Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 26 February
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
We’re probing a blazing, hot topic at the 2018 Wheeler Centre Gala Night of Storytelling: the power of the written word and the loaded tenets of speech.
When do words inspire and when do they incite? When is speech free, and when is it hateful? Fighting words, funny words, insulting words and incendiary words – for better or for worse, language moves us and it matters.
For our first event of the 2018 Wheeler Centre programme, we’re bringing together 10 superb speakers to reflect on the words that have changed their lives. They’ll share captivating insights from the great writers and orators. And they’ll reflect on enraging – even endangering – insults from the bullies, the provocateurs and the well-meaning, but not well-informed.
Jump with us out of the frying pan and into the fire for a combustible evening of storytelling. #WordsOnFire
This event will be Auslan interpreted.
Readings will be our bookseller for this event.
Featuring
Tony Birch
Tony Birch is the author of four novels, five short fiction collections, and two poetry books. His most recent book is the novel, Women and Children (UQP).
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Rosie Waterland
Rosie Waterland is a Sydney-based author, columnist and screenwriter. Her first novel, The Anti-Cool Girl, published through HarperCollins in 2015, won the ABIA People’s Choice Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, and was recently shortlisted for the Russell Prize for Humour Writing.
In 2017 Rosie released her second book, Every Lie I’ve Ever Told, toured nationally with her show Crazy Lady, and launched her podcast Mum Says My Memoir is a Lie, in which Rosie and her mother Lisa discuss their differing perspectives on the events of her first book. Rosie is developing several projects for the screen as both an actor and writer, as well as a new podcast idea.
Leah Purcell
Leah Purcell is one of Australia’s leading actors, writers, and directors with award-winning roles across all mediums.
She is a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from QLD.
The Drover’s Wife The Legend Of Molly Johnson is Leah’s debut feature film which premiered at SXSW as part of their Narrative Spotlight programme in March 2021. The film is directed by and written by Leah, co-produced by her production company Oombarra Productions, and sees Leah star in the leading role of Molly Johnson. Her previous adaptations of The Drover’s Wife include the multi-award winning theatrical play which was a sell-out success at Belvoir St Theatre, and the novel which is currently available through Penguin Random House.
Leah’s extensive career has seen her in leading roles in the TV series Police Rescue, Redfern Now, and Janet King. She is currently playing the main role of Rita Connors in Foxtel / Fremantle’s internationally acclaimed series Wentworth, where she was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Television Series at the AACTA Awards.
Notable theatrical performances include Marriage of Figaro (QTC) opposite Geoffrey Rush, Neil Armfield’s Stuff Happens (Company B); Parramatta Girls (Company B), The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table (Griffin Theatre, Malthouse Theatre, QPAC) Michael Attenborough’s When the Rain Stops Falling (Almeida Theatre, London); and Bell Shakespeare’s 20th Anniversary production of King Lear.
Off-camera Leah has written for Black Chicks Talking (stage play and documentary), My Place (ABC), Redfern Now (ABC), Ready for This (ABC/Blackfella Films), and was the indigenous story consultant for Love Child (Nine/Playmaker). Her directing credits include Black Chicks Talking (stage play & documentary); 7 Stages of Grieving (Sydney Theatre Co, ED Program 2008), Redfern Now (ABC), Don’t Take Your Love to Town (Company B), Cleverman (Goalpost/ABC) and was the set-up director on the series The Secret Daughter (Seven Network/Screentime) and My Life is Murder (Network Ten/CJZ).
In addition to The Drover’s Wife, Leah’s self-devised pieces have seen her work created and performed all over the world. She conceived and co-wrote Box the Pony which was the smash hit of the 1997 Festival of the Dreaming and went on to play to sell-out seasons at Belvoir S. Theatre, the Sydney Opera House, the 1999 Edinburgh Festival and a season at the Barbican Theatre in London 2000. The published text of the play won the 1999 NSW Premier’s Literary Award and the 2000 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Best Play.
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Omar Musa
Omar Musa is a Malaysian-Australian rapper and poet from Queanbeyan, Australia. He is the former winner of the Australian Poetry Slam and the Indian Ocean Poetry Slam. His first book is Here Come the Dogs.
He has released three hip-hop albums, two poetry books (including Parang), appeared on ABC’s Q&A and received a standing ovation at TEDx Sydney at the Sydney Opera House. He is currently working on a play, Bonegatherer.
Moira Finucane
Moira Finucane is a writer, director, performer and creator of volcanic and magic realist worlds … legendary salons, literary variety and intimate theatrical spectacles, internationally renowned for her arresting mix of provocation and entertainment.
Finucane has defined and redefined cabaret around the world - from Budapest to Tokyo, Hong Kong to Stockholm, Ljubljana to Sydney Opera House. She is the black matter of burlesque; a bower bird across artforms, pecking the eyes from culture to create indelible visions of humanity, joy, power and desire.
One half of the legendary House of Finucane & Smith, she has won 15 theatre awards including six Green Room Awards, the Australia Council’s coveted Theatre Fellowship and the once-in-a-lifetime Contribution to Cabaret Award.
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Sally Warhaft
Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year ...
Patricia Cornelius
Patricia Cornelius is a founding member of Melbourne Workers Theatre. She’s a playwright, novelist and film writer. She’s the recipient of the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize and the 2019 Green Room award for Life Achievement ...
Carly Findlay
Carly Findlay OAM is an award-winning writer, speaker and appearance activist. Her first book, a memoir called Say Hello, was released in January 2019. Carly edited the anthology Growing Up Disabled in Australia with Black Inc Books ...
Rachael Maza
Rachael Maza is one of Australia’s most recognisable faces of the Australian film, television and theatre industry with performance credits including the Australian Film Institute (AFI) award-winning Radiance and the stage production of The Sapphires.
A Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) graduate, Rachael’s performances have been acknowledged with a Green Room Award and a Sydney Theatre Critics Circle Award. Rachael has also worked as a presenter for ABC Message Stick and as an acting coach on films such as the multi-award-winning Rabbit Proof Fence.
Rachael’s first taste of directing was Stolen (1992) for ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, however, it wasn’t until 2009 that she rejoined the company as Artistic Director. Since then she has directed Sisters of Gelam (2009), Jack Charles V The Crown (2010), Foley (2011), Beautiful One Day (2012) and Which Way Home (2016).
Rachael currently sits on the board of the Australia Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), the Circus Oz Indigenous Advisory Panel, Australian Opera Indigenous Advisory Panel, Balnaves Indigenous Playwrights Award Panel and the Green Room Awards Theatre Company Panel.
Nevo Zisin
Nevo Zisin (they/them) is a storyteller, esteemed educator on transgender topics, TEDx speaker, poet, workshop facilitator in schools and workplaces, and award-winning author of Finding Nevo, a memoir on gender transition ...