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Hello and welcome to hear this. I'm Frances Keyland and you're listening to the Vision Australia library show, where we talk about books in the collection and some exciting events are coming up with the library that library members will be able to enjoy. And Leeanne, [indistinct] Community Engagement Librarian is on the show to tell us about those events. Starting off today, just checking in. How's your April going? Vision Australia Radio is taking part in the 100 kilometre Your Way challenge, raising vital funds for our not for profit radio network. There's still time to join our team and set yourself a goal of walking, running, swimming or wheeling your way 100km across April in support of Vision Australia Radio. So sign up today you can visit RVA radio org. Click on the 100 K Your Way link. Choose a team and spend the rest of April working towards your goal.
I'm here once again with Leeanne Surjadi, Community Engagement Coordinator here at Vision Australia Library. Hello, Leeanne.
01:40S2
Hi friends. It's great to be with you again.
01:42S1
Yes, it's getting cooler. The weather down south here, isn't it?
01:46S2
It's, oh it is. We've had a few chilly days. Yeah. Rough transitioning to, you know, the end of daylight savings and winter on its way. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:57S1
Well, look, I would like to just recap, first of all, on the wonderful event with Alexis, right. And how that's available to listen to, but also the other in conversation. So the latest one Alexis Wright that went very well.
02:11S2
Yes it did Frances. So we hosted Alexis on the 25th of March. In Conversation, it was a webinar and we had a fantastic response from our library members, but also kind of the broader literary community. We had so many people join us for this one who were not members of the Vision Australia Library, but just wanted the opportunity to hear directly from such a fantastic writer. And so it was really special for us to be able to host Alexis. She was in conversation with the wonderful Astrid Edwards, who hosts the Garrett Podcast, and they had a beautiful conversation about her latest novel, praiseworthy, which has been receiving a lot of acclaim lately, actually.
So she's just been shortlisted for the Stellar Prize. So that will be announced next month. And she was also shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, which is an international literary prize and is one of the six shortlisted titles from around the world. Which is an amazing accomplishment in itself. So to be able to hear from Alexis directly about her novel and the reasons that she wrote it, the way she developed her characters, and to have her give a reading from praiseworthy, was, it was just a wonderful experience, a real treat.
03:34S1
Oh, yes. I'm, I missed out on it, but I'm going to be able to catch up, as with all of the in conversations, because they're all available to listen to al these wonderful people that have been involved.
03:44S2
Yes. So all of our library members can continue to revisit all of our In Conversations with various authors that we've done across the years, through our podcast, Vision Australia Library In Conversation. And so we release, for our members recordings from each of our conversations. If you subscribe to that podcast, you will receive that on your bookshelf automatically every time we do an in conversation. But the conversation with Alexis right is now available through the catalogue.
04:17S1
Wonderful. And there's something else coming up in May for library members.
04:23S2
Yes. So we're continuing our in conversations series in May. So we finish on and we're on to the next round straight away. Um, and we are so proud again to be partnering with the Melbourne Writers Festival. So on May 10th on a Friday evening, we are actually hosting two events, one at 6 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time and one at 8 p.m. so two separate authors, two separate events, but both on the same night, and we will be joined by Toby Walsh at 6 p.m.. Here's an expert in AI and has written a book called Machines Behaving Badly. Um, he's a great commentator on AI, which is, of course a really topical issue. And I think for our community, a really interesting topic because technology just provides us with so much access to things. And it'll be fascinating to consider where, where we're going with the AI. So he's a great person to speak to that.
05:24S1
All that will be because there's so much, um, information. But, uh, you know, people are very for or they're very against and then there's all the gray in between. So hopefully he can clear some of those ideas up.
