March/April 2017
Adelaide Writers’ Week My favourites from Writers’ Week, that blissful injection of ideas and literature It felt terrific to be one of thousands of readers enjoying Adelaide Writers’ Week early in March. The friendliness was palpable as booklovers mingled and Interstate visitors kept raving about our unique gem. “And it’s free,” they kept saying, as only Adelaide’s writers’ festival remains so. Australian literary heroes this year included novelists Kate Grenville, John Marsden, Hannah Kent and Elizabeth Harrower, poets Mike Ladd and Louise Nicholas, and radio giants Caroline Baum and Richard Fidler. There were overseas authors aplenty too and new names to follow-up. From these, some favourites for me included Paula Byrne who talked about biography and also Jane Austen, Cuban born Armando Correa from New York, Alberto Manguel on curiosity and his wide ranging love of literature, Canadian Peter Geye with the skill to recreate adventures in the wild, and Ashleigh Wilson and Sebastian Mee on art. But there were loads more. I came away excited and inspired from this feast for readers of all ages and tastes, and my stacks of books to chew over became much taller. Lorraine McLoughlin, Yankalilla
We love to hear from members Please try to keep your comments short (under 200 words) so we can hear from several people.
Who’s Who… Charperson Chris Stokes
Deputy Chair Janet Page
Treasurer
Janice High
Secretary
Gayle Jones
Committee
Nicole Gilding Helen Greer Roslyn Hocking Maurene McEwen Joy Whellum
Ex Officio
Lorraine McLoughlin
Books & Words Group PO Box 1621 Normanville SA 5024 Email bookswordsgroup@gmail.com or visit www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com
From the Chairperson What a start to the year Mad March exhausting our senses and now Amazing April before us. It is with great flourish that we forge into the Festival Fleurieu with friends and family. It’s been such a busy start to this year that you may have overlooked re-joining the Books & Words Group. Remember that when you join BWG you receive a discount on tickets to local events, so it is well worth the small $15 investment. You can join online at booksandwordsgroup@weebly.com or at Yankalilla Visitor Information Centre. We have planned some great events for the year ahead: afternoon tea for sharing writing and readings at Inman Valley Country Kitchen on 21 May, 4–6pm; Robin Hood Pantomime in July; and much more… The Books & Words Group are contributing to the Festival Fleurieu Program with fabulously, magical moments in four beautiful gardens in the region. You can pick up a ‘Garden Magic’ pamphlet from one of many local business outlets. Share it with friends and make sure you book, seating is limited. It will be an enjoyable afternoon at any of the four gardens, or at all four if you can attend every poet, author and garden. I thought I’d share some Mad March moments with you. ‘Saul’ did you go? How amazing was the music, the set, those voices? A truly wonderful visual and audible experience.
’Secret River’ – possibly the best theatre I have ever seen with such powerful images, clever set and sensitive language and actions of the cast made this an unforgettable experience. People walked away silently, deeply moved. In contrast the Garden of Unearthly Delights provided a huge range of acts, cabaret, comedy, drama and music to delight the senses and to challenge them too! On the Fleurieu Coast we are all looking forward to Festival Fleurieu kicking off with a grand opening ceremony in Bungala Park on Easter Saturday 15 April. But the opening ceremony is just the beginning, there’s an even bigger line up this year, including artist studio trails and exhibitions, environment, history and heritage openings, walks tours and events, food and wine, literature, music and performance events, and family and youth activities. For over two weeks across more than 50 venues, locals and visitors alike will be able to immerse themselves in the district and the events on offer. Pick up a bright yellow program and book tickets at the Visitor Information Centre or online at www.festivalfleurieu.com.au Remember the ‘Garden Magic’ events have limited seating available – so book now.
Happy Festival Fleurieu!
VE TE SA DA E TH
Afternoon Tea
An entertaining afternoon where people are invited to share their readings and writing with all.
