Clunes Booktown Festival Program 2022 by Clunes Booktown Festival

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022 30 april

+ 1 may

clunesbooktown.com.au

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Welcome to Booktown Clunes Booktown Festival is a COVID SAFE ticketed event.

Acknowledgement of Country We respectfully acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung people, traditional custodians of the land on which we celebrate our love of stories through books. Creative Clunes pays respect to their elders, past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the traditional owners of lands and waters across the kulin nation and australia and we recognise that indigenous sovereignty has never been ceded.

FROM THE MAYOR OF HEPURN SHIRE

FROM THE CHAIR OF CREATIVE CLUNES

Welcome to the 2022 Clunes Booktown Festival. This internationally recognised festival has grown into one of the Shire’s biggest events, bringing thousands of visitors to Clunes and our region. The festival celebrates the pleasure of reading and writing, and a love of books. There’s lots to see and do throughout the weekend.

We are thrilled to bring our festival back with gusto this year. We have over 50 book sellers bumping in for the weekend alongside our local bookshops. We get giddy to see our entire town transformed into a fabulous book bazaar. I am proud to present a festival program that helps us look forward with hope, to find a path through these difficult and complex times. I’m also delighted to have some of our local authors and artists celebrated in the program.

Council is a proud supporter of the festival, providing funding and other support. I hope you enjoy the festival and the beautiful township of Clunes. Hepburn Shire Mayor, Cr. Tim Drylie

It takes an enormous amount of work to bring a festival together, and I am thankful for the efforts of all who help to bring this festival to life. We hope at our festival you will connected, inspired and engaged through books and story. Creative Clunes Chair, Dr. Ember Parkin

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

BRIAN ANDY is a Yorta Yorta man from Cummeragunja – an Aboriginal village on the Murray River. He works with Yirramboi First Nations Arts Festival as a marketing coordinator and event producer. Bryan is also a freelance writer, radio broadcaster, arts event producer and is the Convenor of OutBlack – an LGBT social support and advocacy group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Victoria.

VAN BADHAM is a writer, theatremaker and novelist, occasional broadcaster, critic, trade unionist and feminist. She writes columns for the Guardian and her interests include gardening, baking and dialectical materialism.

NAT BARTSCH is an ARIA-nominated, multi-award-winning pianist and composer based in Melbourne. She releases music for both ABC Jazz and ABC Classic. Nat is proudly neurodivergent, with a goal of creating accessible music experiences for the neurodivergent community as well as young families. She is a touring pianist for Playschool, and plays keyboards on the Teeny Tiny Stevies albums.

TRACE BALLA’S background is in illustration, community arts, art therapy, animation, and writing songs and stories. Trace’s previous books have been highly acclaimed, winning many awards, as well as being shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Her latest children’s book, Landing with Wings, was published in 2020.

Participant Profiles

TONY BIRCH is a founding member of the Melbourne School of Discontent. He has published three novels; The White Girl, Ghost River and Blood. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award for his contribution to Australian literature. In 2021 he released two new books, a poetry book, Whisper Songs and a new short story collection, Dark As Last Night.

CARMEL BIRD is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Carmel grew up in Tasmania, and her most recent book, Telltale, has a certain Tasmanian focus. Telltale is a memoir written during the early stages of the pandemic. Carmel has published eleven novels and nine collections of short fiction. She edited The Penguin Century of Australian Stories, and The Stolen Children – Their Stories. She is a winner of the Patrick White Literary Award.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

TESS BRADY currently lives in Clunes where she collaborates on several creative projects. Tess runs the print office of Snodger Media and in 2020 collaborated with Catherine GoughBrady on the short film 70+. In 2021 Tess self-published The Noise of Empty Buildings, an ‘almost true’ story of her coming to Clunes and working with the team to set up Booktown. In 2017 Tess won the Regional Achievement & Community Awards: Life Activities Clubs Victoria.

EM CHANDLER (they/she) is a proud queer and trans theatremaker, magician, storyteller, and spoons player. With over 16 years of experience working with kids and their adults, they are committed to collaborating on new multidisciplinary work. Em is passionate about connecting with others through imagination, curiosity, and wonder.

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Participant Profiles

MAYA COFF is a youth leader coordinator and mentor on the First Nations leadership team at Nalderun Education Aboriginal Corporation.

BILL COLLOPY is a Melbourne-based author who has taught writing at Swinburne University and now works at CAE as Program Manager. His work has been published widely, including in Best Australian Stories, Overland, Dublin Quarterly and New England Review. As part of his role at CAE, he manages Australia’s largest book groups program.

FINGLESIN is an Apollo Bay based sculptor, freelance designer and artist, specialising in collaborative works and delivery of outcomes for major arts projects. He works with young people to make art.

MARYROSE CUSKELLY is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. She has lived in Melbourne for many years, but she was born in Queensland, where, in the early 1970s, there were several high-profile child abductions and murders.

