What's on

The Lord Mayor's Creative Writing Awards 2013

ESL Conversation Club at City Library

The writing night school with The Emerging Writers Festival

Groundbreakers: voices of Australian women in comedy

Truth is stranger than fiction: crime in Melbourne

Children's programs

Kinda Kinder

Book club

City Library orientation tours

Acoustica

Exhibitions

National simultaneous storytime

Archive of previous events

Events calendar

The Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Awards encourage emerging writers and celebrate Melbourne’s status as a UNESCO City of Literature.

The Awards are administered by Melbourne Library Service, sponsored by Copyright Agency Limited and Readings and supported by the Emerging Writers’ Festival, Allen and Unwin, the Victorian Writers’ Centre and Australian Poetry.

Find out more and enter!

ESL Conversation Club
at City Library

Are you an ESL speaker who would like to practice your English conversation skills at City Library?
We are currently seeking ESL participants to meet for one hour per fortnight to informally discuss topics like food, family and travel. All groups will be facilitated by a native speaker from Melbourne.

To express your interest, please email library@melbourne.vic.gov.au with your name and preferred group day & time.

Groups will begin in the first week of June. Please register your interest as soon as possible.

Where: City Library
When:
Mondays          2 -3pm
Tuesdays        1 - 2pm or 3 - 4pm
Wednesdays 10:30-11:30am
Thursdays       3 - 4pm or 6 - 7pm
Fridays             2 - 3pm

The writing night school with the Emerging Writers' Festival

All events are fully booked!

Ready to apply some of the creative motivation the Emerging Writers' festival inspires? Do you need a bit of a boost or a guide?
Then the Writing Night School is for you!

Melbourne City Library and the Emerging Writers’ Festival will provide these crash courses, allowing you explore your creative side and take your writing to the next level.

When: Tuesday 28 May – Friday 31 May, 6.30pm – 8pm
Where: City Library Seminar Room 1, 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
This is a FREE and fully accessible event (bookings required)

Bookings will open Monday 22 April, 2013

Novella with Dan Ducrou
Tuesday 28 May, 6.30pm – 8pm
Book a place

All events are fully booked!

Have an idea that’s too big for a short story but not big enough for a novel?
Well, the novella could be the perfect form for you. This hands-on workshop is
packed with practical advice and includes some writing exercises to help jump-start your novella masterpiece.

Daniel Ducrou's first novel, The Byron Journals (Text Publishing, 2010), was shortlisted for both the Australian Vogel Literary Award and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. He has been a guest speaker at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival, the Ubud Writers’ Festival and the Melbourne Writers’ Festival, and his writing has appeared in publications such as The Sleepers Almanac, The Age, The Big Issue
and The Review of Australian Fiction. Ducrou is currently working on a second novel called The Sliders.

Graphic Stories with Mandy Ord
Wednesday 29 May, 6.30pm – 8pm
Book a place

All events are fully booked!

Mandy Ord (Sensitive Creatures) will give a presentation and workshop that focuses on her journey as a published cartoonist as well as insights into the development of comics unique footing as a pictorial language. She will demonstrate and teach the specific tools and methods used to explore the language of comics. Her workshop will be fun and hands on.

Mandy Ord is a Melbourne based comic artist and illustrator. Her stories appear in a broad range of local and international literary journals,
newspapers, books and anthologies. In 2008 her first graphic novel Rooftops was published by Finlay Lloyd. Her second book of comic stories
published by Allen & Unwin in August 2011, Sensitive Creatures was selected as a White Raven at the 2012 Bologna Book Fair. As well as producing
comics Mandy also presents talks and runs comic educational workshops for schools, universities and community groups

Creative Nonfiction with Ronnie Scott
Thursday 30 May, 6.30pm – 8pm
Book a place

All events are fully booked!

In this workshop, you will be introduced to the basic principles of creative nonfiction: how does it differ from fiction and journalism? What are the advantages and the limitations? The workshop will include exercises on creating a compelling structure, and practical tips on generating concepts, developing pieces, and pitching to publications.

