Coming events and latest books

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Take a look. Take a look inside.

01:04S1

Hello and welcome to Hear This. I'm Frances Keyland and you're listening to Vision Australia Radio and the Vision Australia Library - our program where we talk about books in the Vision Australia library collection. And we have Leeanne Surjadi, community engagement librarian, on today's show, talking about some really wonderful events coming up for library members. So I hope you enjoy the show. I'm here in the studio now with Leeanne Surjadi, the community engagement coordinator here at Vision Australia Library. Hi, Leanne.

01:40S2

Hi, Frances. Great to be with you in studio. It's always a treat when I'm with you.

01:44S1

It is. It's lovely. And, you know, seeing, being able to see each other and each other's facial expressions and the joy in presenting what's going to be happening on the library, it's always great.

01:54S2

And there's a lot happening. There's a lot coming up. So it's great that we can catch up today about it all.

01:59S1

Fantastic. Let's launch straight into it. So yeah. What's coming up?

02:03S2

Well, we have a bit last minute, but for our East Coast listeners, we have our Treat Your Shelf taking place today, Friday the 14th of June. this Treat Your Shelf is our regular book chat. We host this once every two months where we get together with our librarians and library members to talk about a different topic. This month we'll be chatting about animal stories, which I really love. And animals. Great. Take a great place in kind of literature,  classic literature, contemporary literature, some fabulous memoirs on, you know, great naturalists. So yeah, really looking forward to having a really, really fun chat with our members about... animals, all things animals in books.

02:45S1

That's great. So that's, Friday tonight. At what time?

02:48S2

So that's at 6 p.m.. That's Australian Eastern Standard Time. And this one's online like all of our Treat Your Shelf events. And you can register at our website.

02:59S1

Okay. There's a lot of, Generation X and... Generation X largely who say that Watership Down traumatised them.

03:09S2

Oh my goodness, Frances, I remember watching the animated version of this when I was a child. I think my parents thought it was a lovely children's movie. And yes, I am one of those. I'm one of the ones who was traumatised by Watership Down. I haven't read Watership Down though, and yeah, would love to explore it. It does come up as one of the great novels featuring animal protagonists. Yeah.

03:33S1

And what else is happening?

03:35S2

So for our writers, we have our next writing workshop series starting in June, and we're looking forward to working with Amanda O'Callaghan, who'll be leading a series on short story fiction writing. So this is something our members told us they were interested in. And we've done a lot of kind of creative nonfiction. So we thought, how about we look into the fiction space for for our creative writers out there? And so this will be a three week series starting on the 24th of June on Monday afternoons, online via Zoom. We met with Amanda a couple of weeks ago, and I think this is going to be a really fantastic series. She's really passionate about supporting emerging writers, no matter how old you are. You can always learn more about the craft of writing, and I think she'll be a really great mentor through the three week series.

04:28S1

Fantastic. And just that date again, that it starts. 

04:31S2

So that starts on the 24th of June, and it's running from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time over three weeks.

04:38S1

That sounds great. And what else is coming up?

04:41S2

So we have our next in conversation, which I'm really looking forward to. This one I think will be a special one. We are hosting Les Pobjie, who is an author but also a member of the Vision Australia library. So Les has been a library member for some time. He has low vision. He is... quite a brilliant man. He's a former newspaper editor, and has two adult children who are really well-known writers in their own right. So you may be familiar with Ben Pobjie and Emily Maguire. 

S1

Oh my gosh, yes. 

S2

So we are hosting the three of them in conversation, about their literary life as a family. We're particularly interested in les experience as a writer because he has just self-published a couple of novels. In the past few years, Les has worked with the Vision Australia studios to have those novels narrated, and they're now available in the library.

05:39S1

What great news.

05:39S2

Yes, so I think he's a real inspiration for people who want to continue writing despite having low vision. And so he'll be talking to us about the process of writing his two novels. He wrote those with the support of his children through dictation. And also the process of getting your work narrated in studio, which I think is a really unique experience. And yeah, so looking forward to a really, really interesting, session with Les. Les will be interviewed by Dave. Who? Dave Tredinnick, who will be well known to a lot of your listeners as one of our narrators as well.

06:12S1

Oh, that sounds like a great time.

