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Join local mystery writer Dorothy Johnston and the Queenscliff Library for a walk and talk around some of Queenscliff's most intriguing literary landmarks.
Starting at Hotel Q (the old Royal), walk down Mercer Street to Henry Handel Richardson’s house, continue on to the checkpoint at the bridge leading to Swan Island, then up Gellibrand Street, pausing on the way to look out towards the pilot’s operation centre then past the police station and finish at the Fort. All of these locations are featured in Dorothy’s novels.
Dorothy Johnston was born in Geelong and now lives in Ocean Grove. She is currently working on a sea-change mystery series set in Queenscliff. The first three titles are Through a Camel’s Eye, The Swan Island Connection and Gerard Hardy’s Misfortune.
Please note, this event involves moderate walking and participants will need to dress warmly and bring an umbrella.
Dorothy’s books will be available for purchase and signing at the end of the walk.
Book now to avoid disappointment.
REGISTER HERE
Sunday, 20 June 2021 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm Queenscliff Library
In-Conversation author event, facilitated by Belinda Duarte
In the lead up to NAIDOC Week, join us for this unique new novel featuring Wiradjuri language throughout, by Wiradjuri woman, Dr Anita Heiss.
Set in Gundagai in 1852, on timeless Wiradyuri country, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams) tells a story of courage, connection and belonging which is both universal and deeply personal. The powerful Murrumbidgee River surges through town leaving death and destruction in its wake. It is a stark reminder that while the river can give life, it can just as easily take it away.
Dr Heiss will be joined by facilitator Belinda Duarte, a Wotjobaluk, Dja Dja Wurrung descendant and CEO of Culture is Life.
Thursday, 1 July 2021 - 7:30pm to 8:30pm Geelong Library and Heritage Centre
Family Fun Day at Colac Library is part of a week-long program, celebrating the transition of Colac and Apollo Bay Libraries to the Geelong Regional Library Network.
Writing stories, capturing people in books and sharing the experiences of both writer and subject can be thrilling or terrifying. Trauma and triumph have far reaching effects on individuals, often taking years to play out and decades to fully unravel all the ramifications of lived experiences.
Neal Drinnan’s excavation of life’s layers, and his quirky narrative style made The Devil’s Grip a best seller in Western Victoria. Now he’s turned his gaze on one of the Anglican church’s most colourful and controversial figures - Father Peter Macleod-Miller, whose Albury congregation is as rich and colourful as he is. A community whose joyful inclusiveness offers a glimpse into what church-life could be if archaic and patriarchal institutions would loosen the reigns.
Join Neal at this special event - part of our Family Fun Day and Celebration Week - to discover more about the many directions writing can take for both author and subject.
Book to avoid dissapointment
Venue - Colac Community Library and Learning Centre
Wednesday, 7 July 2021 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Author In-conversation
From the bestselling author of Wimmera and The Rip comes an unforgettable novel that explores the darkness in our world with the light only a child can find.
On his eleventh birthday, Jacob's father gives him a diary. To write about things that happen. About what he and his father do on their farm. About the sheep, the crop, the fox and the dam. But Jacob knows some things should not be written down. Some things should not be remembered.
The only things he knows for sure are what his father has taught him. Sheltered, protected, isolated. But who is his father protecting him from? And how far will his father go to keep the world at bay?
All too soon, Jacob will learn that, sometimes, people do the most terrible things.
Wednesday, 14 July 2021 - 6:30pm to 7:30pm Waurn Ponds Library
Authors In-conversation
Two Steps Onward is the wise, witty and wine-filled follow-up to Two Steps Forward, Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist's bestselling novel about walking the Camino.
Three years after life got in the way of their long-distance relationship, Californian artist Zoe and English engineer Martin have an unexpected opportunity to reunite: a second chance to follow in the footsteps of pilgrims in Europe.
This time, they won’t be walking the famous Camino de Santiago to north-west Spain but the less-travelled Chemin d’Assise and Via Francigena to Rome, along the mountainous paths from rural France.
Two Steps Onward is the wise, witty and wine-filled follow-up to Two Steps Forward. It’s about helping the people you love, and knowing when to let go, figuring out what you really want in life, and seizing your chances before it’s too late.
Thursday, 15 July 2021 - 6:30pm to 7:30pm Geelong Library and Heritage Centre
Geelong Heritage Exhibition
Join us for to celebrate the launch of the 'Untitled.Showa' exhibition, featuring taiko drums, poetry and Butoh - contemporary Japanese dance.