05:36S2
Yes, yes, I know he's very interested in the ethics of AI, and he's been thinking about this for many decades, probably long before any of us were very familiar with what the potential of AI to to interact with our daily lives. So, yeah, I think that will be a really fascinating conversation with Toby Walsh. Um, and then our second author, which will be at 8 p.m., um, will be Louise Milligan. So she'll be well known to many of our listeners for her investigative journalism work. But she has, she's soon to release her fiction debut. And so she's written a mystery thriller called Pheasants Nest, which is coming out this month, I believe. And we are working on getting that in the library. So she'll be discussing, yeah, her foray into fiction.
06:28S1
That should be great, because, yes, I think it's about centres around a journalist that's been kidnapped.
06:35S2
Yeah. So I think, you know, very much inspired by her own experiences. Not to say she's been kidnapped, of course, but, very much, yeah, very much informed by her own work as a journalist. So a journalist is the main character of this book. But apparently it's quite funny. It's quite a witty and sharp read. o, yeah, we look forward to welcoming Louise to the library.
06:58S1
So how can people, yeah, how can people join these events?
07:03S2
Yes. So both of those in conversations are taking place at Vision Australia Kooyong. So this is one of the in conversations that we're offering live, if you're local to our Kooyong office, we would love to welcome you to join us in person on the 10th of May. You can book online through the Vision Australia website and choose the option to attend in person. We have almost booked out of this event, but we have reserved spaces for Vision Australia library members, and so please send us an email when you join the waitlist to let us know that you're a member. And we will release one of the reserve tickets to you. But we are also, of course, going to be streaming both in conversations via zoom. So there is an option on the event page to register for the live stream.
07:54S1
Oh that's lovely. I love the idea of just sitting at home being on the live stream, perhaps with your drink of choice, whether it's a hot chocolate or a wine and just us sitting back and, yeah.
08:03S2
Yeah. So a lovely thing to do on a Friday night in Melbourne, as we, as we head into the cooler months. Um, you do need to register separately for both those conversations. So there are two separate events. If you're if you'd like to kind of make an evening of it and listen to both conversations and please register for both of it.
08:22S1
And, Sharon Prior, one of the wonderful friends of the library is holding a course.
08:28S2
That's right. So Sharon Prior is back with us next month, starting on the 1st of May, she will be leading the excellent writing for wellbeing series. So Sharon did this one with us last year and we had a lot of interest in it. Last year we booked out and had a wait list, so we've we've brought it back to give people a second opportunity to join this, this really wonderful writing program. This one's focused on really personal writing. So a lot of the other writing we do has a bit of an eye to looking at, you know, how do you get published? How do you develop your work so that it can kind of find an audience? But this one's really about personal writing for our own wellbeing and to support our own wellness. And so she runs through some really interesting creative writing exercises.
You know, you think about things like journaling practices that you can incorporate into your daily life, ways that you can write about challenging moments and other really creative writing practices that you can use to perhaps, you know, reflect on things that have happened in your life, um, where where you're going. So yeah, we found it a really, really beautiful experience to be part of last year. And the members who join us for these workshops are just wonderful. They create a really safe and supportive space, for people to be able to share if they want to. And there's no pressure to share.
09:55S1
I was going to... yeah, I was going to ask that because I was thinking, Oh, you know, a lot of writing groups and things, they expect you to show a piece, you know, once a month or something about how far you've come or that sort of. So it's not about progressing to a...
10:07S2
No, no, not at all. Not at all. It's really just about learning things that you can take into your own time. And there's an opportunity to share if you'd like to. But certainly no expectation with this one.
10:19S1
Great. And also coming up is the next Treat Your Shelf, Leeanne.
10:23S2
Yeah. So You Treat Your Shelf as a regular book check. We hold it once every two months. And it's probably your last chance to register for Treat Your Shelf, which is happening on Monday the 15th of April. We will be talking about speculative fiction. So sci fi. I think it'll be a lot of fun. It's not my, you know, general genre of reading, but one of our wonderful librarians, Siobhan, will be joining us, and she's a big sci fi fan. So I'm sure we'll have a great chat.
10:54S1
So have you have you, um, gone beyond your reading comfort just for this session? Is there anything you've picked up? Thinking, Oh, I should read one or you haven't?