06:13S2

So that one is taking place on the 24th of July. So still, still a few weeks for that one. It's a daytime event, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time, and that is also online via Zoom. So you can register through the Vision Australia Library website.

06:30S1

Oh, fantastic. That's really lots coming up for these winter months. Anything else that you've got?

06:37S2

A few things. Well, a couple more things. We found this, look, I mentioned there about how les has continued to write, despite experiencing low vision. And we have put on a number of writing workshops over the last few years and something our members have told us, is that sometimes they're unsure about how they can continue writing as they experience vision loss. So we have teamed up with our experts at Vision Australia from our Accessible Technology team to offer a webinar and live event on the 1st of August, called Accessible Writing Tools and Technology. So this will be an opportunity to learn more about different devices. So... software or electronic devices, but also just gadgets that can support us to continue writing, um, as we experience vision loss. 

So we're working with our experts from Accessible Technology who will show us some amazing products that are available through Vision Store. We're offering this as a webinar so you can join from home. But if you're located near Vision Australia in Kooyong, in Victoria, in Parramatta, New South Wales or Kopuru in Queensland, you can actually come in store and watch the webinar and then have a bit of a demonstration and chat with one of our AT specialists, after the webinar, so you can talk to them a bit more in depth about your particular needs, your particular writing interests, what you'd like to achieve with your writing, and some of the tools that are available to assist you.

08:11S1

And yeah, you said there was even more one more thing or...

08:15S2

Yeah, I might just give a bit of a preview for something starting in August. Which we're, yeah, we're really looking forward to. It's a bit of a new program for us. I think last year I spoke to you a little bit about our bibliotherapy work with Dr Susan McLean, who's a leading Bibliotherapist. Bibliotherapy is the practice of using stories and texts to promote wellbeing and to support our own kind of emotional wellbeing, and we had a lot of interest in the pilot series that we ran last year. So Dr Susan is coming back to join us for a monthly reading group, which we've called Mindful Reading Wellbeing Through Stories. And so from August through to December, we will have a reading group which will meet monthly. Dr Susan will, has carefully selected some really beautiful texts that she will read aloud to the group, and then lead a facilitated kind of reflection group chat, and she calls it. 

So it's a chance to, well, to listen to some beautiful stories, to reflect upon them in a really safe kind of online space.

09:25S1

It's great. I'm always impressed, you know, when I speak to you about how innovative  Vision Australia library is with the things that are created, the sessions, the everything. Yeah. So yeah. Well done, yeah.

09:39S2

So it's a bit of a bit of a new one for us. But we think, yeah, we think it could bring a lot of value to our members. We know our members take a lot of solace in their reading. So I think the opportunity to kind of connect with others in our library community, across our love of words, is a really beautiful opportunity.

09:58S1

And what are you reading at the moment?

10:00S2

Oh. So, I have just finished reading The Champagne War by Fiona McIntosh. This was a recommendation given to me way back in our February Treat Your Shelf, which was all about romance. And yes, this is a very, very romantic read set in the vineyards of France during the First World War. So yes, a beautiful writer. I know she's very popular with a lot of our readers, so I have enjoyed the Champagne War very much, and I have a ton of books to read shortly. Because I'll actually be going on leave soon, Frances, as you know. So I will shortly be going on maternity leave. so I'll be, yeah, offline for a little bit and have a lot of time for a lot of reading. 

So on my list, I've got sitting on my shelf at home, Searching for Charlotte by Kate Forsyth. So Kate's an author that we have... an extensive collection featured in our library. But searching for Charlotte was added earlier in the year. This is about the first children's author in Australia. So a book was published back in the 1800s by a lady long time resident in Sydney. Snd for quite some years it was a mystery who this author was. It was discovered in the late 1980s. Her name was revealed, and she's actually the an ancestor of Kate Forsyth. So Kate Forsyth and her sister have written this story... where they've explored the life of this novelist. It's amazing to see kind of this writing legacy carry through the generations. So I love a good kind of genealogy story. So looking forward to that one. 

I'm also looking forward to reading The Dickens Boy by Tom Keneally. This was one that was also recommended to me in a treat yourself. 

11:52S1

Oh, Thomas Keneally. And his daughter as well writes books they've written a couple of conjunct in conjunction with a particular convict who's a gentleman convict. Convict came out for fraud. And he's a lovely, sort of gentle big character who's got a wonderful  housemaid, who's this Irish woman who's very feisty. And they kind of work in conjunction together in solving convict-era Australia crimes.