Untitled.Showa is an online portal for solving a mystery and making new meanings through found photographs. The audience is asked to interact with a collection of old photographs from Japan (created between the 1930s and 1960s), found in Australia, to solve a historic puzzle with the view to collectively finding ways to (re)unite the original prints to the people in the photographs, their family, the copyright holder/s or to an appropriate archive, and to participate in real time with the unfolding of a contemporary story.
Join us for to celebrate the launch of the Untitled.Showa exhibition, featuring taiko drums, poetry and Butoh - contemporary Japanese dance.
Sunday, 18 July 2021 - 2:00pm to 4:00pm Geelong Library and Heritage Centre
Writers' Workshop presented by Geelong Regional Libraries
Using film clips and hands on exercises, participants will leave with the tools to write or edit their novel so that it's a page turner.
In this half day workshop, we look at story structure — plot, multi-dimensional characters, motivation and conflict — as well as touching on point of view and the importance of ‘ what’s at stake?’.
Please note: Places are extremely limited and there is a $10pp registration fee for this event. If you are unable to attend for any reason please let us know at least 24 hours in advance and we will cancel your place and refund your registration fee. We will send a reminder text for this event the day before the workshop.
Saturday, 24 July 2021 - 10:30am to 3:30pm Geelong Library and Heritage Centre
Poetry Book Launch
Trigger Warning is not for the fainthearted, but neither are the elemental realities of domestic violence and environmental catastrophe that these astonishing poems address.
Comprised of three sections, the first summons a difficult personal history by conversing with poets – from Sylvia Plath to Anne Carson – whose dramatised confessions trigger Takolander’s own. The second part remains focused on the domestic, while redeeming that scene of trauma through a reinventing wit. The final section of this extraordinary book turns its attention outside, playing with poetry itself in order to confront the Anthropocene and the final frontier of death. This is poetry that balances ruthlessness and lyrical beauty; poetry alive to its time and audience; poetry not to be missed.
Saturday, 31 July 2021 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm Geelong Library and Heritage Centre
Evil is at play in a South African game reserve. A poacher vanishes into thin air, defying logic and baffling ace tracker Mia Greenaway.
Meanwhile Captain Sannie van Rensburg, still reeling from a personal tragedy, is investigating the disappearance of two young girls who locals fear have been abducted for use in sinister traditional medicine practices. But poachers are also employing witchcraft, paying healers for potions they believe will make them invisible and bulletproof.
When a tourist goes missing, Mia and Sannie must work together to confront their own demons and challenge everything they believe, and to follow a bloody trail that seems to vanish at every turn.
Tony Park is the author of 19 bestselling thriller novels set in Africa. His 18th, Last Survivor, reached number one in South Africa. Tony grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and has worked as a newspaper reporter, a press secretary, a PR consultant and a freelance writer. He also served 34 years in the Australian Army Reserve, including six months as a public affairs officer in Afghanistan in 2002. He and his wife, Nicola, divide their time equally between Australia and southern Africa.
Tuesday, 10 August 2021 - 6:30pm to 7:30pm Geelong Library and Heritage Centre
The Woman Who Cracked the Anxiety Code
The true story of the little-known mental-health pioneer who revolutionised how we see the defining problem of our era: anxiety. Panic, depression, sorrow, guilt, disgrace, obsession, sleeplessness, low confidence, loneliness, agoraphobia … Dr Claire Weekes knew how to treat them, but was dismissed as underqualified and overly populist by the psychiatric establishment. In a radical move, she had gone directly to the people.
Her international bestseller Self-Help for Your Nerves has helped tens of millions of people, and continues to do so. Yet even as letters and phone calls from readers around the world flooded in, thanking her for helping to improve — and in some cases to save — their lives, Dr Claire Weekes was dismissed as underqualified and overly populist by the psychiatric establishment. Just who was this woman, and what was her very valuable advice?
Wednesday, 25 August 2021 - 7:30pm to 8:30pm Virtual Event
Join Jock Serong, the versatile and award-winning author of five novels, in this unique writing course all about plot and structure in novel-length fiction. Readers have a deep instinct for story, and the inter-related concepts of plot and structure are the cornerstones of good fiction. This workshop is designed to assist you in pinning down the characters and images that demand to be written to a narrative frame. Through a series of insights from your tutor, along with exercises, examples and further reading, this workshop will give you the practical skills you need to craft a tight and engaging structure for your novel.
Book now to avoid disapointment
Saturday, 28 August 2021 - 10:30am to 3:30pm Virtual Event
We are busy planning to welcome new library members and staff from Colac Oway Shire soon.
The Geelong Regional Libraries’ app is your portal to the library, easily accessible from your mobile device.
The app is compatible with both Apple and Android phones and tablets and is available now through the iOS App Store and Google Play.
