Rules Football game, and attending the comedy festival, writer Sophie Cunningham journeys deep into her own recollections of the city she grew up in, and tells stories from its history. She strolls by Melbourne's rivers and creeks and considers the history of the wetlands and river that sit at Melbourne's heart, for it is water, the corralling of it, the excess of it, the squandering of it, the lack of it that defines Melbourne's history, its present, and its future #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
04.01.2022 MELBOURNE ROOMS by Welton B Marsland From the pubs and punk clubs of Melbourne, Australia, comes five short, sharp stories of loss and sex and music. One punk guy mourns friendships. Another mourns a murdered girl. A lost woman tries desperately to remember what she saw that made her walk away. Two friends collide together. And a Kinks fan kills a house-plant.... Beered-up and black-clad, these are stories from the city of swampies. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
04.01.2022 OUR MAGIC HOUR by Jennifer Down For months afterwards Audrey tried to make sense of things. She wanted to remember what had happened. Audrey, Katy and Adam have been friends since high schoola decade of sneaky cigarettes, drunken misadventures on Melbourne backstreets, heart-to-hearts, in-jokes.... But now Katy has gone. And without her, Audrey is thrown off balance: everything she thought she knew, everything she believed was true, is bent out of shape. Audrey’s familyher neurotic mother, her wayward teenage brother, her uptight suburban sisterare likely to fall apart. Her boyfriend, Nick, tries to hold their relationship together. And Audrey, caught in the middle, needs to find a reason to keep going when everything around her suddenly seems wrong. Voss Literary Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2017) #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
04.01.2022 PERFECTIONS by Kirstyn McDermott Two sisters. One wish. Unimaginable consequences. Not all fairytales are for children.... Antoinette and Jacqueline have little in common beyond a mutual antipathy for their paranoid, domineering mother, a bond which has united them since childhood. In the aftermath of a savage betrayal, Antoinette lands on her sister’s doorstep bearing a suitcase and a broken heart. But Jacqueline, the ambitious would-be manager of a trendy Melbourne art gallery, has her own problems chasing down a delinquent painter in the sweltering heat of a Brisbane summer. Abandoned, armed with a bottle of vodka and her own grief-spun desires, Antoinette weaves a dark and desperate magic that can never, ever be undone. Their lives swiftly unravelling, the two sisters find themselves drawn into a tangle of lies, manipulations and the most terrible of family secrets. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
04.01.2022 OUTBREAK OF LOVE by Martin Boyd Our minds are like those maps at the entrance to the Metro stations in Paris. They are full of unilluminated directions. But when we know where we want to go and press the right button, the route is illuminated before us in electric clarity. Diana von Flugel warned her husband: a piece of toast that hard could break a tooth. When Diana goes to Melbourne to have the tooth fixed, Wolfie is far too concerned with finding inspiration for his musi...cal compositions to realise the chain of events he has just set in motion. On Collins Street, Russell Lockwood catches a glimpse of his childhood friend and knows at once that she is a rare woman Now Diana and Wolfie’s marriage is under threat, the Great War is approaching, and no one quite knows where their hearts belong. First published in 1957, the third novel in Martin Boyd’s celebrated Langton Quartet is a beguiling comedy of manners about the outbreak of love in inconvenient places. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
04.01.2022 WALKING SHADOWS by Narelle Harris Lissa Wilson has had one hell of a year. When people she cared about kept turning up dead, she discovered that The Opposite of Life is not always death at least, not final death anyway. When they tried killing her too, life went from bad to worse. On the plus side, she made a friend.... Gary Hooper may be the most inept vampire in the world, but he’s taught Lissa the real value of life and so has become possibly the best friend she’s ever had. But, like everyone, Gary has secrets. Secrets that could end their friendship, if Lissa ever discovered the services he provides the undead community. So what is an ordinary geek-girl librarian to do when hardcore vampire killers begin knocking off the vampire population of Melbourne? She may have no battle skills, let alone supernatural strength, but is that enough to stop Lissa from throwing herself into mortal danger (again) and risking everything to save her bestie? Lissa discovers that everyone has secrets, everyone gets trapped by their own history. How many can learn to change? How many will live long enough to try? #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
04.01.2022 PINK by Lili Wilkinson The pink jumper was practically glowing in my grey bedroom. It was like a tiny bit of Dorothy’s Oz in boring old black-and-white Kansas. Pink was for girls. Ava Simpson is trying on a whole new image. Stripping the black dye from her hair, she heads off to the Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence, leaving her uber-cool girlfriend, Chloe, behind.... Ava is quickly taken under the wing of perky, popular Alexis who insists that: a) she’s a perfect match for handsome Ethan; and b) she absolutely must audition for the school musical. But while she’s busy trying to fit in with Chloe, with Alexis and her Pastel friends, even with the misfits in the stage crew Ava fails to notice that her shiny reinvented life is far more fragile than she imagined. Debut author Wikinson takes a lighthearted but timely and resonant look at a teen's attempts to don a new personality and figure out who she really wants to be. Stonewall Book Award Nominee for Children’s and Young Adult Literature (2012) #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