Ronnie Scott is a contributor to The Believer, the Australian, Meanjin, and the Australian Book Review, and the comics and graphic novels critic for ABC Radio National. In 2007 he founded The Lifted Brow, where he edited works of creative nonfiction on everything from the future of supermarkets to the cocaine trade in Australia. He teaches in the writing programs at Swinburne and the University of Melbourne.
http://www.ronalddavidscott.com.

Poetry with Jessica Wilkinson
Friday 31 May, 6.30pm – 8pm
Book a place

All events are fully booked!

This poetry workshop will introduce new poets to some of the most exciting and innovative poetic works being produced by contemporary poets today, both within Australia and internationally. Participants will be involved in discussions and undertake basic poetry-writing exercises.

Jessica L. Wilkinson is the founding editor of RABBIT: a journal for non-fiction poetry. Her poetic work, marionette: a biography of miss marion davies, was published by Vagabond Press in 2012. She has performed marionette, as a collaboration with composer Simon Charles, with chamber ensemble Manteia in Melbourne and Sydney. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne and is Lecturer in Creative and Professional Writing at RMIT University.

Groundbreakers: voices of Australian women in comedy

Actress, singer and, more recently, published crime novelist and memoir writer, Jane Clifton is often asked if there is anything she can’t do, to which she simply replies ‘Ballet and making money.’ Her recent memoir revisits every house she has ever lived in – all thirty-two of them!
Jane joins with the equally talented stand-up comedian, actress and now memoir writer Denise Scott, as they discuss their never-less-than-hilarious takes on life. Two pioneering women of Australian comedy - get them together and enjoy the fun!

Jane Clifton is a veteran of the Australian entertainment industry; an actor, singer, cabaret performer, marriage celebrant and crime novelist. In her recent memoir, The address book, she sets out to explore her life by visiting all 32 houses she had lived in to find out what Home is; family, memories or just bricks and mortar?

Denise Scott is one of our most successful comedians, ‘making people laugh with her blend of personal stories and topical observations’. With acclaimed comedy shows such as Scotty and Son, radio and television under her belt, she turned to memoir writing with All That Happened at Number 26. Denise’s most recent book, The tour, finds her reflecting on her life whilst on tour with a number of young comics in rural Australia.

When: Tuesday 21 May at 7.30pm
Where: City Library, Majorca Room
Bookings: online or 9658 9500

Truth is stranger than fiction: crime in Melbourne

Writer and investigative reporter Andrew Rule has written, edited and published more than 30 true crime books – including the best-selling Underbelly series with John Silvester. Their work inspired the hit Underbelly television drama on Melbourne’s gangland war. Step into the notorious world of Underbelly, as Andrew discusses the true stories of one of the bloodiest crime battles in Australian history. And to think it all happened here in Melbourne…

When: Wednesday 26 June, 6.45 for 7pm
Where: City Library, Majorca Room
Bookings: online or 9658 9500

Children's Programs

From bookclubs for kids, special storytimes to comic talks with youth, there's still plenty for children and young people at Melbourne Library Service.

More information on our Children's and Youth pages:

Storytime, Stompers and Songbirds
Other Children's Activities

Kinda kinder

Have some fun while enhancing your child's literacy, numeracy and socialising skills through play and fun activities at Kinda Kinder.
The program is suitable for children between 0 and 4 years, with parents
attending and participating.

The sessions are facilitated by Victoria University students doing
Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood/Primary) and a University staff member.
Free.
No bookings required.

When: On the following Tuesdays from 1pm to 2pm (except School holidays)
Where: North Melbourne Library

Information about the program

Book club

Do you want to make more time for reading and socialising?

Why not join our Melbourne Library Service/CAE book club?

We currently have places available in our City Library group running on the first Monday of the month.

More info: Book clubs webpage

City Library orientation tours

Have you joined the library recently and need some help finding where everything is? Maybe you’ve been a library user for years but would like to learn how to use the catalogue effectively? Or perhaps you just want to make sure you are fully aware of all the great services we have on offer. Join professional library staff on a tour of City Library for an informal, interactive, information-filled orientation session.