DON FARRANDS QC is the grandson of the stretcher bearer in his book, Courage and Compassion. He is a barrister at the Melbourne Bar, and was recently appointed senior counsel. He has significant experience at board level including in community organisations. He likes cycling and watching international rugby and is also an avid classical music listener, having played in the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

ZANA FRAILLON is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning author, with work published in over 15 countries. Her 2016 novel The Bone Sparrow won the ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children, the Readings Young Adult Book Prize and the Amnesty CILIP Honour.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

GARY FOLEY is a Gumbainggir activist, historian, actor, curator and academic. A prolific collaborator, his writing includes stage productions Basically Black and the story of his life Foley! He has co-edited The aboriginal tent embassy: Sovereignty, black power, land rights and the state (2013) and Pandora’s Box: The Council for Aboriginal Affairs 1967 -1976 (2015).

DOUGLAS GELLATLY lives at Clunes. He is the author and narrator of Mount Zero, the Wimmera trilogy, which is available worldwide in ebook and serial podcast formats. Topically, it is a story of four men in the Wimmera between 1975 and 2010.

Participant Profiles

THE GENTS are a creative couple who have been living and working together for 17 years. Their combined work spans writing, photography, illustration, art, design and live storytelling. Since 2012, they’ve been gradually restoring a heritage property called Hunting Ground in Tasmania’s midlands, which was documented for a national television program which aired in 2019.

PROFESSOR BARRY GOLDING’S research interest in men’s learning and wellbeing and its link to Men’s Sheds in community settings originally came out of a series of research projects undertaken in Victoria, Australia from 2002 for the Adult, Community and Further Education (ACFE) Board.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

RICHARD GILBERT has been involved in volunteer organisations since 1965, particularly in tourist railways and tramways. Richard has published three books and currently edits and produces a periodical magazine. He joined Creative Clunes Incorporated in 2008 and has been on the Board since then. Richard held the Presidency for one term.

NICOLE HADDOW is a Victorianbased journalist and author of the forthcoming book The Ethical Investor. She is also the author of Smashed Avocado: How I Cracked the Property Market and You Can Too, which is now also available as a highly successful podcast. She was the executive property writer for the Australian Financial Review.

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

DIAN DJ HAMMOND wrote her first story at the age of four and has been a prolific writer ever since. She suffers from social phobia; but now, at the age of 62, is finally seeing her first book in print. She hopes she can finally connect with people through her writing.

FIONA HARDY is a writer, bookseller, reviewer and popcorn expert from Melbourne. Her first book, How to Make a Movie in 12 Days, was a CBCA Notable, and her second, How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life, won the 2021 Children’s Peace Literature Award. Her third book, How to Tackle Your Dreams, is out in May.

JEREMY HOPKINS is a singer, drummer, composer, lyricist, voiceover artist, actor and musical director. Based in Melbourne, Jeremy has worked across the Australian arts landscape, including contemporary music, circus, cabaret and the voiceover sector. He is a wordsmith, a comic, a crooner, an ensemble player, and a composer. He is currently working on his debut solo album.

ELIZA HULL is a musical artist, writer, journalist and disability advocate – and a contributor to Growing Up Disabled in Australia. Her podcast series on parenting with a disability, We’ve Got This, was one of Radio National’s and ABC Life’s most successful series of all time.

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

CHLOE HOOPER’S most recent book is the bestselling The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire. The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island won the Victorian, New South Wales, West Australian and Queensland Premiers’ Literary Awards, as well as the John Button Prize for Political Writing, and a Ned Kelly Award for crime writing. She is also the author of two acclaimed novels, A Child’s Book of True Crime and The Engagement.

JACQUI KATONA is a westerneducated Aboriginal Australian woman who led the campaign to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory. Presently a part time lecturer with Victoria University, Jacqui is a recent graduate of a Juris Doctor from University of Melbourne. She is undertaking PhD research with the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.

LEE KOFMAN is the author of five books, including creative nonfiction works Imperfect and The Dangerous Bride, and co-editor of Rebellious Daughters, an anthology of prominent Australian memoirists. Her short works have been widely published in Australia, UK, Scotland, Israel, Canada and US, including in Best Australian Stories, Best Australian Essays, Griffith Review, Malahat Review and Creative Nonfiction.

KATHERINE KOVACIC has written short stories, true crime and crime fiction. Her debut novel, The Portrait of Molly Dean, was shortlisted for the 2019 Ned Kelly Awards for Best First Fiction, and is the first of three books in the Alex Clayton art mystery series. Katherine frequently lives in her head with her characters but generally maintains a physical presence in Melbourne.

AMIE KAUFMAN is an internationally bestselling author of science fiction and fantasy. Her most recent books include Aurora’s End – the conclusion to the hugely popular trilogy she wrote with Jay Kristoff – and Beyond the End of the World, the second in her bestselling duology co-authored with Meagan Spooner. Amie currently lives by the sea in Melbourne with her family and an extremely large personal library.

ALEX KELLY (she/her) is an artist, filmmaker, orchardist and activist based on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Working across film, theatre, communications strategy and troublemaking, Alex purposefully connects the disciplines of art and change making. Alex is Producer of award-winning documentaries Island of the Hungry Ghosts and Impact Producer on In My Blood it Runs.

KIM KRUGER is a researcher with Moondani Balluk Academic Unit at Victoria University and an associate researcher for ARC Future Fellows, Dr Tracey Banivanua Mar (LaTrobe University) and Dr Kalissa Alexeyeff (University of Melbourne) with their projects ‘Melbourne in the Pacific’, and ‘Labour Circuits in the South Pacific’.