03.01.2022 THE PLACE FOR A VILLAGE: HOW NATURE HAS SHAPED THE CITY OF MELBOURNE by Gary Presland Forgotten landscapes and erased eco-systems are brought to life by Gary Presland who so eloquently reconstructs Melbourne at the time of European settlement. He looks at the history of Melbourne from the point of view of nature and considers the ways that urban development has been influenced by the nature of local environments. Gary Presland shows how natural landscapes have influenced the ...contours of the city and how we, in turn, have altered them. He draws on both historical and scientific sources to create a detailed and fascinating picture of diverse landscapes, supporting an enormous range of flora and fauna. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
03.01.2022 This call out has closed. Catch up with Poet laureates of Melbourne here https://us9.campaign-archive.com/home/ Are you this weeks Poet Laureate of Melbourne? Unfortunately we haven't got a poem for this week and have opened a very rapid call out for one.... We are looking for a poem about this week delivered by 9am Friday the 16th October to [email protected] We will confirm the successful poem by 10am then within two hours will suggest any edits. We will pay $300 for the successful poem. Yes, you do need to be resident in Victoria. Are you up for the challenge?
02.01.2022 THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Simsion I haven’t changed my mind. That’s the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it’s totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there’s no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you. Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong diffic...ulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a wonderful husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logicalmost definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver. Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligentand on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosieand the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper. All About Romance (AAR) Annual Reader Poll for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements (2014), Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Unpublished Manuscript (2012), Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for General Fiction and for Book of the Year (2014), UC Book of the Year (2015), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2013) #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
01.01.2022 THE GLENROY SERIES by Steven Carroll They’re walking down the old street again, Rita, Vic and the boy, Michael. It’s summer, a warm breezy evening, and they are walking under a cloudless peach sky, ripe and glowing. The sun is low and their shadows almost stretch back to family house at the golf course end of the street The Art of the Engine Driver: This is an elegant and resonant story of change and the loss of innocence set in post-war Melbourne. This is the story of one ...evening in the lives of the residents of a new outer suburb. As a mighty steam train leaves Spencer Street Station, a group of neighbours gather to celebrate a young girl's engagement... #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2QCJ0k4
01.01.2022 One of our great projects this year was a collaboration with Literaturstadt Heidelberg examining the poetry tradition of the Tagelied This project was curated by Nathan Curnow and had new work from Kevin Brophy, Eleanor Jackson, Cate Kennedy, Bella Li, Ross Gillett, and Sean M Whelan Original presented at the Heidelberg Litertaure Days as "Farewell to yesterday - The Tagelied and Contemporary Lyric" ... The video of the session can be seen here https://heidelberger-literaturtage.de/live-stream-archiv/ The poems have now been published as part of Australian Poetry latest journal https://www.australianpoetry.org//apj-10-1-modern-elegy-o/
01.01.2022 THE MIDNIGHT PROMISE by Zane Lovitt Anyone’s job gets to them after a while. What I did for a living You kind of become an expert on the shitty things people do to each other. A literary detective story ingeniously told in ten cases. John Dorn is a classic gumshoe. His woman has left him, he lives in his office, and he drinks too much. His one friend, a lawyer named Demetri, hands Dorn an infinite supply of hopeless cases and lost causes, to which Dorn, ever the champion o...f the underdog and the oppressed, is drawn to as a sledgehammer is to a kneecap. A superlative work of hardboiled literary detective fiction, The Midnight Promise wonderfully evokes the underbelly of contemporary Melbourne, its battlers, its hard men, its victims, and its ill-fated heroes. #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
01.01.2022 WHISPER by Chrissie Keighery ‘I'm always trying to figure out what's really going on. Always having to fill in the gaps, but never getting all the details. It's like trying to do a jigsaw when I don't even know what the picture is, and I'm missing one of the vital middle pieces.’ How do you know if your friends are talking about you behind your back or if a boy likes you? They could act innocent, but you'd know from the rumours. You'd hear the whispers. But what if you couldn...'t hear those whispers anymore? What if everything you took for granted was gone? Being a teenager is hard enough. But being a deaf teenager? #ReadingMelbourne celebrates books set in Melbourne and Victoria. See the full (growing) list of titles on our Facebook. List compiled by Meg Mundell. See the full list here: https://bit.ly/2ENzyba