WHERE: Country Kitchen Inman Valley WHEN: Sunday 21 May, 4pm–6pm
Full details will be made available closer to the time, and at www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com
Books & Words Group PO Box 1621 Normanville SA 5024 Email bookswordsgroup@gmail.com or visit www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com
Member Spotlight Helen Greer – Committee Member We had our weekender in Normanville for three years before we moved down here full time. This is how many of our conversations start since we’ve been here. Everyone has pretty much the same story. Once you get a taste of the life here, it doesn’t take long before you make the move. My husband, Andy and I still have our jobs in the eastern suburbs and commute together each day. When we married, he was fresh out of catering college in the Army and I was a window dresser at Myer. Since then we’ve owned a bakery and a pub and I have also worked as a cashier, paint technician, house cleaner, house painter, sculptor, butcher’s assistant, floral technician and finally a library assistant. I have been at Campbelltown Public Library for eleven years where my official duties are in processing new stock and maintaining our community noticeboards and four display windows. Unofficially, I consult with various Council departments on anything ‘arty’ or presentation related, e.g. the Poppy Project and Tour Down Under. I also stretch my creative flair with organising the Library’s entry in Campbelltown City Council’s Christmas Parade each year. I have recently completed a nine month secondment as Acting Events and Programs Officer. It was in this role while presenting an Author Talk event that I was introduced to Lorraine McLoughlin who, upon learning of our imminent move to the area, invited me to join the Books & Words Group committee. That sounded like a good fit for me so that is how I come to be writing my profile for you today.
Once you get a taste of the life here, it doesn’t take long before you make the move. On the subject of books, let me tell you about my favourite authors. Well, there’s Austen, Stoker and Tolkien, of course but I don’t just read the classics. By genre then, for steampunk, I like Mark Hodder and George Mann. For historical fiction, I like Lyndsay Faye, Jean M. Auel, Louis Bayard and Matthew Pearl. For vampires and zombies, Justin Cronin, Sergei Lukyanenko, Robert Kirkman and Mira Grant are exceptional. For sci-fi, Hugh Howey is a master. Some unexpected treasures I have found that continue to echo are Wesley Stace’s ‘Misfortune’, Kate Johnson’s ‘The Untied Kingdom’ and Max Barry’s ‘Machine Man’. For something fun, I enjoy Gregory Maguire’s books based on fairy tales, Simon R. Green’s Eddie Drood series, Graeme Simsion’s ‘Rosie Project’ books and Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series. When I’m not working, commuting or reading, I like to upcycle old furniture and books into practical and beautiful things. I have my own little crafting corner where I can turn my hand to almost anything. So look out for me at the Yankalilla market later in the year.
2017 Calendar April
The Scribe Festival Fleurieu Literary Events in Garden Settings Tuesdays 18 & 25 Thursdays 20 & 27
May
Book Club Dinner
June
Author Visit
July
The Scribe Pantomime – Robin Hood
August
Moody Blues – Quiz
September
AGM – Dinner
October
The Scribe Book Event
November Wordsmith
December
Christmas Festivities
Books & Words Group PO Box 1621 Normanville SA 5024 Email bookswordsgroup@gmail.com or visit www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com
Metaphors Did you hear about the judicial jousting in January? The Books & Words Group organised a debate on the issue ‘Life is One Long Holiday’ at the end of which John Doyle, former Justice of the High Court, summed up with so many, many words, obtuse similes and latinised metaphors so as to challenge the audience, the grand ‘jury’ wanting to put us straight, on track, on line, on beam, on course, on the level, right, in the clear to guide us through this fog, this bog, this swamp, this sludge, this ooze, this slime, this marsh, this slop, this goo, this disarray, this muddle, this maze.
GARDEN MAGIC PRESENTED BY
G R O U P
which provides various literary events to the Fleurieu Coast area www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com
The amazed debaters had thought their arguments had been clear, direct, simple, forthright, straight forward and even fair, even, above board, bona fides, even handed, fair and square, correct, proper, the full two bob, the genuine article. But instead teams were summed up as being corrupted, compromised, contaminated, debauched, perverted !!
READINGS IN GARDEN SETTINGS by RACHAEL MEAD 18 April 2pm–4pm, 5 Martin Road, Yankalilla The readings of Rachael Mead, an acclaimed environmental poet, will resonate in this native garden of birdlife and views to the sea.
MIKE LADD 20 April 2pm–4pm, 22 Brook Place, Normanville
Much awarded SA poet and host of ABC’s Poetica, Mike Ladd, will read from his works in a walled courtyard after guests enjoy the garden’s amazing coastal vistas.