SOFIE LAGUNA is an award-winning author for both children and adults. She has been short-listed for the Queensland Premier’s Award. Titles include, Too Loud Lily, Our Australian Girl: Meet Grace and Bird and Sugar Boy. Sofie has recently released a new novel for children, The Song of Lewis Carmichael, illustrated by her husband, Marc McBride, and a picture book, When You’re Older, illustrated by Judy Watson.

Participant Profiles

SNEHA LEE works on Boon Wurrung Land. Her book, Good Indian Daughter was published by Affirm Press in May 2021, under the pseudonym Ruhi Lee. In 2019, she was a recipient of the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund and her manuscript was shortlisted for the Penguin Random House Write it Fellowship.

VANESSA LEN is a Melbourne author and educational editor. As an editor, she has worked on everything from language learning programs, to STEM resources, to professional learning for teachers. Her first novel, Only a Monster, is a young adult fantasy that explores themes of heroism and monstrousness. It was released in February 2022, and is being translated into ten languages.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

SHAY LEIGHTON is a community organiser who founded the Tough Guy Book Club in 2012, a men’s book club organisation that focuses on encouraging reading, building camaraderie, fighting isolation, and improving mental health. With a growing network of over 40 book clubs in Australia, the US and recently the UK, Tough Guy Book Club has become a noticeable and distinctive addition to many pubs.

LISA LEONG is the co-author of This Working Life: Navigating Your Career in Uncertain Times, alongside Monique Ross. She is a broadcaster, keynote speaker and CEO of a specialist consultancy for professional services innovation. Her work has been the subject of a Harvard Law case study, she has received numerous awards — and her TEDx Melbourne talk ‘Can robots make us more human?’ is much watched.

Participant Profiles

REBECCA LIM is a writer, illustrator, editor and lawyer. She is the author of over twenty books, including The Astrologer’s Daughter, Wraith and the internationally bestselling Mercy. Her work has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, the Aurealis Awards and Davitt Awards, and longlisted for the Gold Inky Award and the David Gemmell Legend Award.

SCOTT LUDLAM was a senator from 2008 to 2017 and served as deputy leader of the Australian Greens. He has also worked as a filmmaker, artist and graphic designer. This is his first book, Full Circle, the fruit of a life of activism, study and travel.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

PROFESSOR IAN LOWE AO has had a long career in universities, research councils and advisory groups. He is the author of several books, including Living in the Hothouse, A Big Fix, A Voice of Reason, Bigger or Better?, and The Lucky Country?. Lowe is also the author of a 2006 Quarterly Essay on the prospects for nuclear power in Australia, and a ‘flip book’ with Professor Barry Brook, giving the two sides of the argument.

TIMOTHY J LYNCH books include Turf War: the Clinton Administration and Northern Ireland, After Bush: the Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy, a winner of the Richard Neustadt Book Prize and a bestselling international security text, and US Foreign Policy and Democracy Promotion. He is editor-in-chief of the two-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History, and the convenor of the Ten Great Books Melbourne Masterclass.

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Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

WAYNE MARSHALL is an Australian writer and musician. Stories of his have appeared in Going Down Swinging, Island, Review of Australian Fiction, and other places. His manuscript Frontier Sport was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. He is the co-founder of the Peter Carey Short Story Award, and lives in Bacchus Marsh with his partner and two daughters.

MELISSA MANNING is a Melbournebased writer and lawyer. Her writing has been recognised in awards and published widely, including in The Best Small Fictions (US), To Carry Her Home (UK), Award Winning Australian Writing and Overland. Smokehouse is Melissa’s debut collection, and was shortlisted for the 2021 USQ Steele Rudd Award and won the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction.

MARC MCBRIDE has illustrated over fifty book covers and countless magazines. He won the West Australian Film and Television Award for Best Art Director. Marc has had work exhibited with the New York Society of Illustrators. He is best known for his illustrations in the Deltora Quest series, written by Emily Rodda. Marc is the illustrator and collaborator with Sofie Laguna on their book The Song of Lewis Carmichael.

AIDEN MCHARG (he/him) is an award winning magician with over a decade of entertaining experience. He is also a trained actor, dancer, costume designer, mime artist, bubbler, puppeteer, and unicyclist, among other things. Working as a magician consultant for The Knack Theatre – and as an independent theatre-maker – he uses his varied skills to tell stories and engage with people’s imaginations.

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

MARTINE MURRAY was born in Melbourne and now lives in Castlemaine in Victoria. She is an award-winning children’s novelist and illustrator. The Last Summer of Ada Bloom is her first novel for adults.

DAN NIXON is a storyteller, writer, producer, and educator. He has a master’s degree in Screenwriting from the Victorian College of the Arts and a particular interest in creating and sharing work to engage young audiences and performers. He owns and direct Melbourne Young Writers’ Studio, a storytelling education company with a studio based in Melbourne’s Fitzroy North.