11:04S2
Oh, I had intentions to. I've borrowed Read Wall, which has been recommended to me a few times and was probably a bit more fantasy rather than sci fi. Yeah. if you're not started, I've been a bit distracted by the wonderful books that are being featured in the Melbourne Writers Festival, and that's been kind of taking my attention.
11:25S1
Yes. And and rightly so. We shouldn't have to read out of duty.
11:31S2
Oh, well, it's always good to, you know, try things out. I do, I do read a lot of things that our members recommend, which, yeah, you know, it can be great. Sometimes I really enjoy things that I wouldn't have expected to. I'm currently reading Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, so she's one of the authors who's traveling down to Melbourne for the Melbourne Writers Festival. And we do have Tom Lake in the collection in Daisy audio. And really enjoying this one so far.
12:00S1
Okay, good. Thank you so much, liane, for being on the show. And it's always lovely to hear from you and hear what's happening in the library. And it looks like an exciting, um, period coming up for the library.
12:12S2
Absolutely. There's always, always something on at the moment in Australia library. And it's wonderful to connect with our members, whether that's through any conversation, a book club or a workshop. It's always great to to connect with our members and hear about what they're reading.
12:28S1
Thanks, Leeanne. We'll hear from you next month then.
12:31S2
Thanks, Frances.
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You're listening to Hear This with Frances Keyland on Vision Australia Radio. And that was Leeanne Surjadi, community engagement librarian with Allied with the library talking about the exciting events that are coming up. So if you would like more clarification or if you'd like to know more, just give the library a call or email them. But yes, those two separate events that are happening on the 10th of May so that Toby Walsh speaking about AI and his book Machines Behaving Badly. And then at 8 p.m., Louise Milligan, you'll need to register for both of them as separate events so Toby Marshall and Louise Milligan are in person. You can register or streaming via Zoom.
Leanne also mentioned what she's been reading, which is Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, who will be attending the Melbourne Writers Festival. We have a sample here of Tom Lake in the spring of 2020. Lara's three daughters return to the family's orchard in northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theatre company called Tom Lake. As Laura recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and their relationship with their mother and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew. Let's hear a sample of Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, and it's narrated by Meryl Streep.
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That Veronica and I were given keys and told to come early on a frozen Saturday in April to open the school for the Our Town auditions was proof of our dull reliability. The play's director. Mr. Martin was my grandmother's friend and State Farm agent. That's how I was wrangled in through my grandmother. And Veronica was wrangled because we did pretty much everything together. Citizens of New Hampshire could not get enough of our town. We felt about the play the way other Americans felt about the Constitution or the Star-Spangled banner. It spoke to us, made us feel special and seen. Mr. Martin predicted a large turnout for the auditions, which explained why he needed use of the school gym for the day. The community theatre production had nothing to do with our high school, but seeing as how Mr. Martin was also the principal's insurance agent and very likely his friend, the request was granted.
15:00S1
That was Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Ann is spelt [spells name]. The book goes for 11 hours and 20 minutes, and there are many other books by Ann Patchett in the library collection. So that is Lee Ann Society's read of the moment and Patchett's Tom Lake. Leanne also mentioned that a book that's been on her list and it's been recommended by people, is the Red Wall series So Speculative or Fantasy Fiction Here? This series is by Brian Jack, and I won't play a sample, but I'll read the synopsis of the first in the series. It is the start of Summer of the late Rose Red Wall Abby, peaceful home of a community of mice slumbers in the warmth of a summer afternoon. The mice are busy preparing for a great jubilee feast, but not for long. Cluny is coming. The evil one eyed rat warlord is advancing with his battle scarred mob, and Clooney wants Red wall.
