Varuna – The Writers House- home of Eleanor Dark-warmed by jazzaVienne – What a Night!

Varuna is nestled in the Blue Mountains not far from Sydney – a mountain retreat for writers throughout Australia and the world.

My fellowship there early in my career was special – a beautiful old home with fellow authors, good food, a crackling fire.

There’s a wealth of fellowships, events, manuscript assessment opportunities, private writing retreats and friendship at Varuna -

The Alumni Evening at The Hughenden, hosted by the Director of Varuna, Liz Bastian, was warm and welcoming where writers shared writing and personal news and extended the Varuna spirit into community.

It was a beautiful night with jazz singer Courtney Severini on the baby grand.

There was a special treat with an impromptu performance of jazzaVienne – with the delicious voices of Charito, Suzanna Wellink and Tricia Evy  - what a night.

LOVE VARUNA – www.varuna.com.au

LOVE jazzaVienne – www.jazzaviennesydney.com.au

Monkey Baa Theatre’s ‘I Am Jack’ returns to the Seymour in Sydney

Susanne Gervay's I AM JACK with Tim McGarry, Monkey Baa Theatre, Seymour Centre

Monkey Baa Theatre’s I Am Jack’  just returned from the Ipswich Festival of Children’s Literature where it was the feature event, performed to 1000′s of young people and adults.

Tim McGarry performs the 11 characters in a brilliant one man show.

JACK’s having a return season at the Seymour 24th October to 4th November.

From: Adam Kronenberg – Artistic Director Outback Theatre for Young People

In the finest tradition of the one person show Tim McGarry gave a stunningly good performance. It was like watching Billy Crystal for school kids: terrific range of characters, excellent direction, simple in terms of no need for pyrotechnics and yet so sophisticated in terms of requiring the audience to invest a great deal of belief and understanding of the theatrical devise of the one person show.  

Contact: Monkey Baa Theatre

Bookings: info@monkeybaa.com.au

PH 02 9351 7938

FAX 02 9036 7037
www.monkeybaa.com.au

Arnold Zable’s ‘Violin Lessons’ emotionally engages The NSW Writers’ Centre

‘I want to write about survivors not victims’. Arnold Zable has the audience at the NSW Wrietrs’ Centre totally engaged tonight.

Arnold is touring as part of the Writing Australia touring programme.  

His new book ‘Violin Lessons’ a collection of true stories about life, death and the human condition, is inspiring, painful and emotional.

‘A boy walking along a Baghdad street is transfixed by the sound of a violin coming from a balcony and it changes his life. A street boy in war-torn Saigon takes a rare break from his pimping and running errands for the occupying forces and opens up to the writer, recounting how his village was bombed and his family killed. In Poland, Zable meets a woman and her son who yearn to escape from their village, from their crude alcoholic husband/father. They beg Zable to help them … ‘they knew, as well I did, that I would not help them’. On the island of Ithaca a young man, a university student, is lost in a diving accident and his father blames himself for the accident: ‘there are times when I have dived down and not wanted to return … I infected my boy with the same madness’.

…. In Violin Lessons, Zable displays the wisdom and kindness that has permeated all his works – the reason they are so loved.’

Mark Rubbo is the Managing Director of Readings

As the Chair of the Board, I enjoyed welcoming members to this special talk. 

Launch of Room to Read at NSW Writers Centre Festival

Love kids of The Adventist School Central Coast! Support National Year of Reading.

Thankyou to the kids and teachers of Central Coast Adventist School  for loving I Am Jack and my JACKS!

‘I Am Jack’ is a core study at the Adventist School for a term. As I entered the library, it felt like  I was welcomed by friends. The warmth of the kids and teachers was a special way to end nearly 2 months on this Book writing tour.

It was so much fun driving with my daughter Tory from Sydney to the Central Coast especially since my GPS went crazy.

We ended up at this Buddhist Cafe and gallery set amongst rolling hills and the green countryside. Beautiful. Then I got to speak to this fantastic kids on their last day before school holidays.

As an ambassador for the National Year of Reading 2012, love speaking to kids and promoting books – next year is going to be a major one – log onto and have fun:- www.love2read.org.au

International SCBWI Conference Australia & New Zealand at The Hughenden 1st July 2012

The night is balmy. There’s excitement at new books. Talented illustrators and authors gather over dinner at The Hughenden Hotel, Woollahra. It’s the first planning meeting for the Inetrnational SCBWI Conference next year.

Illustrators there included Andrea Edmunds, Jill Carter-Hansen, Lesley Vamos, Sarah Davis, authors Chris Cheng, Susanne Gervay, Margaret Roc, Deborah Abela, Oliver Phommavanh …… and the singing librarian Claire Stuckey from Gosford Library.

Plans include:-

Illustrator’s exhibition

Australian publishers

USA literary agent

the Book Ends – the fabulous band of Meredith Costain, Chris Cheng and Mark Wilson

and much more.