SEAN O’BEIRNE grew up in Melbourne’s outer suburbs, and studied arts, law and acting. His first book, the satirical short-story collection A Couple of Things Before the End, was shortlisted for the QLD Literary Awards and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

KERRIE O’BRIEN is a writer, editor and all-round communicator. Kerrie is a senior culture writer, at The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Participant Profiles

JACINTA PARSONS is a broadcaster, radio maker, writer, and public speaker. She hosts Afternoons on ABC Melbourne delivering a mix of art and culture. Her radio life started at 3RRR over a decade ago, where she hosted several shows. She is an active member of the arts and music community and is a board member for Melbourne disability theatre company, Rollercoaster. Unseen is her first book.

JOSH POMARE is an award-winning writer. His debut novel, Call Me Evie, won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel. Pomare’s novels In The Clearing and The Last Guests were critically acclaimed bestsellers, while his novel Tell Me Lies was a #1 Audible bestseller and was shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel and the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction. The Wrong Woman is his fifth book.

MONIQUE ROSS is a writer and the co-author of This Working Life: Navigating Your Career in Uncertain Times, alongside the fabulous Lisa Leong. She previously worked as a digital journalist and producer for the ABC for more than a decade, in roles across News Digital and Radio National Online.

RENEE PRICE is the creator behind, Read by Renee. A magical combination of imagination, creativity, fun and joy all rolled into a professional package of book based activities. With the flick of her wand, Renee will have children enchanted as she brings joy and magic to beautiful picture books sprinkled with sing-a-long nursery rhymes throughout her storytelling sessions.

MILLIE ROSS is a professional horticulturist, garden designer, writer and broadcaster. An innovative gardener with an unconventional approach, Millie specialises in creative construction, sourcing local, low-cost materials and using plants in unusual ways. Millie writes for both Gardening Australia and Organic Gardener.

JOCK SERONG is the award-winning author of five novels spanning history, crime, politics and human rights. A former criminal lawyer, he was the founding editor of Great Ocean Quarterly and currently writes for titles including The Monthly, The Guardian, Literary Hub and more. His sixth novel, The Settlement, which continues the story of Tasmania’s Furneaux Islands, will be released in September.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

FIONA SCOTT-NORMAN is a writer, comedian and cabaret director who lives in Melbourne with her chickens. Fiona got her first flock in 2012, jumping on board the backyard chicken train without a clue what she was doing. She has written for The Age and The Australian, as well as for TV comedies Back Berner and Comedy Company, and has also written four books.

OGY SIMIC is the Advocacy Manager at the ASRC. Since arriving in Australia as a refugee he has worked as a campaigner at every level – grassroots community organising, for federal parliamentarians, for NGOs and as an elected representative himself.

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Participant Profiles

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

PATSY SKINNER has always loved books! In the 1990’s she began writing poetry. Later she joined several writing groups in Tasmania. Patsy and her husband, Ray moved to Clunes in 2016. She joined The ClunesWriters’ Group soon after, and enjoys sharing and encouraging other writers. Compiling the material for the anthology, Unmasked has been a project two years in the making, mostly thanks to the pandemic.

JUSTINE SLESS is an author, comedian & Kvetcher in the Wry. Justine teaches, writes, researches, and performs stand-up comedy. She has 20 plus years’ experience across the arts, education, nonprofits, and health as a community worker - creating events, festivals, markets and employment education pathways. Justine is a ‘professional listener...’ really, she is! She is based in Melbourne Australia.

JILL TESCHENDORFF is a local resident and avid gardener. She wrote Grow Wild because when she and her husband were revegetating their 24-hectare block in Glenlyon, Jill realised there were gaps in people’s knowledge of local plants and how they provide habitat and food for native animals. She aims to empower people to include indigenous plants in their gardens to provide special habitats for our local wildlife.

YONKE VAN GELOVAN lives in Clunes on a permaculture property called La Fleur de Soul. She can often be found in wild places facilitating nature connection. She loves finding wild treasures which she weaves into her stories. Imagine, the book, is a story about Pepper, Yonke’s daughter, and her wild imagination. It was created on flattened tin using found wild treasures and painting.

ALICIA SOMETIMES is an Australian writer, poet and broadcaster. She is a regular guest on ABC 774 and Radio National. Alicia has two poetry collections, kissing the curve and Soundtrack and her poems have been in Best Australian Poems, Overland, Southerly, Westerly and many more. She has performed her spoken word at many venues, festivals and events around the world.

MAURIAL SPEARIM is a Gamilaraay, Kooma, Muruwari woman. She has been cast in various roles including Neighbours, Wentworth & Redfern Now. Her work is bold, thoughtprovoking and unapologetic. She is studying her Masters of Writing for Performance at Melbourne University. Currently Maurial is co-writing for two Australian TV series and is a co producer for Homelands Collective.

DON WATSON is one of Australia’s most acclaimed writers and thinkers. He is an award-winning author, a former speechwriter, a historian and a satirist. His many books include Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM, Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language, American Journeys and The Bush. In 2010 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for Excellence in Literature.

JANE WILSON is the Melbourne representative of Sydney-based Murdoch Books, a division of Allen & Unwin, the biggest independent publisher in Australia. She has worked with authors ranging from Matthew Evans to Adam Liaw, Analiese Gregory, Danielle Alvarez and Josh Niland. Murdoch has a long-established footprint in the UK, and relationships with publishers across Europe and the US.