12:16S2

Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun.

12:18S1

Yeah. I can't remember the... it's a series. I can't remember the first one. But. Leeanne, thank you for another wonderful time with you here, coming into the studio and also talking on the phone. And best of luck with everything.

12:30S2

Thanks so much, Frances. I might just give a reminder to all of our listeners that all of the events I described today, you can find the details on our website. So visionaustralia.org, forward slash library and navigate to the What's On section. You can find a link for all of the events and where to register. And we've also got some great recommended reads which came out of the Melbourne Writers Festival. So there's a reading list for that, available as well. And you can find the link on our website.

12:59S1

Oh, wonderful. Best of luck and thanks, Leeanne.

13:01S2

Thanks, Frances.

13:08S1

And thank you once again to Leeanne Surjadi for coming in to chat about what's happening in the library. We'll miss Leeanne, passion is always there with Leeanne and we wish her all the best. The last book she mentioned was A Dickens Boy, and I kind of took over and interrupted about books that Meg Keneally, Thomas Keneally's daughter had written in conjunction with him and the novel in the series. That first novel is The Soldier's Curse, set in Port Macquarie penal settlement at the edge of the known world. 

Gentleman convict Hugh Monsarrat hungers for freedom. Originally transported for forging documents, passing himself off as a lawyer, he is now the trusted clerk of the settlement's commandant, and his position has certain advantages, such as being able to spend time in the government House kitchen, being supplied with outstanding cups of tea by housekeeper Hannah Mulrooney, who, despite being illiterate, is his most intelligent companion. And then a murder is committed and Hugh Monsarrat and Hannah Mulrooney join forces unofficially to solve the crime. So that was by Thomas Keneally and Meg Keneally. And I don't have a sample, but I just thought I'd mention it. It's narrated by Paul English.

And The Dickens Boy, which is the book that liane is looking forward to reading when she, when she has a bit of time. The Dickens boy, Thomas Keneally. And that's set in the late 1800s. Rather than run the risk of his underachieving sons tarnishing his reputation at home, Charles Dickens sent two of them to Australia. The 10th child of Charles Dickens, Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Dickens, known as Plorn, had consistently proved unable to apply himself to school or life, so age 16 he is sent as his brother Alfred was before him to Australia. He arrives in Melbourne in late 1868, carrying a terrible secret. He has never read a word of his father's work. He is sent out to a 2000 square mile station in remotest New South Wales to learn to become a man from my most diverse and toughest of companions. 

So again, I don't have a sample of The Dickens Boy by Thomas Keneally, but that's, yeah, one that Leanne has, is eager to read. We do have samples of The Champagne Wars by Fiona McIntosh. In the summer of 1914. Jerome Mere heads off to war, certain he'll be home by Christmas. His new bride, Sophie Delacroix, a fifth generation Champenoise, is determined to ensure the forthcoming vintages will be testament to their love. But as the years drag on, authorities advised that Jerome is missing, considered dead when poison gas is first used in Belgium by the Germans, British chemist Charles Nash jumps to enlist, refusing to be. Part of the scientific team that retaliates, becoming instead a brilliant marksman. 

When he is injured, he is brought to the champagne cellars in Rheims, where Sophie has set up an underground hospital. As Sophie struggles with strong feelings for her patient, she also attracts sinister advances from her brother in law. However, nothing can prepare her for the ultimate battle of the heart when Jerome's blood stained jacket and identification papers are found in Belgium and her hopes of ever seeing her husband alive again are reignited from the killing fields of Ypres to the Sunkist vineyards of southern France, the Champagne War is a heart stopping adventure about the true power of love and hope. To light the way during the war does sound very romantic, doesn't it? Let's hear a sample of The Champagne War by Fiona macintosh. It's narrated by Kate Sowerby.

