Readings.com.au: Events

Global Forum: EVENT CANCELLED

2008-08-12T00:00:00Z

Monday 08 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

Join us for a discussion of Bill Emmott’s new book Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between China, India and Japan will Shape our Next Decade.

Bill Emmott, a former editor of The Economist, argues that for the first time in history Asia will not be dominated by a single power or by outside powers but will be dominated by three large, economically powerful countries, all with interests that range across the whole region and the world. The future of the world economy will be determined by the competition between these three countries, as will world politics.

To discuss this important book we are pleased to welcome Dr. Pradeep Taneja who teaches politics at the University of Melbourne. Born and first educated in India he is a specialist on China and on relations between India and China as well as on broader issues across the Asian region.

Free, no need to book.

Roland Rocchiccioli in conversation with Eddie McGuire

2008-08-12T00:00:00Z

Monday 08 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

And Be Home Before Dark: A Childhood On The Edge Of Nowhere by Roland Rocchiccioli is the heart-wrenching childhood memoir set in the dust and desolation of outback Western Australia in the 1950s. Much-loved public figure Roland will share his tales with Eddie McGuire.

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

Sue Saliba book launch

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 09 September 2008 at 6:00pm

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

Something in the World Called Love by Sue Saliba is the story of when Esma moves into 22 Starling Street, she knows she's come to the right place. A place to forget the disappointments of her past. A place to become someone new. A place to belong. After all, her housemate Kara - with her perfect room and her perfect life - will show her the way.But when Kara turns against their other housemate, Simon, Esma is set on a path on which she must decide where her true loyalties lie...

Tegan Morrison Senior Editor, Books for Children and Young Adults, Penguin will launch this book.

Free, no need to book.

Melbourne Conversations: Dr Norman Doidge

2008-08-12T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 10 September 2008 at 6:00pm

BMW Edge, Federation Square, Cnr Flinders and Swanston Streets, Melbourne.

Melbourne Conversations, the City of Melbourne’s free program of talks and Future Leaders, presents a free forum about the latest brain science. Dr Norman Doidge, author of bestselling book The Brain That Changes Itself will discuss his research and relay personal stories of great achievement against the odds.

Dr Doidge Psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher, author, essayist and poet) will be joined by local brain scientists from the Howard Florey Institute who will discuss the latest research out of Melbourne with ABC Radio National's Natasha Mitchell, presenter of All in the Mind. Other panellists are Professor Fred Mendelsohn AO, Director Howard Florey Institute and Ms Emma Burrows, PhD Candidate Howard Florey Institute, with moderator, Ms Natasha Mitchell, presenter of ABC Radio National’s All In The Mind.

Entry from 5.30pm 2008

Free, no bookings required. Enquiries: Jeff Taylor jeftay@melbourne.vic.gov.au or 9658 9965.

Mahvish Rukhsana Khan in conversation with Waleed Aly

2008-08-12T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 10 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

Mahvish Rukhsana Khan, the author of My Guantanamo Diary, grew up listening to her mother say ‘Now is not the time to be complacent’. She was pursuing a law degree at the University of Miami when, enraged by the illegal detainment of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, she decided to see what help she could offer. With her fluency in Pashto and a familiarity with Afghan cultures and customs that no other “habeas” lawyer with security clearance had Khan was on her way to Guantánamo Bay to translate for Afghan detainees. For Khan, the experience affirmed her dual identity as an Afghan and an American. Mahvish Khan’s story is an essential expression of who she is—and of her country.

Mahvish Rukhsana Khan is a recent law school graduate and journalist. She has been published in the The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media. She lives in San Diego.

Free event, but please book on 9347 6633 or by email or on Facebook.

Rebecca Huntley in conversation with George Megalogenis

2008-08-12T00:00:00Z

Thursday 11 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

We live in an age of gastronomic soul-searching. Why is childhood obesity on the rise? Is the traditional family dinner really dying out – and if so, does it matter? Jamie Oliver and Bill Granger have marched into the kitchen, but have Aussie blokes followed? What do the contents of our shopping trolleys tell us about the fair go in Australia today?

In Eating Between the Lines, Rebecca Huntley ventures into the nation’s food courts, supermarkets and suburban kitchens. She speaks to working mums, market gardeners and recently arrived migrants. She asks singles how they feel about eating alone, and considers why the rich and sophisticated have embraced peasant food. Join her on a thought-provoking trip through the deep-fried, sun-dried cold-pressed world of Australian eating. Rebecca Huntley is a writer and social researcher.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633.