So all of those books are available. A series available in, um, Daisy and it is our big series. Brian. Jack. So Brian is Brian. Brian. Jack is, um, Jack was Jack was the author wrote these, um, fantasy books between 1986 and 2011. One of the central characters is a young anthropomorphic mouse named Matthias or Matthias, who is a novice monk at Redwall Abbey. So we see a lot of what's going on through his eyes. The evil Cluny was referred to as a Portuguese water rat. The first book in the series, Red wall, won the Western Australian Young Readers Award and also the Lancashire Library's Children's Book of the year Award, and it was nominated for the Carnegie Medal in February 2021. Netflix has announced an animated feature film adaptation, and that will be one to look out for. It did remind me when I was reading it, the synopsis of Watership Down, which is also in the library, and a beloved book I'm reading here from a blog called Ali and Fiction One word, Ali and Fiction. Com and she writes that the setting is different. Red wall is clearly medieval, while Watership Down is more modern, and the rodents of Red wall are even more anthropomorphized than the rabbits of Watership Down. But there's a lot in common between the tones of both stories and cultural constructions of the woodland creatures. And that's Redwall by Brian Shark. Leanne mentioned that the library will be getting in Louise Milligan's debut novel Pheasants Nest, and hopefully there will be Toby Walsh's Machines Behaving Badly as well. But I thought we'd have a taste of this book, which is in the library. It's called How to Build an Android. It's by David F Dufty, the stranger than fiction story of the ingenious creation and loss of an artificially intelligent android of science fiction writer Philip K Dick. In December 2005, a young roboticist on his way to Google headquarters lost an overnight bag on a flight somewhere between Dallas and Las Vegas. In it was the fully functional head of an Android replica of Philip K Dick, cult science fiction writer and counterculture guru. It has never been recovered. In a story that echoes some of the most paranoid fantasies of a Dick novel, listeners will get a fascinating inside look at the scientists and technology that made this amazing Android possible. The author, who was a fellow researcher at the University of Memphis Institute for Intelligent Systems while the Android was being built, introduces listeners to the cutting edge technology in robotics, artificial intelligence and sculpture that came together in this remarkable machine and captured the imagination of scientists, artists and science fiction fans alike. There are also great stories about the author Dick himself, his inspired yet deeply pessimistic worldview, his bizarre lifestyle, and his enduring creative legacy. In the tradition of popular science classics such as packing for Mars and The Disappearing Spoon, How to Build an Android is entertaining and informative. Popular science at its best. Let's hear a sample of How to Build an Android by David F Dufty. It's narrated by Bronson Pinchot.
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The head was a lifelike replica of Philip K Dick, the cult science fiction author and counterculture guru. Who had died in 1982. Made of plastic wire and a synthetic skin like material called rubber. It had a camera for eyes, a speaker for a mouth, and an artificial intelligence simulation of Dec's mind that allowed it to hold conversations with humans. Hanson, still oblivious to his mistake, dozed again on the second flight. It was only after arriving in San Francisco, as he stood before the baggage carousel, watching the parade of suitcases and bags slide past that, an alarm sounded in his brain. He had checked two pieces of luggage, one with his clothes on the other with the android's body. In that instant, he realized that he hadn't taken the sports bag off the plane. And that's how the Philip K Dick android lost its head.
20:31S1
And that was How to Build an Android. David, is [spells it], a middle initial F for Francis, and the last name Dufty. [spells it]. And that book goes for six hours and 50 minutes. And Philip K Dick was the author of the science fiction classic. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Which was turned into the movie of Blade Runner. And just to repeat that, that book about, um, Philip K Dick's head and the scientists behind creating an android of the author that is all non-fiction. It is a purely non-fiction book. Just one of those ones that's stranger than fiction. And it was published in 2012.
David F Dufty has also written another non-fiction book called Radio Girl The Story of the Extraordinary Mrs. Mack, pioneering engineer and wartime legend and all around Australia. Former Wrens and Navy Seal men regard the woman they know as Mrs. Mack with a level of reverence usually reserved for saints. Yet today no one has any idea of who she was and how she rescued Australia's communication systems in World War Two. As you climbed the rickety stairs of an old wool shed at Sydney Harbour in 1944, you would hear the thrum of clicks and buzzers. Rows of men and women in uniforms and headsets would be tapping away vigorously at small machines under the careful watch of their young female trainers. Presiding over the cacophony was a tiny woman known to everyone as Mrs. Mack, one of Australia's wartime legends.
