Events Manager Chris Gordon shares some highlights from our October program of events.

Annabel Crabb in conversation with Virginia Trioli

We are thrilled to be hosting the celebration of the Quarterly Essay 75 at the Melbourne Athenaeum with Annabel Crabb. As the author of the QE 75, Crabb’s essay on politics, work and gender deploys political observation, workplace research and her characteristic humour to argue that gender equity cannot be achieved until men are as free to leave the workplace (when their lives demand it) as women are to enter it. Join Crabb for a conversation with journalist Virginia Trioli in which she will ask why this is the case, and what we can do about it.

When: 6pm, Monday 9 September
Where: Melbourne Athenaeum, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD
Bookings: Tickets are $45 per person and include a copy of Quarterly Essay 75: Men at Work: Australia’s Parenthood Trap. Bookings are essential, please click here.

Australian Reading Hour with Ben Law

To celebrate Australian Reading Hour, please join us for a glass of wine with the one and only Ben Law. Law, official Reading Hour ambassador, will read opening lines from his favourite books, with prizes up for grabs for those who are able to guess the books’ titles.

When: 6.30pm, Thursday 19 September
Where: Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon Street, Carlton
Bookings: This event is free, but please book here.

Kenny Pittock: Art Exhibition

Kenny Pittock is a Melbourne-based visual artist whose work has been shown all around Australia, and in Italy and Singapore. In 2015 he began making ceramic sculptures of his favourite books and taking them along to book launches to show the authors. To help celebrate Readings’ 50th birthday fifty ceramic books will be on display from Kenny’s collection in the Readings Carlton shop window. Please come along and judge these books by their covers!

When: 6.30pm, Monday 23 September
Where: Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon Street, Carlton
Bookings: Free, no booking required.

Bill Henson in conversation

Join us for an evening with Bill Henson, one of Australia’s most eminent artists, as he discusses his most personal works and texts relating to his recent major exhibition at the Monash Art Gallery. This exhibition explores the suburb of Glen Waverley where he grew up and is accompanied by a comprehensive publication, The Light Fades but the Gods Remain, co-published with Thames & Hudson Australia. We are honoured to share food, wine and stories with Bill Henson in the cellar of Melbourne’s King and Godfree about this very exciting showcase.

When: 6.30pm, Wednesday 25 September
Where: King and Godfree Cellar, 293/297 Lygon Street, Carlton
Bookings: Tickets are $45 per person, which includes a glass of wine and shared antipasto plates. Please book here.

Wine tasting at Readings Hawthorn

Join us to celebrate the launch of Australia’s First Families of Wine with an exclusive wine tasting event. Join family members from iconic Victorian wineries Brown Brothers, Campbells and Tahbilk together with author Richard Allen and photographer Kim Baker as we launch this book that celebrates eleven of Australia’s most iconic and important wine families and the businesses they have built.

When: 6pm, Thursday 26 September
Where: Readings Hawthorn, 701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn
Bookings: Tickets are $70 per person, or $100 per couple, and include tastes and a copy of Australia’s First Families of Wine. Please book here.