Readings.com.au: Events

Dog Day Afternoon

2008-04-21T00:00:00Z

Saturday 17 May 2008 at 2:30pm

Readings Port Melbourne: 253 Bay St, Port Melbourne, Victoria, 3207

Come and hear your favourite dog stories and meet Selby the dog!

An evening with Junot Díaz

2008-04-21T00:00:00Z

Monday 19 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Hawthorn: 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122

This is a unique opportunity to meet the Pulitzer prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Free, but please book on 9819 1917 or RSVP on Facebook.

An evening with Anne Enright

2008-04-15T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 20 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Hawthorn: 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122

Anne is the winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize. We are privileged to have her with us talking about her new collection of short stories Taking Pictures. This is a delightful collection about families fraught with love and fear. Do not miss this opportunity to hear Anne Enright talk.

Free, but please RSVP on 9819 1917 or on Facebook.

Dog Day Afternoon

2008-04-21T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 21 May 2008 at 2:30pm

Readings Port Melbourne: 253 Bay St, Port Melbourne, Victoria, 3207

Come and hear your favourite dog stories and meet Selby the dog!

Mo Hayder in conversation with Dr Sue Turnbull

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 21 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Hawthorn: 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122

Sisters in Crime are delighted to introduce internationally bestselling British author Mo Hayder. Her debut novel, Birdman, became an overnight sensation. Her latest book – Ritual has a plot that is terrifying and twists like a knife.

Free, but please book on 9819 1917.

Nic Frances book launch

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 21 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Carlton: 309 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

Join us for the launch of the Iremonger award-winning, The End of Charity by Nic Frances. Controversially proclaiming charities are dead, in The End of Charity, author and world-renowned social entrepreneur, Nic Frances MBE, makes the case for a value-centred market economy to address poverty, inequality and environmental sustainability.

Free, no need to book but you can RSVP on Facebook.

Ann Shenfield book launch

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Thursday 22 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Carlton: 309 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

The delightful children's picture book called Scribble Sunset will be celebrated and launched on this night. Ann Shenfield is a prize-winning, internationally acclaimed animation filmmaker whose films have been shown at festivals including the Official Competition at Berlin in 2000. She has lectured in animation at the Victorian College of the Arts and in 2006 was the recipient of an ASA Mentorship for picture book writers and illustrators. This is her first book.

Free, no need to book.

Sadanand Dhume in conversation with Linda Lopresti

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Monday 26 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Alan Gilbert Executive Lounge, Mezzanine Floor, Alan Gilbert Building, University of Melbourne

As Sadanand Dhume details his exploration of Indonesia in his book My Friend the Fanatic with his friend and guide Herry, a fundamentalist who hero-worships Abu Bakar Bashir, we are offered an insight into a part of our world that has received insufficient attention until now. This book has a particular significance for Australia—despite our nation’s close proximity to Indonesia there have been no major works that deepen our understanding of its unique political and social trajectory. My Friend the Fanatic addresses this critical gap.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633.

Kate Jennings in conversation with Elliot Perlman

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Monday 26 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Carlton: 309 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

Kate Jennings's new book Stanley and Sophie will appeal to animal lovers and fans of Kate’s work. Stanley and Sophie is about one woman’s journey after the death of her husband and the two dogs that join her along the way. She will be in conversation with the wonderful Elliot Perlman.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633.

Passage to India - Farah Faroque discusses Animal’s People by Indra Sinha

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 27 May 2008 at 6:00pm

Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, The University of Melbourne

Explore contemporary India with our experts who will share and lead discussions on their favourite books. Passage to India will review books monthly on Indian modern history, society and foreign politics.

This month Farah Faroque will be discussing Animal’s People by Indra Sinha.

Free, but please reserve a seat, by sending an email to Asialink Events at events@asialink.unimelb.edu.au with 'Passage to India' in the subject line.

This event is presented by Readings and Asialink.