Library staff will take you on a tour of City library lasting about half an hour. They will point out key collections and give basic instruction on using the catalogue and accessing online resources, as well as provide tips on using the library and your membership. You will have the opportunity to ask any questions and will also get the chance to meet some of our friendly library staff.

When: Every Tuesday starting at 3pm
Where: City Library. Meet in the foyer, next to the magazines.
Cost: Free

Acoustica

Hot Club of Brunswick Street
Wim Glenn (guitar) and Paul Winter (clarinet) are two of the finest players in the younger generation of gypsy jazz, bringing the sounds of the smoky Parisian dance halls of the 1940’s to the streets and laneways of Melbourne in 2013.

When: Thursday 23 May, 6pm to 7pm
Where: City Library

Exhibitions

The Misogyny Speech, and the Travelling Tree House Series
With artist talk explaining the Tree House Series

The series is set out in a unique narrative, where Milner uses symbolism with surrealism as a frame work. He is a painter of emotion and paints what he feels is important to him. His works move through sensitive-social and political issues. The paintings are about history, people, time and place. Milner wants to create a sense of celebration of life and effort. Using colour to excite in a carnivalesque manner and to catch the interest of the viewer.

Information about the artist: www.waynemilner.com

Where: The Gallery, Projections and Displays @ City Library
When: Thursday May 2 to Wednesday May 29, 2013

Opening and artist talk: Thursday May 16, 5pm to 7pm

Degraves Room

The Gaze by Ok-Hean Chang

The Gaze is an exhibition of new works in oil and pastel, which explores the notion of flow, subconscious and memory.
My images are often drawn from light and shadow reflected on
formations or shapes created by elements of nature such as cloud
formations. I have been gazing at cloud formations with fascination
and been mesmerized by their intriguing shapes. These images are
mediated by light and other influences, all of which appear to be
still but in motion. Like our experience of the world, ultimately
everything is flowing and transient.

I explore the tension between familiar and elusive memories and
associated emotions; transcendental qualities that emphasise the
delicate and enigmatic qualities of nature, through the use of
ambiguous images, a range of colours and brush marks.

My works are reflections of my emotional states, wanting to express
both stillness and movement, and to both reveal and conceal.
Originally from Korea I am currently based at the Argyle Studios in
Port Melbourne. I have exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney for the past
20years.

Where: Degraves Room, City Library
When: Thursday 2nd May - Wednesday 29th May

Artist talk: Saturday 11 May, 3 to 5pm, Degraves Room, Level 1, City Library

More info: www.openskyart.weebly.com

National Simultaneous Storytime

Come and hear the Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle read ‘The Wrong Book’ for National Simultaneous Storytime.

At 11am on Wednesday the 22 of May over 170,000 children will sit down to hear the same story read at libraries, schools and kindergartens all over Australia. National Simultaneous Storytime has been organised by the Australian Library and Information Association, to promote the value of reading and literacy, the importance of Australia's book industry and the role of libraries.

This year’s choice, ‘The Wrong Book’ by Nick Bland features Nicolas Ickle and a cast of strange and pushy characters, from an elephant to a gang of pirates, who keep butting in while Nicolas is trying to tell his story. Hopefully the Lord Mayor will be able to make them behave!
Come dressed as your favourite book character and enjoy this mischievous story.

When: Wednesday 22 May, 11am
Where: East Melbourne Library

No bookings required.

Archive of past events

2012 Oi! iPad competition

This competition is closed (Competition ended 11:59pm 15th April 2012). Congratulations to the winner. For those who want to see how well they fared, here are the answers and some of the resources that may have been used to find them.

Lord Mayor's Creative Writing Awards 2011

This competition is closed. We have received over 600 entries. The judging panel will now evaluate submissions.

Winners were announced in November 2011.

The competition commenced on Thursday 26 May 2011 and finished on Wednesday 31 August 2011.

Find out more information about the awards,

Events Calendar

We are adding new events all the time. To see what is coming up and book, you simply need to choose an event, register with a valid email and away you go!

Check it out...