16:54S3

As the new year of 1910 moved closer to its second month, the world marveled that there had been so few deaths in Paris when the River Seine rose more than eight meters and flooded the city. The water didn't burst the banks as many presumed. Instead, it took a more sinister path, rising up through the subway system and overflowing through sewers and any tunnel that its liquid tendrils could discover. Mother Nature, in her stealth, brought the city to its knees and covered its homes with her waters. And yet she had warned them winter rainfall had been much higher than usual and other rivers were showing signs of breach. Makeshift bridges had to be built to allow people to move around Paris, and some chose to row up and down its great avenues. Even the Champs-Élysées. The atmosphere in the city felt almost carnivalesque. 

The scenes described and photographed for the rest of the world were surreal. In its gleeful rush to the sea. The River Sen took with it a restless highway of trees, furniture and shopfronts amid a parade of possessions and the carcasses of animals caught unawares. It also took three people from the same family with the surname Delacroix. Sophie. It's one member left behind, busy in Epernay while her family was in Paris and furiously regretting a chance to visit her favorite place on earth, the Opéra Garnier. These days never chose to recall the winter of 1910. Her mind, however, sometimes walked where her thoughts didn't want to travel. It was impossible to clean away her sorrow in the same way Paris had cleansed itself of the flood's repercussions.

18:47S1

And that was the Champagne War by Fiona McIntosh. We have many other books by her in the library, and as Leeanne said, she is one of our very popular authors. Fiona is [spells author's name]. That book goes for 14.5 hours. Another book that Leeanne mentioned she's really looking forward to reading is Searching for Charlotte. This is by Kate Forsyth and Belinda Morrell. In 1841, Australia's first children's book was published. The anonymous writer, known only as N, quotes a lady long resident in New South Wales. The identity of the author was one of the most puzzling literary mysteries until 1981, when she was finally given a name, Charlotte Waring Atkinson. Today her great great great great granddaughters Kate Forsyth and Belinda morrell, are also celebrated authors. They grow up on stories about Charlotte's life of love, grief and violence, and her struggle to assert an independent spirit. Let's hear a sample of Searching for Charlotte by Kate Forsyth and Belinda Morrell. It's narrated by Taryn Ryan.

20:02S4

I first fell in love with Charlotte as a child. My maternal grandparents, Noni and Papa, would tell us enthralling stories about our great great great great grandmother, Charlotte Waring Atkinson and her family. In my memory. Charlotte always shines as being clever, beautiful, rebellious and fiercely independent like a Jane Austen heroine. Even her name was Romantic Day, wearing a reminder of her French aristocratic forebears. It was only later that we discovered that the D in Duehring hadn't actually been used in centuries. But family stories are like that. Romanticised, exaggerated and embellished. We grew up in a family of storytellers and book lovers. Both my parents would tell fascinating, colorful anecdotes about their lives, their adventures, and the people they met. My grandparents also told tantalizing tales of long ago. Famously, our family motto was Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. 

Our mother, Jilly always encouraged us to write. Almost from the time we could hold a pen. We wrote poems, plays, stories and novels, which we illustrated by hand in exercise books or typed up on our clackety old typewriter. Mum commissioned us to write poems for dinner party guests or stories for our grandparents for Christmas presents. My sister Kate and I played wildly imaginative games where we dressed up as characters from our favorite books and had sword fights up and down the stairs, or raided our mother's wardrobe for costumes for our theater productions. Nick, a long suffering younger brother, was dressed up and ordered to play the parts we required.

22:01S1

And that was a sample of Searching for Charlotte by Kate Forsyth and Belinda Morrell. And that book goes for 9.5 hours. Kate Forsyth is [spells name]. There are many books in the library by Kate Forsyth. She is a remarkable storyteller. I've heard her interviewed a couple of times now on, um, Richard Fidler's in conversation on ABC radio. Always find her fascinating, her stories. She's written The Wild Girl about the Grimm brothers who wrote the famous Grimm's Fairy Tales. Dancing on Knives, Bitter Greens, The Beast's Garden, which is a retelling of Grimm's Beauty and the beast set in Nazi Germany. Beauty in thorns. A reimagining of Sleeping Beauty. Many books there to explore. Of hers? We have one. One other book by Belinda Morrell. 

This is impossible. It's called The Sequin Star. This is impossible. I must be dreaming. Why does the newspaper have a date? That is more than 80 years ago? Claire finds a sequin star among her mother's treasures. Her grandmother's treasures. Why does she own such a cheap piece? The mystery deepens when the brooch hurtles Claire back in time to 1932, where she finds herself stranded in a circus camp. That's the sequin star by Melinda morrell. And in August, Leeanne mentioned the in conversation that's happening with Les Poggi and his children. So I thought I'd play a sample of Whispers in Empty Rooms by Les Poggi. 