She was a smart girl from a poor mining town who loved to play with her father's tools. Violet Mackenzie became an electrical engineer, a pioneer of radio, and a successful businesswoman. So that's called Radio Girl and the story of the extraordinary Mrs. Mack, pioneering engineer and wartime legend. And that is also by David F Dufty. Two books in this category of people who are not what they seem, or people who are able to take advantage of a situation to create a persona where people are roped in. The first book would be The Great Gatsby, which was published this time 99 years ago, so not quite 100. It was published in April 1925, and it was inspired by a youthful romance that author, if Scott Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922.
It is set in the Jazz Age on Long Island near New York City, and the novel depicts first person narrator Nick Carraway, interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby is one of the great love stories of our time, vividly recreating the splendour and wilderness that characterised Fitzgerald's 1920s. Let's hear a sample of The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. It's narrated by John Dunne.
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And my younger and more vulnerable years. My father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had. He didn't say any more, but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence, I'm inclined to reserve old judgments, a habit that's opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person. And so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.
24:36S1
And that was The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, F Scott Fitzgerald. So [spells out the author's name]. And that book goes for a short one. It's 5.5 hours. Another book that was published a while ago. But it's very topical because Netflix have just released the latest incarnation of of its screen presence, Ripley, based on the book The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Tom Ripley is a poor New Yorker who is sent to Italy by the wealthy Mr. Greenleaf in order to bring back his spoiled son, Dickie. Once in Italy, Tom charms his way into the home of Dickie and his girlfriend Marge, where he begins to get a taste of wealthy living. When Tom begins to wear out his welcome, he takes drastic actions to ensure that he will never have to return to the life that he left behind. Let's hear a sample of The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. It's narrated by Anthony Parker.
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You are the first of Richard's friends who has ever been willing to listen. They all take the attitude that I'm trying to interfere with his life. Tom could easily understand that. Well, I certainly wish I could help, he said politely. He remembered now that Dickie's money came from a shipbuilding company. Small sailing boats. No doubt his father wanted him to come home and take over the family firm. Tom smiled at Mr. Greenleaf Meaninglessly and then finished his drink. Tom was on the edge of his chair, ready to leave, but the disappointment across the table was almost palpable. Where is he staying in Europe? Tom asked. Not caring a damn where he was staying. In a town called Montebello, south of Naples. There's not even a library there, he tells me. Divides his time between sailing and painting. He's bought a house there. Richard has his own income. Nothing huge, but enough to live on in Italy, apparently.
26:50S1
That was The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Patricia is spelled [spells the name]. That book goes for 11 hours, and it's part one in the Ripley series. It was first published in 1955. It's a psychological thriller, and like The Great Gatsby, it's been portrayed on the screen many times. In November 2019, the BBC news listed The Talented Mr. Ripley on its list of the 100 most Inspiring Novels. But it's just two books that deal with the psychology of desire and being able to move through life, transforming yourself and using those around you to try and get what you want. But the loneliness of that as well. So just a couple of books, and if you can think of any yourself that you would like to recommend, we would love to hear what books you would recommend about people who are not what they seem, and have a devious way of being in the world.
28:03S1
Thank you so much for joining us on Hear This today. Thank Italian society, and I thank you to everybody who listens to the show. It's lovely to have you with us each week. If you would like to give some feedback on the show, or if you would like to give some feedback about the books you're listening to, I'm always saying it's most welcome. I would love to hear what you are enjoying, what you would recommend if you would like to. The. You can always call the library on 1300 654 656. That's 1 365 4656. Or you can email library@visionaustralia.org ... that's library - at - Vision Australia - dot - org. Have a lovely week and we'll be back next week with more Hear This.
