Too often, the big issues feel ill-served by parliamentary question time or the 24-hour news cycle. Big issues and bigger ideas deserve informed and passionate consideration. Beyond the soundbites, beyond the sloganeering, beyond the posturing, there’s the debate.

The Wheeler Centre and St James Ethics Centre combine once again in 2012 to bring you another series of Intelligence Squared debates.

Established in 2002, IQ2 has spread from across the globe, bringing the traditional form of Cambridge and Oxford Unions-style debating – with two sides proposing and opposing a sharply formed motion – to Melbourne Town Hall.

Too often, the big issues feel ill-served by parliamentary question time or the 24-hour news cycle. Big issues and bigger ideas deserve informed and passionate consideration. Beyond the soundbites, beyond the sloganeering, beyond the posturing, there’s the debate.

The Wheeler Centre and St James Ethics Centre combine once again in 2012 to bring you another series of Intelligence Squared debates.

Established in 2002, IQ2 has spread from across the globe, bringing the traditional form of Cambridge and Oxford Unions-style debating – with two sides proposing and opposing a sharply formed motion – to Melbourne Town Hall.

Too often, the big issues feel ill-served by parliamentary question time or the 24-hour news cycle. Big issues and bigger ideas deserve informed and passionate consideration. Beyond the soundbites, beyond the sloganeering, beyond the posturing, there’s the debate.

The Wheeler Centre and St James Ethics Centre combine once again in 2012 to bring you another series of Intelligence Squared debates.

Established in 2002, IQ2 has spread from across the globe, bringing the traditional form of Cambridge and Oxford Unions-style debating – with two sides proposing and opposing a sharply formed motion – to Melbourne Town Hall.

Too often, the big issues feel ill-served by parliamentary question time or the 24-hour news cycle. Big issues and bigger ideas deserve informed and passionate consideration. Beyond the soundbites, beyond the sloganeering, beyond the posturing, there’s the debate.

The Wheeler Centre and St James Ethics Centre combine once again in 2012 to bring you another series of Intelligence Squared debates.

Established in 2002, IQ2 has spread from across the globe, bringing the traditional form of Cambridge and Oxford Unions-style debating – with two sides proposing and opposing a sharply formed motion – to Melbourne Town Hall.

The National Play Festival annually celebrates Australian playwriting excellence, showcasing the finest new Australian plays. For the first time the Festival will be held in Melbourne, hosting a series of public discussions that gets to the heart of how writing and ideas play out in our theatres. Speakers include Daniel Keene, Joanna Murray-Smith and Ray Lawler, amongst others.

The National Play Festival annually celebrates Australian playwriting excellence, showcasing the finest new Australian plays. For the first time the Festival will be held in Melbourne, hosting a series of public discussions that gets to the heart of how writing and ideas play out in our theatres. Speakers include Daniel Keene, Joanna Murray-Smith and Ray Lawler, amongst others.

The National Play Festival annually celebrates Australian playwriting excellence, showcasing the finest new Australian plays. For the first time the Festival will be held in Melbourne, hosting a series of public discussions that gets to the heart of how writing and ideas play out in our theatres. Speakers include Daniel Keene, Joanna Murray-Smith and Ray Lawler, amongst others.

The National Play Festival annually celebrates Australian playwriting excellence, showcasing the finest new Australian plays. For the first time the Festival will be held in Melbourne, hosting a series of public discussions that gets to the heart of how writing and ideas play out in our theatres. Speakers include Daniel Keene, Joanna Murray-Smith and Ray Lawler, amongst others.

No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.

For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.

Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.

This week, we look at Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.

For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.

Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.

This week, it’s The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif by Robert Hillman and Najaf Mazari.

No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.

For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.

Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.

This week, we look at Bruce Beresford’s Paradise Road.

No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.

For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.

Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.

This week, we look at Hannie Rayson’s Two Brothers.

No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.

For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.

Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.

This week, we look at A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.

For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.

Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.

This week, we look at Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood.

No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.

For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.

Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.

This week, we look again at Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

No matter how compelling a novel or a film might be, if you have to study it, there’s always the risk you’ll end up hating it. Not any more! A gift to VCE students, their teachers (and of course life-long learners) Texts in the City is a weekly exploration of the classic texts – both old and new – that appear on the VCE English reading lists.

For our brand new season of Texts in the City, we’ve asked schools to nominate which texts on the curriculum they’d most like to see discussed. By presenting speakers who are intimately familiar with each chosen work, as a writer, reviewer, publisher or performer, we’ll offer new perspectives on these classic books, creating the chance to take the obligation out of – and put the joy back into – reading for the VCE.

Sessions run at the student-friendly timeslot of 4.30pm – 5.15pm and are subsequently hosted on the Wheeler Centre website.

This week, we look at Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Who tells the story of a country? What story does a country’s national literature tell about its people and its identity? Is there such a thing as Australian literature at all?

Australians are striding the global stage with unprecedented confidence in all manner of fields. But if university syllabuses are any indication, it seems that when it comes to Australian literature, the cultural cringe is alive and well.

With major universities offering only the bare minimum in courses on Australian writing and its authors, the Wheeler Centre is filling the breach. Australian Literature 101 is the university education in Australian literature you never had.

In this major new weekly series hosted by Ramona Koval, running in parallel with the university calendar, contemporary writers speak on seminal Australian texts, giving context, sharing their responses and exploring each work’s status as a classic of Australian literature. Join us to be part of a brand new assessment of our national literature.

This week, we look at That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott.

Who tells the story of a country? What story does a country’s national literature tell about its people and its identity? Is there such a thing as Australian literature at all?

Australians are striding the global stage with unprecedented confidence in all manner of fields. But if university syllabuses are any indication, it seems that when it comes to Australian literature, the cultural cringe is alive and well.

With major universities offering only the bare minimum in courses on Australian writing and its authors, the Wheeler Centre is filling the breach. Australian Literature 101 is the university education in Australian literature you never had.

In this major new weekly series hosted by Ramona Koval, running in parallel with the university calendar, contemporary writers speak on seminal Australian texts, giving context, sharing their responses and exploring each work’s status as a classic of Australian literature. Join us to be part of a brand new assessment of our national literature.

This week, we look at Kate Grenville’s Lillian’s Story.

Who tells the story of a country? What story does a country’s national literature tell about its people and its identity? Is there such a thing as Australian literature at all?

Australians are striding the global stage with unprecedented confidence in all manner of fields. But if university syllabuses are any indication, it seems that when it comes to Australian literature, the cultural cringe is alive and well.

With major universities offering only the bare minimum in courses on Australian writing and its authors, the Wheeler Centre is filling the breach. Australian Literature 101 is the university education in Australian literature you never had.

In this major new weekly series hosted by Ramona Koval, running in parallel with the university calendar, contemporary writers speak on seminal Australian texts, giving context, sharing their responses and exploring each work’s status as a classic of Australian literature. Join us to be part of a brand new assessment of our national literature.

We all know Jonathan Franzen is a twitcher. But did you know Tom Hanks likes to collect 1940s typewriters? Or that Johnny Depp likes to play with dolls?

Sadly, Tom and the two Johnnies couldn’t join us, but Sam Pang has persuaded some almost as familiar faces to reveal their unlikely obsessions.