Simon Critchley event

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 27 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Carlton: 309 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

In The Book of Dead Philosophers Professor of Philosophy at the new school for Social Research, New York Simon Critchely starts with the premise that philosophers’ deaths are as interesting as their lives. Through his catalogue of philosophers’ demises (tales of weirdness, madness, suicide, murder, pathos and bad luck) he confronts the big themes: how to die well and live without delusion. Critchley argues that we either seek the consolations of momentary oblivion or a miraculous redemption in the afterlife. He wages that by discovering how philosophers died we might also learn how to live.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633

David Rieff in conversation with Anne Summers

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 27 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Cinema Nova, Lygon Court, Carlton

Feminist social commentator, and business woman Anne Summers will converse with David about his mother Susan Sontag. This is an exceptional opportunity to hear the inside life, and death of an international woman that changed lives. David’s heart breaking book Swimming in a Sea of Death is David Rieff’s loving tribute to his mother, the writer Susan Sontag, and her final battle with cancer.

David Rieff is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine. He is the author of seven books.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633 or on Facebook.

Thomas Kohnstamm on Travel Writing

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 28 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Port Melbourne: 253 Bay St, Port Melbourne, Victoria, 3207

Directly from the Sydney Writers’ Festival and still reeling from a journey around Brazil Thomas’s book Do Travel Writers Go to Hell: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventure, Questionable Ethics and Professional Hedonism is a laugh-a-minute tale. Join us for a night into the realities of travel writing. Hired in 2004 to contribute to Lonely Planet’s Brazil guidebook, Thomas Kohnstamm fled his Wall Street job to pursue his dream of being a travel writer. This is a true story.

Free, but please book on 9681 9255 or on Facebook.

An evening with Helen Garner

2008-04-10T00:00:00Z

Thursday 29 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Hawthorn: 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122

Join us to hear Helen talk about her latest book The Spare Room. This is Helen’s first book of fiction for many years and her prose, as always, is elegant and honest. We are delighted to offer you this opportunity to hear one of Melbourne’s greatest writers.

NB: Standing room only.

Free, but please book on 9819 1917 or RSVP on Facebook.

Shaun Tan book launch

2008-04-29T00:00:00Z

Friday 30 May 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Carlton: 309 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

We are honoured to have the launch of Tan’s latest exquisite book in store - Tales from Outer Suburbia.

Free, no need to book.

Ian Klaus

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Monday 02 June 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Carlton: 309 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

Inspired by the volunteerism of so many young Americas after 9/11, Ian Klaus, a 26- year-old Rhodes Scholar, found himself, in the spring of 2005, in Arbil—the largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan. There, in the thick of war, Klaus spent a semester teaching U.S. history and English at Salahaddin University. But what started as a journey in search of knowledge for his students became a road of discovery for the author as well. Tales from the Other Iraq is his book.

Free, but please book 9347 6633

Alice Pung

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 03 June 2008 at 6:30pm

Asialink Centre, University of Melbourne

Join Alice and a panel as she discusses the new book Growing up Asian in Australia of which she is the editor.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633.

Growing up Asian in Australia

2008-04-29T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 03 June 2008 at 6:30pm

Sidney Myer Asia Centre, Melbourne University, Swanston St

Join editor, Alice Pung (left) and local contributors Tom Cho, Tony Ayres and Shalini Akhil as they discuss this irreverent collection with Triple J's John Safran.

Alice Pung is a writer and lawyer. Her best-selling memoir Unpolished Gem won the 2007 Newcomer of the Year award and was shortlisted for a number of awards including the NSW Premier's Literary Award and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award.

Tom Cho is a writer whose work has been published widely. Most recently, his stories have appeared in HEAT and the Best Australian Stories series. He is currently writing a collection of short fiction.

Tony Ayres wrote and directed the feature film The Home Song Stories (2007) and directed Walking on Water (2002). He has written and directed numerous television dramas, short films and documentaries.

Shalini Akhil is a writer who has dabbled in stand-up comedy. She has had work published in Meanjin, Girls Night In 4, the Sleepers Almanac and the Age. Her first novel is The Bollywood Beauty.

Free but please RSVP at Asialink on (03) 8344 8474. or on Facebook.

Meet Shaun Tan

2008-04-29T00:00:00Z

Saturday 07 June 2008 at 2:00pm

Readings Hawthorn: 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122

Meet Shaun Tan as he talks about his art, his ideas and his beautiful new book Tales from Outer Suburbia.

Free, but please book a space - 9819 1917 or RSVP on Facebook.

George Megalogenis

2008-04-16T00:00:00Z

Thursday 12 June 2008 at 6:30pm

Readings Hawthorn: 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122

George and Barrie Cassidy and others will discuss our political future.

Free, but please book on 9819 1917