October is shaping up to be a great month for storytelling, with chances to be inspired by Roald Dahl andget up close and personal with your favourite authors. Sydney hasn’t disappointed this month, offering events for all ages. Speaking of, the NSW Writers’ Centre turns 25 this year! And to celebrate we’re throwing an unashamedly bookish party on October 16th. We hope you can join us!
Support the wonderful folk at the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and spend a beautiful day picking waratahs in Wingello in the Southern Highlands on October 1st from 10am – 3pm. Tickets $25 will be donated to this wonderful organisation who aims to raise literacy levels and improve the lives and opportunities of indigenous Australians living in remote communities.
The Inner West Council is celebrating Roald Dahl’s birthday with a series of events at various inner west locations!
October 6th from 5:30pm join the delightfully bookish Matilda as the immensely popular film screens at the Stanmore Library (popcorn and drinks provided.)
Friday 7th October 2-3pm Dulwich Hill Library will be hosting “Welcome to the Dream Factory” where kids get to recreate the BFG’s dream jars with a little science, alchemy and the most important ingredient, GLITTER! BYO jars, dreams and imagination.
At St Peters Library 5th October 2-3pm construct a James and the Giant Peach mobile with the help of Spider, Grasshopper, Centipede and friends, also on at Marrickville Library 11am – 12pm. Free, book via eventbrite
Peter Hobbins explores a long-forgotten institution in late-colonial Sydney, James Bray’s Museum of Curios. While its accumulated ‘native’ artefacts, colonial relics and natural history specimens were all for sale, they also represented the owner’s endless quest for knowledge and recognition. Sharing insights into James Bray’s quirky, complex and ultimately tragic life, this talk also returns his museum to its rightful place in Sydney’s rich urban history. Free entry Tuesday 4th October, 11 – 12pm
Erotica! Comedy! Together and back at Giant Dwarf at last! Join a host of funny people at Erotic Fan Fiction as they get a little saucy, a little dirty and very naughty for this event described by Concrete Playground as “The most shamefully filthy and gloriously hilarious storytelling night out there”. Tickets available
Dymocks Literary Luncheons at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney.
Hannah Kent, author of award winning novel Burial Rites will be joined by Literary Editor Susan Wyndham to discuss Hannah’s new book The Good People on Wednesday October 5th.
Tim Winton will provide a rare glimpse into his imagination at work and play as the Miles Franklin Award winning author reveals the real characters and events behind his bestselling novels in this intimate discussion ranging across his boyhood, movies and road-trips, family and faith to the natural world, art and writing. Tuesday October 11th
Reading Australian Literature offers a unique insight into an ongoing dialogue with our literary heritage. Join Debra Adelaide as she delves into Thea Astley’s Drylands at the University of Sydney on October 11th from 6:30pm. Free
The NSW Writers’ Centre turns 25! Come help us celebrate on the 16th of October as we get nerdy with bookish games, dance like no one is watching with a special musical performance, and of course, eat a lot of cake. Email events@nswwc.org.au to RSVP
Ignite Ideas: Story Fest Oct 14 – 16: Join the nation’s mightiest wordsmiths for live literary mayhem: spoken word, poetry, stories, lyrics, monologues and slam finals. This boutique festival is unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Prepare to have your mind sewn back together after each event. Events include a Poetic Walking Tour through the Botanical Gardens, Pin the Tail on the Station where a Poetry Slam champion will take you to three mystery locations for inspiration, a Performing Writers’ Forum, and the main event, the Australian Poetry Slam National Final.
Champion Bush Poet Robyn Sykes asks: “Have you ever heard a poet read in such a monotone that their poems missed their mark?” In her Perfecting Your Poetry Performance Workshops held on Sunday October 16 at Yass Community Centre, 9am – 11.30am, and Binalong at the Black Swan Gallery, Burley Griffin Way (Stephen Street), 1.30pm – 4pm, Robyn provides tips and advice on how to perform for an audience. RSVP essential to robynsykespoet@gmail.com For more events with Robyn visit her website
Do you like your novels long, your debates impassioned and your favourite writers accessible? The Littérateur Festival will ruminate on ‘The good life’ and what it means to us today: socially, politically and aesthetically. Saturday 15th October at the Old Fitz Theatre in Woolloomooloo from 10am – 3:30pm. The line up includes Gareth Hutchens, Holly Throsby, Meredith Jaffe and Andrew P Street. Tickets and more information available here
The Moth StorySlam invites you to get up on stage and explore Spooky Fixations at this month’s “Haunted” event. Relive nightmares, irrational fears, dark worries, or apparitions in a 5 minute true story! Make it funny, make it sad, but above all make a connection with a rapt audience. 18th October from 7:30pm Tickets
Poetry in Place will culminate in a public poetry performance at Tootsie Fine Art & Design, 289 Comur Street, Yass on October 30, 12.30pm for 1pm until 3pm
John Kinsella, author of many books of poetry, fiction and criticism will be reading extracts from his activist journals and contextualising observations of place, politics, ecologies, ethics and prosody. Journaling An Activist Poetics: Activist Poetics and the Activist’s Journal will take place at the University of Sydney on 31st October. Free entry