Nobody believed the once popular novelist George Martin could ever find success again. George was determined to prove them wrong, but two things stood in his way. First, he became blind. Second, he became dead. His family is adamant it was suicide. Detective Inspector Cleary is not so sure. George's latest manuscript, recording stories, new ideas and critically, conversations of the people around him, might hold the answer. Do the stories reflect a man sinking into depression or a writer in the prime of his creative life? Did George end his life in despair, believing those who said he would never again be successful? Or did those around him exhibit murderous intent? Is the manuscript a simple transcription of the final weeks of a man's life, or a truth telling voice from the grave? Let's hear a sample of Whispers in Empty Rooms by Les Poggi. It's narrated by Josh Weaver.

24:41S5

The pages flooded in the detective's hand as his head turned, gazing into every corner of the room. The untidy home office was dusty, dark if any secrets hid in the jungle of books and magazines. They were safe under the dangling globes, feeble light. The young Detective Sergeant Peter York, standing near the desk, watched his superior in silence. Detective Inspector Mitchell Cleary was a tall, solidly built man, his dark grey suit fitted snugly over his shoulders, but the lower front buttons gave the impression of being under pressure. The state. Blue tie was a shade darker than his eyes. Short, fair hair topped a face that, if not for a crooked nose, gained from rugby playing days and a scar near his right ear, would have been described as handsome rather than not bad looking. Detective Sergeant Peter York was a contrast with the smaller frame, and a shock of red hair that seemed to be combed in different directions, sideways and backwards. At 28, he was nine years younger than his superior. 

Experience had taught Peter not to interrupt Cleary when he was mulling over a crime scene, but in Peter's view, this was clearly an open and shut suicide. Eventually, he could contain himself no longer. So something's bothering you, sir? For a few more seconds. The inspector kept his gaze on the big hook in the ceiling, from which a rope had tautly stretched down to go around the neck of a man who had been hanging there when they arrived an hour or so earlier. The body was gone now. Cleary dropped his face and looked into his colleagues eyes. This always disconcerted Peter, making him feel he had asked a silly question. Perhaps he had. He was new to this detective business, having transferred from uniform to plain clothes only six months ago. He'd undertaken the usual training courses, but hadn't read any books about how to spot clues at crime scenes. He squinted and tried to gaze intelligently around the room.

26:33S1

That was Whispers in Empty Rooms by Les Poggi. Les is [spells name]. And I'm not sure how long that book goes for, so it's not in the catalogue as yet. Maybe very recently added. On the 28th of May. So just a couple of weeks ago, really. And, uh, another one of his, um, murder novels is a handy guide to murderville. Also in the collection in Daisy audio. And that's a bit of an older one that was added to the collection in 2023. November 2023. Thank you for joining us on Hear This today. Once again, wishing Leeanne Surjadi all the health and happiness for the next year while we miss her company. And I'm just going to give a bit of a rundown about the events that Leeanne mentioned. 

So, coming up, there's the short story writing with Amanda O'Callaghan, In Conversation with Les Poggi, accompanied by his equally talented children Ben Poggi and Emily Maguire. And David Tredinnick from Vision Australia Library will interview, Les, Ben and Emily, to discover the collaborative journey that resulted in the novel Whispers in Empty Rooms and accessible writing tools and technology, which is a fantastic opportunity to learn from Vision Australia's team of experts. Whether it's about writing a short shopping list, keeping a journal or writing a letter to a loved one, or writing that novel that's burning in you, the team will showcase the range of adaptive tools and technology you can use to keep the words churning and mindful reading. With Dr Susan McLean. Bibliotherapy is the practice of reading books, short stories, poetry or nonfiction to support, guide, and comforter comfort us during challenging times. 

So if you would like to find out anything more about what Leeanne was talking about, you can go to the Vision Australia website or and look for events. Or you can ring the library to find out more. The library's phone number is 1300 654 656. That's 1300 654 656. Or you can email them at library@visionaustralia.org ... that's library at Vision Australia dot org. Have a lovely week everyone. And I'll be back next week with more Hear This.