We’ve just released a limited amount of new seats for the Deakin Lecture series keynote address this Sunday with Tim Flannery.
Flannery has long been at the vanguard of Australia’s environmental thinking with his book The Weather Makers called “a tour de force” by the Washington Post. He recently made headlines for changing his position not just on geosequestration but also on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
His opening keynote for the week-long Deakins Lecture series promises to be so good that we had to find a few more seats.
Casey Bennetto talks and sings about the “the unremitting evil of the blank page” when it comes to writing and performing musical theatre.
Shaken not stirred news over the weekend that Bond is back with a slightly American accent. American thriller writer Jeffrey Deaver has been asked to pen the latest in the 007 franchise.
Called Project X for a long time by publisher Hodder & Stoughton, the book will be released next year to coincide with the birthday of original author Ian Fleming. The franchise was re-booted two years ago by Brit Sebastian Faulks. Deaver’s appointment represents a trans-Atlantic shift for Britain’s most famous fictional spy.
Author of the The Bone Collector, Deaver comes to the job with a wealth of experience and love of the original. “I began reading them when I was about nine or ten, ignorant of the Cold War politics they explored but enthralled by their sense of adventure and derring-do.”
The posthumous writing of Bond follows the success of the Eoin Colfer writing a another sequel to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the court-wrangling over a sequel to Catcher in the Rye under the pseudonym JD California.
This week the Melbourne Writers Festival launches their popular schools programme. Festival programme manager Jenny Niven said “The programme represents some of the best writing for young people being produced in Australia today and the festival is honoured to be able to present it for our students.”
Some of the highlights include a live video link up with Neil Gaiman and Iconic Songs featuring Archie Roach and Neil Murray. New this year is the Big Ideas events which promise to tackle the important issues of environment, politics and more. The programme is not only open to schools with bookings open to anyone, but serves as a taster for the main meal of the full program launched on 16th of July.