Participant Profiles

HUGH WAYLAND is an artist, musician, photographer, builder and retired actor. Hugh’s varied career has included being a co-founder of the comedy troupe Funny Stories – and in the 80s and 90s he co-wrote, designed and performed in a variety of shows that toured nationally and internationally. Most recently Hugh has penned a memoir – Funny Stories, Prophets of the Absurd, and is now a local Clunes resident.

BONNIE ZUIDLAND is a philosophy teacher at Ballarat High School who is also passionate about Philosophy with and for children. She is a teacher trainer in the Pedagogical Approach of Community of Inquiry, a method of teaching that engages children in deeper questioning and thinking about the world we find ourselves in.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

GABRIELLE WILLIAMS lives in Melbourne and has three kids, one husband and a dog. She is the author of a number of critically acclaimed YA novels, including Beatle Meets Destiny, The Reluctant Hallelujah, The Guy, the Girl, the Artist and His Ex and My Life as a Hashtag, all of which have been shortlisted for a number of prestigious awards. Her latest YA novel, It’s Not You, It’s Me, was published in September 2021.

ARNOLD ZABLE is an acclaimed Australian writer, novelist, storyteller, and human rights activist, and the recipient of the 2021 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. His books include Jewels and Ashes, Café Scheherazade, Scraps of Heaven, Sea of Many Returns, The Fig Tree, Violin Lessons, and The Fighter. His most recent book, The Watermill, was published in March 2020.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Saturday Schedule

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Booktown Author Talks, Panels and Conversations EVENT

VENUE

ENTRY

9:30am

Official Festival Opening Welcome to Country with Dja Dja Wurrung Elder

Collins Place

Free

10:00am 10:45am

Live Improv 123 Fail! Lisa Leong & Monique Ross - This Working Life - TBC

Collins Place

Free

11:00am 12:00pm

Panel: In discontent there is hope power The Melbourne School of Discontent is a collective of Aboriginal and Islander academics, activists, artists, writers, poets and pests. They examine, analyse, and critically dissect the popular and accepted narratives of Australian history. They believe there is a better path forward for Australia and that we should seek that path. Their weapons are simply words and thoughts that may disrupt the status quo. In the words of Chelsea Watego, ‘fuck hope’. Featuring Tony Birch, Gary Foley, Jacqui Katona with Kim Kruger.

Clunes Town Hall

Ticket

11:00am 12:00pm

Panel: Up Close and Personal Carmel Bird, Lee Koffman and Chloe Hooper discuss the challenges that can be encountered when making the personal public. How lived experience can be transformed into compelling stories. Chaired by Maryanne Vagg.

Attitude Building

Ticket

12:00pm 1:00pm

Panel: Writing Place A trio of writers discuss how their work is informed by and explores their relationships with place. They will explore how memory, history and literature shape our engagement with landscapes and cities. They’ll also give readings from their works. Presented by Writers Victoria.

Clunes Courthouse

Ticket

12:30pm 1:30pm

In Conversation: Don Watson with Sean O’Beirne. Don’s latest book Watsonia brings together the best bits of his writing life. The result is powerful, insightful, and wryly witty. He covers everything from Oz humour to the U.S. gone berserk, from Don Bradman to Oscar Wilde. Don the raconteur is as respected as Watson the writer so his reflections will be both illuminating and enjoyable.

Clunes Town Hall

Panel: Life of Crime, Tall Tales and True In the book world, crime always pays. Whether an imaginary mystery or a serious documentation, readers devour anything criminal. JP Pomare, Katherine Kovecic and Mary Rose Cuskelly ruminate on our obsession with bad behaviour with Jock Serong attempting to keep the discussion legal.

Attitude Building

Venues:

Collins Place: Fraser St

Attitude Building: 25 Fraser St

Town Hall: 98 Bailey St

Courthouse: 98 Bailey St

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Booktown Author Talks, Panels and Conversations

TIME

12:30pm 1:30pm

Saturday Schedule

TIME

EVENT

VENUE

ENTRY

1:30pm 2:15pm

In Conversation: The Ethical Investor Journalist Nicole Haddow is the author of Smashed Avocado: How I Cracked the Property Market and You Can Too and most recently The Ethical Investor in which she presents an essential guide to growing wealth while making a difference. Nicole outlines the steps she takes to ensure her hard-earned cash isn’t going straight into the pockets of toxic companies. Presented by The Courier.

Clunes Courthouse

Ticket

2:00pm 3:00pm

Panel: Living and Growing - Positive Action for Us All Join us for an exciting and inspirational discussion on gardening, chooks and living the best way you can in your corner of the world, “igniting the skills and knowledge you already have but may not realise”. With Millie Ross, ABC The Thrifty Gardener, Fiona Scott Norman, This Chicken Life and Jill Teschendorff Grow Wild.

Clunes Town Hall

Ticket

2:00pm 3:00pm

Panel: We’ve Got This Eliza Hull, disability advocate and author of, We’ve Got This: Stories by disabled parents joins Jacinta Parsons Unseen, Nat Bartsch (ARIA-nominated pianist) and Jeremy Hopkins to discuss disability and overcoming adversity in 2022.

