Taking the lead from George Bernard Shaw, who claimed ‘It is not disbelief that is dangerous to our society; it is belief’, we open our brand new year of programming by dedicating our annual tradition – The Wheeler Centre Gala Night – to that thorniest and most topical of themes: belief.
Eleven writers take to the stage to explore the concept of belief from whichever angle they choose – be it a polemic on their unshakeable commitment to our inalienable rights as humans, a personal account of being in the presence of God, or a tirade on the existence of hobbits.
Spanning poets and playwrights, working for children and adults across numerous genres, our merry band of storytellers are guaranteed to spark empathy, recognition, perhaps fear and possibly even outrage, as we begin as we mean to go on. We hope you’ll be entertained, surprised, provoked – and above all, inspired – as we open our 2012 season of Wheeler Centre programming.
All profits go to the Indigenous Literacy Fund.
Featuring: Alice Pung, Elliot Perlman, Kaz Cooke, Tony Birch, Lally Katz, Andy Griffiths, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Carrie Tiffany, Gillian Mears, Bob Franklin and Casey Bennetto.
Tweet at this event: #GalaNight
Presenters
Alice Pung’s memoir Unpolished Gem won the Australian Book Industry Association award for Newcomer of the Year and was short-listed for numerous other awards.
Elliot Perlman is an award-winning writer of one short story collection and three novels. He lives in Melbourne, where he also works as a barrister.
Kaz Cooke is best known as a successful columnist, author and cartoonist. Her most recent book is Women’s Stuff.
Tony Birch is the author of the acclaimed novel, Blood (UQP 2011). His has also published widely as a short fiction writer.
Lally Katz is an award-winning Melbourne based playwright. Her play Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd premiered at Malthouse Theatre and won the Louis Esson Prize for Drama at the 2009 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
Randa Abdel-Fattah works as a litigation lawyer and is also an internationally published award-winning author of six novels, with two more due for release in 2012.
Bob Franklin is a highly respected writer, actor and comedian (perhaps most recognisable from The Librarians, Stupid Stupid Men and Thank God You’re Here).
Carrie Tiffany is a journalist and the author of two novels, the most recent of which is Mateship with Birds.
Andy Griffiths is Australia’s most popular children’s writer. He is the author of over 20 books, including nonsense verse, short stories, comic novels and plays.
Born in 1969, Casey Bennetto spent his formative years amongst the fragrant meadows and blossoming malls of Greensborough, Melbourne.
Gillian Mears grew up in the northern New South Wales town of Grafton. Acclaim came early, with her short story collections and novels winning major prizes.
Tweet