Simon Winchester

2008-07-21T00:00:00Z

Monday 15 September 2008 at 6:30pm

Asialink Centre, University of Melbourne

Bomb, Book & Compass: Joseph Needham and the Great Secrets of China is the story of a distinguished biochemist performing research at Cambridge University, married to a fellow scientist and an ardent member of the local Communist party. In 1937 he was asked to supervise a young Chinese student named Lu Gwei-Djen, and in that moment began the two greatest love affairs of his life - Lu, and China. At Lu's insistence, Needham travelled to China where he immersed himself in the country's history and culture. For the next fifty-eight years, he established himself as the pre-eminent China scholar of all time, documenting everything from Chinese medicine to philosophy to nautical history, and formulating the belief that China would one day achieve world prominence - a belief that is being born out today. Bomb, Book & Compass is Simon Winchester at his best.

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

Save La Mama Big Benefit Bash

2008-08-27T00:00:00Z

Monday 15 September 2008 at 7:30pm

Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne

A huge cavalcade of Melbourne performers, live and on film, sharing their memories, singing, dancing, making music and being funny. Melbourne performers with HUGE hearts all donating their time and talent to help La Mama’s fundraising effort to buy 205 Faraday St Carlton.

Judith Lucy, Rod Quantock, Michael Kieran Harvey, Gerry Connolly, Jane Clifton & Paul Williamson, Joe Dolce, Nadine Garner, Steve Bastoni, Rachel Berger, Simon Palomares & George Kapiniaris, Vulgargrad, Lloyd Jones, Russell Fletcher, Brian Nankervis, Matt Hetherington, Annie Phelan, Kevin Harrington and more.

We need your support as well. How can you help? Be there. Bring friends. We need bums on every seat! Don’t miss this gala event.

All tickets $55. Book now 9650 1500 or Ticketmaster 1300 136 166

Chris Abani book launch

2008-07-21T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 16 September 2008 at 6:00pm

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

Chris Abani will deliver the Opening Night Address at the Brisbane Writers Festival and then visit Melbourne to have his book, Song for Night launched.

Part Inferno, part Paradise Lost, and part Sunjiata epic, Song for Night is the story of a West African boy soldier’s lyrical, terrifying, yet beautiful journey through the nightmare landscape of a brutal war in search of his lost platoon. The reader is led by the voiceless protagonist who, as part of a land mine-clearing platoon, had his vocal chords cut, a move to keep these children from screaming when blown up, and thereby distracting the other minesweepers. The book is written in a ghostly voice, with each chapter headed by a line of the unique sign language these children invented. This book is unlike anything else ever written about an African war.

Chris Abani’s first novel, Masters of the Board (1983) was published in Nigeria when he was sixteen. Currently Abani is a Professor at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of five novels and four poetry collections. Since 1983 Abani has accumulated over 16 awards, prizes and fellowships for his writings.

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

Janet Frame's The Goose Bath launch

2008-07-21T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 17 September 2008 at 6:00pm

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

Melbourne independent publisher Wilkins Farago has secured the Australian rights to one of the most important works of Antipodean literature of the past 30 years, Janet Frame’s posthumous The Goose Bath. The celebrated New Zealand writer’s final masterwork, described as ‘a volume that alters the landscape of New Zealand poetry’ will be released in Australia in September 2008.

Twice shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature, Janet Frame (author of An Angel at My Table) published many novels during her lifetime, but only one collection of poetry, way back in 1967. From that time until her death in 2004, Frame kept her poetry largely to herself, piling her poems into a bathtub once used by the family geese. Over time the ‘goose bath’ overflowed with hundreds of brilliant unpublished poems. By the time she died in 2004, Frame had named her hoped-for but elusive new selection The Goose Bath. She never saw it published. From this treasure trove her literary executors selected over 100 poems that illustrate the shape of her life: her childhood and the subsequent difficult years in mental hospitals; her travels around the world; her life as a writer, growing older and facing illness and death. features the fascinating account of how the book came into being, written by Frame’s niece and literary executor, Pamela Gordon, and poet Bill Manhire.

Pamela Gordon is expected in Melbourne in September for the Australian launch of The Goose Bath.

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

James Frey

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 17 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

The enfant terrible of the book scene is as provocative as ever, with a new story that warps the line between fact and fiction. Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey is another one to mark in your diary.

Free, but please book on 9819 1917 or by email.

Richard Holmes discussing The Age Of Wonder

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Thursday 18 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

Richard will be delivering the fourth HRC Seymour Lecture in Biography, entitled 'The Past Has a Great Future', for the University of Melbourne Law School on Wednesday night.

But tonight he will be chatting about his new book The Age of Wonder. Join us for a glass of wine and an interactive discussion.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633 or by email.