Attitude Building

Ticket

2:30pm 3:00pm

Poetry Session - Alicia Sometimes, a poet, musician and co-editor of the Australian literary journal Going Down Swinging, with a bunch of local poets.

Clunes Courthouse

Ticket

3:30pm 4:30pm

Happy Hour: We Need a Good Laugh! When times are tough, we need a good joke more than ever. Justine Sless, the Mistress of Mirth, Fiona Scott -Norman and Sean O’Beirne chat about how to turn the dark into the comedic. Presented by Triple R.

Clunes Town Hall

Ticket

3:30pm 4:30pm

Panel: Self-Publishing: How to get your story out there Publishing your own book is a major challenge but, if successful, the result can be satisfying (and sometimes spectacular). Self-publishers Hugh Wayland, Martine Murray (Parachute Press), Richard Gilbert and DJ Hammond take us through the ups and downs of DIY publishing and tick off the dos and don’ts of this cottage industry with Dr Tess Brady in the Chair.

Attitude Building

Ticket

Tickets: $10 Festival Pass | $15 for Talks -

clunesbooktown.com.au 23

Sunday Schedule

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Booktown Author Talks, Panels and Conversations TIME

EVENT

10:00am 11:00am

In Conversation: Arnold Zable Arnold Zable in conversation with Kerrie O’Brien, The Age. Arnold is a legendary storyteller. Kerrie will fire him up, with a focus on his latest work The Watermill. This is a quartet of true stories around displacement, survival and resistance that spans the globe and reflects the universal spirit of humanity. He takes us near and far, weaving tales within tales of people compelled to live extraordinary lives.

10:00am 11:00am

10:30am 11:30am

11:30am 12:30pm

Panel: Short and Sharp There’s power in brevity – telling a short story that can be captivating and satisfying. Wayne Marshall, Shirl, Melissa Manning, Smokehouse and Alicia Sometimes, From the Outer are great short story tellers, and will they share how they pack so much punch into a small package, and why they are drawn to short and sharp stories. Clunes Writers Group presents Unmasked: An Anthology The Group has a rich diversity of writers, each one with a story to tell - memoirs, short stories, poetry, prose and haikus. Lots of the pieces in the anthology reflect the pandemic experience. Members are eager to directly present their work to real people after months of isolation. Panel: A Brave New Future Scott Ludlam, Ian Lowe and Alex Kelly are thinkers who spend much of their time contemplating possible futures. We have entered the Anthropocene – an era in which humans are changing the earth’s climate irreversibly, and political, human and natural systems are on the cusp of collapse. We are headed for radical change and this mob explore the issues we will inevitably face. Chaired by Prof. Tim Lynch. Panel: Drive Let’s all move to the regions! It’s more relaxed, people are friendly, living is affordable, and you can enjoy a creative lifestyle. Delve into the stories, the joys, the cliches and realities of what it means to be a man - queer or straight in regional Australia. With Dale Campisi and Brady Michaels (The Gents) and Dr Barry Golding, Shoulder to Shoulder: Broadening the Men’s Shed Movement). Chaired by Douglas Gellatly, Clunes author and podcaster.

Venues:

VENUE

Clunes Town Hall

Attitude Building

Clunes Courthouse

Clunes Town Hall

Attitude Building

Collins Place: Fraser St

Attitude Building: 25 Fraser St

Town Hall: 98 Bailey St

Courthouse: 98 Bailey St

Sunday Schedule

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Booktown Author Talks, Panels and Conversations ENTRY

TIME

EVENT

VENUE

ENTRY

12:00pm 1:00pm

Panel: Independent Publishing Brad Shaw (Shawline Publishing Group) and Jane Willson (Murdoch Books) offer an insight into how independent minded and focused writers can become successful in getting their books to you, the book lover.

Clunes Courthouse

FREE

1:00pm 2:00pm

Panel: Seeking Asylum - The Voices Australia Should Hear Everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution but overcoming racism and loneliness can be as traumatic as the journey itself. Listen to the touching stories of our panel of authors who have experienced the journey firsthand. This talk will be both moving and powerful. Chaired Ogy Simic, Advocacy Manager at the ASRC.

Clunes Town Hall

Ticket

1:00pm 2:00pm

Presentation: Don Farrands QC Don Farrands wrote Courage and Compassion, A Stretcher Bearer’s Journey from No–man’s Land and Beyond about his grandfather Nelson Ferguson. Ferguson’s life has been the focus of Hannie Rayson’s play The Glass Soldier. Farrands shows us what it was about his remarkable grandfather that has made his story so inspiring.

Attitude Building

Ticket

1:30pm 2:30pm

Panel: 5 minutes each 10 Independent authors give an elevator speech about their work and why they decided to go with independent publishers. Sponsored by Shawline Publishing.

Clunes Courthouse

FREE

2:30pm 3:30pm

Panel: Book Clubs and Reading Groups Shay Leighton and Bill Collopy, from the Council for Adult Education talk about what makes for a great tale to discuss at a book club. Chaired by Maryanne Vagg.

Attitude Building

Ticket

2:30pm 3:30pm

Panel: Living Bold - Women’s Voices Rebecca Lim, Tiger Daughter, Sneha Lees, Good Indian Daughter and Van Badham, writer and activist, discuss what it is to be a woman in contemporary Australia. Chaired by Triple R.