KATE LLEWELLYN 25 April 2pm–4pm, 8 Daniels Road, Yankalilla A rambling garden around a 150 year old cottage is the setting for readings from beloved SA writer Kate Llewellyn whose poems and prose are entwined with her great love of gardening.
KATE ALDER AND CHRIS BATTAMS
Take the challenge! How many similes can you find for the following: abstrusity, inanality, asininity, fatuity (13 needed).
27 April 2pm–4pm, 1 Coast View Court, Yankalilla Two local poets with strong performance and publishing records share their literary energies in a developing garden with striking panoramas to the gulf. Directions and full details are in the Festival Fleurieu program (p.18) and on the website (below).
Here are some to describe the arguments as: even, above board, bona fides, even handed, fair and square, correct, proper, the full two bob, the genuine article.
Thank you to members for their contributions to this newsletter: Others are warmly invited to comment (in fewer than 75 words) about books, events and ideas for the future via email to bookswordsgroup@gmail.com And don’t forget to let us know if you are an author with a published book which you’d like put up on our website. We have several published writers in our number. Ineke Hill is the latest member we’ve added to our website at www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com
Books & Words Group PO Box 1621 Normanville SA 5024 Email bookswordsgroup@gmail.com or visit www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com
From Our Members Response to reading Island Home (Picador, 2015) Tim Winton surprised me with this eulogy to Australia, not because he would choose our island continent as his theme but for what I learnt about my own reactions to living away from Australia for several years and returning, for his depth of detail about plants and creatures, many unknown to me, and for the sheer poetry he uses to express his thoughts, in prose. The three elements most often are entwined: writing of colours of our land he describes ’lurid blue’, ‘khaki on grey charcoal’, the arcane spectrum of greens – white-green, grey-green, orange-green, tumeric-green. I feel that I’m looking at a painting in poetry. …and always the sea: The outfacing sea has left a vast, ribbed field of sandy pools like an abandoned kingdom. But close up the thin strips of water are busy with crabs and fingerlings, spider stars and bivalves” Winton (But I want to call him ‘Tim’ as I feel he’s been writing this just for me) wrote Island Home as a eulogy of his life from boy to man.
From his travel experiences he has drawn the conclusion that while countries with histories that are familiar to us are defined in human terms, Australia is defined by its geographical presence in which ‘no post-invasion achievement, no city, no soaring monument can compete with the grandeur of the land’. This book, picked randomly from the shelves at Yankalilla library, has inspired me so much I didn’t want to return it. But it’s there back again if you’d like to feel its power and poetry. Although it has a chronology within its covers, I began to dip in and out, rereading, rejoicing, reflecting. But I did finally read the final chapter ’Paying respect’. Here one inwardly debates with Winton his views on war, on sacred bonds, on migration, on philosophers like Pierre Teilard de Chardin and David Banggal Mowaljarlai- Who you ask? I did too. And overarching all, the environment. I know I need to buy this book to relish again and again its poetry and detail, to reflect on Tim’s descriptions as I walk our amazing beaches and rock pools under sometimes blue skies, with a bursting heart. Maurene McEwen, Normanville
Reading Bingo Working in a library, I am often asked to recommend books to people who think they’d like to read something but don’t know where to start. Really. There are also people who come off a series of one author’s complete works and find themselves at a loss for where to go next. We’ve all been at this point at one time in our reading lives. The Reading Bingo is a tool to help open the field, find new authors and genres you may never have looked at before. Here’s the challenge, don’t go back and re-read old favourites to fill in the boxes. Find something new or ask your local librarian for a recommendation. Ask your friends for suggestions or have a look at websites like goodreads.com. Browse the library shelves, bookshops and op shops.
It’s a bit of fun and while it’s not meant to be competitive, there’ll be prizes at the end. Mostly we want to hear about your unearthed treasures, unexpected delights, surprise new favourites and the disappointments you find along the way. For each genre box, record the title and author of a book that fits the description and give it a rating out of 5 stars. Audio books are acceptable and you may include books you’ve already read this year. Try to complete your Reading Bingo (overleaf) in time for the Christmas get-together where we’ll compare books read and award prizes.
Books & Words Group PO Box 1621 Normanville SA 5024 Email bookswordsgroup@gmail.com or visit www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com
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Books & Words Group PO Box 1621 Normanville SA 5024 Email bookswordsgroup@gmail.com or visit www.booksandwordsgroup.weebly.com Title
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