Dulwich Hill

Believe it or not, I actually have exciting news about a big event coming up at Dulwich Hill.

In the past, I think we can all agree, that Dulwich Hill Fair Day has been less than rivetting. As with so many other suburban Fair Days it was mainly professional stall holders selling cheap stuff from Asia, and apart from performances by the local school kids, there was very little that was community based. Well, this year—it’s a whole new ballgame.

An energetic new team of events people at Inner West Council have asked gleebooks at Dulwich Hill to curate a day of local children’s authors. They are supplying a gorgeous tent which will be in the car-park in Seaview Street, and I’ve got together a terrific program of very local authors. Ursula Dubosarsky lives in Marrickville and will talk about her new children’s picture book Ask Hercules Quick. Singer/songwriter Josh Pyke (lives on D’Hill) will present his first children’s book Lights Out, Leonard. Local debut author Lisa Siberry will do a workshop for middle graders around her charming, science-based book The Brilliant Ideas of Lily Green in which Lily makes cosmetics using local plants and flowers. Then the lovely Norton Lodge sisters, Zoe and Georgia will entertain with their books about the redoubtable Elizabella. Finishing off the day will be a wonderful event with the makers of the fabulous locally produced book The Hollow Tree. Put together by Addison Road Community Centre and written by long-time gleebooks customer, journalist & author Mark Mordue, the book tells the story of a hollow tree in a park in Marrickville which was retained & made into a habitat for animals. Many of the local children joined in doing the drawings for this informative & beautiful book.

There’ll be lots of other excellent things happening on Dulwich Hill Fair Day—Sunday, September 15th and I’m confident it will have quite a different feel than in the past—less commercial, more community. I am so looking forward to it.

What I’ve been reading: Three Women by Lisa Taddeo is an astounding work of narrative non-fiction in which she analyses the hopes and desires of three ordinary American women. Taddeo researched the book over eight years during which she even moved to the same towns as her subjects—so the book reads like a novel of intense intimacy, she describes their sexual encounters as if she was witness to them. All three women have very troubled relationships with the men in their lives and they tallk about it with amazing honesty. It beggars belief how they are treated so appallingly in this day and age. But maybe not!

I’ve also loved another American debut—The Travelers by Regina Porter. This is a big sprawling novel that follows a white and a black family from the mid 20th century to the election of Obama. Characters come and go, they meet and intersect in unusual and interesting ways creating a kind of patchwork of modern America. Beautifully written and very compelling. the book is dotted with black and white photographs which is odd but endearing.