Clunes Town Hall

Ticket

2:45pm 3:30pm

Presentation: Shoulder to Shoulder Broadening the men’s shed movement in the company of men and women. Presented by Prof. Barry Golding.

Clunes Courthouse

FREE

Ticket

FREE

Ticket

Tickets: $10 Festival Pass | $15 for Talks -

clunesbooktown.com.au 25

Saturday Kids Entertainment

Kids’ Village

10:30am start Dan Nixon - Scavenger Hunt Get inspired by our story scavenger hunt which starts from our tent in the kids village. Here you’ll take on the role of investigative journalist and start writing a new story. You’ll receive a map and your first clues before heading off through the festival in search of more answers and more inspiration. Finally returning to where it all began to piece together the mystery and finish the story.

Saturday Kids Entertainment

Kids’ Village

10:30am start Melbourne Young Writers’ Studio All Weekend, All ages Melbourne Young Writer’s Studio is a hub for storytelling and exploration, specialising in creative writing and story education programs for children, young people and emerging writers. Our beautiful Studio is based in Fitzroy North and free trials are available for children interested in our creative writing clubs. Pop-Up Writing Studio with Melbourne Young Writers’ Studio (all ages) A dedicated writing space for kids. Drop in and get your creative juices flowing with the help of professional writing coaches. Make a mini-book or take on a mystery story challenge, and together we’ll tell some stories!

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

10:15 – 11:00am Nalderun Story telling Tarrengower and Lalgambook Session Maya Coff shares the story and activities of Tarrengower and Lalgambook – A teaching from the Jaara Jaara. This book was created by the kids at the Meeting Place. It is the teaching about the two mountains that fought on the Country. 11:00am Book Launch: Way of Dog Zana Fraillon. Come celebrate the launch of Zana Fraillon’s middle grade verse novel, The Way of Dog, with Angela Crocombe and Readings Books! We will be jumping pawfirst into the wild and wonderful world of dogs, hear about the inspiration behind the book, and will be learning how to speak some Dog along the way. Be ready to try your hand at interpreting the world from a Dog’s point of snout, and go in the running to win the first ever signed copy of The Way of Dog. 11:30am Trace Balla: story-catch story-hatch cartoon collaboration Join much loved children’s authorillustrator Trace Balla, for a free and interactive story-catching and hatching session. Trace will create a cartoon story with the audience’s ideas, and inspire you to start one of your own, catch a few tips and tricks along the way, and have a peak into the next graphic novella she is hatching. Suitable from five to 105!

Trace Balla 12:00pm Book Parade Clunes Primary School take over the main stage, dressed up as their favourite characters. All weekend Straw Bale Maze In the kids village – over 300 hay bales in a beautiful maze design, presented by the family in dedicated to Marion Anderson.

12:30 – 1:15 The Wanting Monster Monster Martine Murray Martine Murray is an acclaimed Australian author whose work has won awards and been translated into more than 20 different languages. She writes for children, young people and adults and has a long involvement in the arts, including, dance, theatre, circus, film making and screenwriting. She runs a small press, Parachute Press, which has published her two picture books, The Wanting Monster 2021 and The Owl who got left behind.

Saturday Kids Entertainment

Kids’ Village

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Kids’ Village

11:00 – 12:30 & 2:00 – 3:30pm Finglesin: The Game Join artist FingleSin for a collaborative session packed full of visual art and storytelling. ‘The Game’ is suitable for all skill levels. It is a vibrant, challenging, and rewarding activity that connects creatives, builds tribes, promotes sharing and listening, and is way too much fun. The resulting collaborative artworks will be displayed publicly and via social media. Artists can be credited or remain anonymous. 12.30 – 1.30 YA Panel: Other Worlds Join three bestselling authors; Gabrielle Williams, Amie Kaufman and Vanessa Len as they talk about the worlds they bring to life on the page. Whether their stories are set in space, faraway fantasy worlds or here on Earth, whether you’re traveling through time or seeing somewhere familiar through new eyes, there’s some kind of magic afoot. Where do they begin, what questions do they ask, and how do their worlds shape their stories?

Sunday Kids Entertainment

1.30 – 2.30 How to Tackle Your Dreams, Fiona Hardy Come hear Fiona tell you all about how she went from writing a fivepage version of Alice in Wonderland in grade one to publishing three entire books as a grown-up! She’ll talk about following your dreams, how to tell a story, and how the kids she’s met along the way have changed how her books are written. 11:30am & 1:45pm Stopwatch Performance: Webster and Coles Travelling Book Emporium / Performance Webster and Cole’s Traveling Book Emporium is a magical portable book shop. Webster is the charismatic owner, while Cole is the practical employee. The books they have for sale are far from ordinary; they might grow or shrink, come alive, teleport, or contain more than words within their pages. Ultimately, Webster and Cole aren’t very good business people - but they do celebrate that books have a magic of their own, and are not always what they seem. This project was made possible by the City of Ballarat and Regional Arts Victoria.