Julian Burnside, Susie Latham and Linda Briskman discussing Human Rights Overboard

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Thursday 18 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

Human Rights Overboard: Seeking Asylum in Australia by Linda Briskman and Chris Goddard explores the wake of the Cornelia Rau scandal, a citizen’s inquiry was established to bear witness to events in Australia’s immigration-detention facilities. Until then, the federal government had refused to conduct a broad-ranging investigation into immigration detention, and the operations within detention centres had been largely shrouded in official secrecy.

The People’s Inquiry into Detention (as it came to be called) heard heartbreaking evidence about asylum seekers’ journeys to Australia, the refugee determination process and their lives in and after detention. In total, around 200 people testified to the inquiry, and a similar number of written submissions were received.

Human Rights Overboard draws together, for the first time, the oral testimony and written submissions from the inquiry in a powerful and vital book that stands as an indictment of Australia’s refugee policy.

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

16 Millimetre in-store performance

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Friday 19 September 2008 at 6:00pm

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

Fantastic new album Fight or Flight by Melbourne-based band is a masterpiece. Readings' very own Tom Hoskins leads 16 Millimetre with his soulful voice. Too good to be missed!

Free, no need to book. Check it out on Facebook.

The Stiletto Sisters in-store performance

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Sunday 21 September 2008 at 2:00pm

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

The Stiletto Sisters are a dynamic and vibrant trio featuring the sparkling eyes and ready smiles of Hope Csutoros on violin, Judy Gunson on piano accordion, and double bassist Jo To.

www.stilettosisters.com

Free, no need to book.

The Great Feminist Denial with Monica Dux, Anne Manne and Catherine Deveny

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Monday 22 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

The Great Feminist Denial by Monica Dux and Zora Simic puts an ailing feminist past to rest, and proposes a way forward that offers young women of today a new way of calling themselves feminists. Feminism, if not dead, is at least seriously ill. It is now common to hear women declare themselves ‘Not Feminists’, whereas in the 1970s it was taken as given that any thinking woman would be proud to wear that label. What the hell happened?

In The Great Feminist Denial panel discussion this will be discussed and dare we say, debated. Join in!

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

Tess Lea book launch

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Monday 22 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

Don Watson will be launching Tes’s new book Bureaucrats and Bleeding Hearts which is an intimate journey into the lives of people armed with the task of ending Australian Aboriginal disadvantage in the frontier north of Australia.

Tess Lea examines the culture of bureaucracy, its need to create the look of action, how professionals uphold the apparatus of government even whilst they critique it, and how benevolent efforts to improve health have brought about unexpected co-dependencies and tragic failures.

Free, but no need to book.

Ron Wright discussing What is America? A Short history of the New World Order

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 23 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

What is America? A Short History of the New World Order by Ron Wright explores how the USA is now the world’s lone superpower, whose deeds could make or break this century. For better and worse, America has Americanized the world. How did a marginal frontier society, in a mere two centuries, become the de facto ruler of the world? Why do America’s great achievements in democracy, prosperity and civil rights now seem threatened by forces within itself? Brimming with insight into history and human behaviour, and written in Wright’s captivating style, What Is America? shows how this came to pass; how the United States, which regards itself as the most modern country on earth, is also deeply archaic, a stronghold not only of religious fundamentalism but of “modern” beliefs in limitless progress and a universal mission that have fallen under suspicion elsewhere in the west.

Free, but please book on 9819 1917 or by email.

Manfred Steger book launch

2008-08-14T00:00:00Z

Tuesday 23 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

In his exciting new book The Rise of Global Imaginary Manfred Steger combines political history, philosophical interpretation, and good old-fashioned story-telling, to trace ideology's remarkable journey from Count Destutt de Tracy's Enlightenment "scienceof ideas" to President George W. Bush's "imperial globalism". Steger offers a highly original explanation for the increasing ability to articulate deep-seated understandings of community in global rather than national terms. This growing awareness of globality erupts in the hopes and demands of migrants who traverse national boundaries in search of their piece of the global promise. Stoked by cross-cultural encounters, technological change, and scientific innovation, the rising global imaginary has destabilized the grand political ideologies codified during the national age.

Free, no need to book.

Michael Hastings in conversation with Tim McCormack

2008-08-18T00:00:00Z

Wednesday 24 September 2008 at 6:30pm

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

Michael is a journalist for* Newsweek* magazine and has spent the past few years reporting on the Iraq war from Baghdad. His book, I Lost my Love in Baghdad, is about his experience in Baghdad, his impressions of America's involvement in the war, and about the tragic loss of his partner, Andi, who had joined a government aid agency in Baghdad to be there with him.

Free, but please book on 9347 6633 or by email.