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

10:30am start MELBOURNE YOUNG WRITERS’ STUDIO ALL WEEKEND, ALL AGES 10:30 – 12:00 & 1:00 – 2:30pm Finglesin: The Game Join artist FingleSin for a collaborative session packed full of visual art and storytelling. ‘The Game’ is suitable for all skill levels. It is a vibrant, challenging, and rewarding activity that connects creatives, builds tribes, promotes sharing and listening, and is way too much fun. The resulting collaborative artworks will be displayed publicly and via social media. Artists can be credited or remain anonymous.

10:30am & 1.30 pm Imagine: Workshop Yonke van Gelovan: An invitation for children to create their own story, told in collage and using gathered treasures, paint etc. 10:30am Faraway Storytelling with Renee Price – Under 6 With the flick of her wand, Renee will have children enchanted as she brings joy and magic to beautiful picture books sprinkled with singa-long nursery rhymes throughout this Faraway Storytelling session. Children will be enchanted by Renee’s storytelling and will leave with a twinkle in their eye and a craft activity to take home. These sessions will run for 30 minutes and are suitable for children aged up to 10 years.

Finglesin: The Game - sample

Sunday Kids Entertainment

Kids’ Village

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Wesley Bluestone Building 9

11:00am Storytelling Session –Aboriginal picture books for the young at heart Join Maurial Spearim, Gamilaraay, Kooma, Muruwari woman, sharing some beautiful picture books of Aboriginal culture with the young or young at heart, with songs and games. 11:00am Sofie Laguna trained originally as an actor, and there is a strong theatrical element in Sofie’s presentations for middle and upper primary students. After speaking with students about her passion for characters in her writing, Sofie plays director and the students act out scenes from her novels. She has found this to be an excellent way of engaging the audience in her work and giving them a deeper understanding of character. Sofie also discusses the inspiration behind her work – from stories about embarrassing parents, to family holidays. Sofie empowers her young audience with the belief that their own lives are rich with material for great stories. 12:00pm Marc McBride | Illustrator During the presentation Marc will paint a character from one of his books. He will explain the process of creating artwork, beginning with imagination and where ideas come from. He uses ideas from the audience, explaining colour theory, light, shape, line and texture- the five

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

elements of visual language. Using simple shapes he encourages the students to draw with him and to ‘not be afraid of making mistakes’- afterall it is often a mistake in a drawing that becomes the inspiration for something truly original! 1:30pm Bonnie Zuidland Stories and philosophy for the young ones 5-8 Year Olds In this session Bonnie will read a Picture Story Book and engage the participants in some thinking activities to get them imagining, questioning and exploring some of the big issues or philosophical problems the story ignites in them.

State Library Victoria will be displaying a number of rare books on ancient Egypt to mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, including Giovanni Battista Belzoni’s great work on Egypt and Nubia, published in London in 1820.

Booktown Venues

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Booksellers, Entertainment and Talks Follow the map on the inserted brochure to find out where you need to be!

FRASER STREET Clunes

WESLEY BLUESTONE 25 Services St, Clunes

ESMOND GALLERY 36 Fraser St Clunes The Warehouse

WESLEY WEAVERY 63 Fraser St Clunes

ALL NATIONS LODGE 23 Fraser St Clunes

CLUNES TOWN HALL 98 Bailey St Clunes

CLUNES COURTHOUSE 98 Bailey St Clunes

ATTITUDE CLUNES 25 Fraser St Clunes

Find us at the Clunes Booktown Festival 2022

COLLINS PLACE Fraser St Clunes Come visit us at our marquee on Fraser Street. Authors will be signing their books at the Readings marquee after their sessions.

readings.com.au

Creative Clunes

CLUNES BOOKTOWN 2022

Clunes Booktown Festival

GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS

The Clunes Booktown Festival is a Creative Clunes Inc initiative and is a member of the International Organisation of Booktowns. Creative Clunes Inc is responsible for the presentation of the annual Booktown Festival, monthly Booktown on Sunday author talks, and the Biannual Clunes Ceramic Award. Creative Clunes Inc is a vibrant rural hub that supports making, telling and sharing stories in all art forms.

BOARD OF CREATIVE CLUNES Dr. Ember Parkin – Chair Andrew Reid – Treasurer Kadir Hussein – Secretary

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Leslie Falkiner-Rose

All Nations Lodge

Jeremy Harper

Attitude

John Griffin

Clunes Agricultural Society

Kate Gerritsen

Clunes CFA

CEO/CFO: Sue Beal & Jon Hawkes Creative Producer: Suzi Cordell

Clunes Neighbourhood House Clunes Tourism and Development Association

Kids’ Space Coordinator: Suzi Cordell

Wesley @ Clunes staff and students

Union Bank Artscentre

COLLABORATORS

Union Bank Arts Centre And to all the volunteers who provide their considerable support throughout the year and especially during the Booktown Festival.

Graphic Design: Sahm Keily

ABN 438 469 595 41

Festival Photographer: Chloe Smith

p: 03 5345 3947

Straw Bale Maze Design: in honour of Marion Anderson

PRINTING GROUP

May’s Lollyshop The High Tea Mistress

Covid and Safety Officers: Dawn Holland and Joseph Rogan

Mc PHERSON'S

Clunes Young Farmers

Administrator & Marketing Coordinator: Sharon Hughes

Media/Publicity: Ali Webb | House of Webb & Kate Pierce | Pierce & Co.