An extraordinary lineup of storytellers is set to inspire and captivate secondary school students in a dynamic day of learning at State Library Victoria.

Over the course of four engaging sessions, students will hear from YA author Robyn Dennison, poet Solli Raphael, Yuin author Gary Lonesborough, and New York Times-bestselling author Neal Shusterman (USA).

The Secondary Schools Day runs from 10am-2pm. Tickets purchased grant entrance to the full day (all four author sessions). Between sessions, students can meet the authors, have their books signed and browse a selection of titles available for purchase (card only) at a Readings pop-up bookstore.

Relationships, sexuality and consent are tough to navigate in real life. How do fiction writers do justice to their complexity on the page?  

YA author Robyn Dennison explores these themes with warmth and empathy in her debut novel Blind Spot, which was named a 2024 CBCA Notable Book for Older Readers and shortlisted for the Readings Young Adult Prize and the Text Prize. In this honest session, Robyn shares how she approaches writing relationships and queerness, her journey to publication, and tips for writing authentic stories. Students will also have the chance to ask their own questions in an interactive Ask Me Anything session. 

Robyn Dennison will be in conversation with Karys McEwen. 

Come along to Brighton Library to share an afternoon tea and hear about Judith Brett's latest book Fearless Beatrice Faust, as part of the Australian Heritage Festival. This year's theme is Unearthed – revealing the past, bringing to light lesser-known histories and stories, and unearthing knowledge to empower younger generations as custodians of culture and tradition.

Writing to the Edge of Reality, Session 1

This workshop with novelist and Iowa Writers Workshop graduate Raeden Richardson (The Degenerates) will explore the work of writers who constantly defy easy categorisation, like Elizabeth Tan, Peter Carey, Salman Rushdie, Donald Barthelme and Kij Johnson.

So often, fiction tells us more about ourselves than any newspaper or documentary. The surreal, the speculative and the weird highlight qualities of life that we can’t find in conventional realism – if such a thing really exists! But what makes a clear yet compelling mirror to life?

In this workshop, you’ll examine fiction’s uncanny ability to defamiliarise, turning ordinary streets and locations into the sites of strangeness and revelation. Drawing on visual art, you’ll develop a new vocabulary for writing the edge of reality, viewing, interpreting and discussing the paintings of international artists.

Writing to the Edge of Reality, Session 2

This workshop with novelist and Iowa Writers Workshop graduate Raeden Richardson (The Degenerates) will explore the work of writers who constantly defy easy categorisation, like Elizabeth Tan, Peter Carey, Salman Rushdie, Donald Barthelme and Kij Johnson.

So often, fiction tells us more about ourselves than any newspaper or documentary. The surreal, the speculative and the weird highlight qualities of life that we can’t find in conventional realism – if such a thing really exists! But what makes a clear yet compelling mirror to life?

In this workshop, you’ll examine fiction’s uncanny ability to defamiliarise, turning ordinary streets and locations into the sites of strangeness and revelation. Drawing on visual art, you’ll develop a new vocabulary for writing the edge of reality, viewing, interpreting and discussing the paintings of international artists.

Culture Vultures, Griffith Review

In modern life, there’s no escaping the onslaught of content or the algorithms that drive it. As we stream, tap and swipe our way through endless entertainment feeds, how can we define our own taste or tell our own stories? Have we reached the end of meaningful culture? And what place does criticism occupy in this ever-shifting landscape?

Join Griffith Review contributors Esther Anatolitis, Darby Jones and Raeden Richardson as they consider the creative self, digital versus real world artistic spaces, the hyperreality of the information age and making art in the age of algorithms, with host Carody Culver.

Are the voices of ordinary people fully present in Australian media, politics and halls of power? Political historian Judith Brett, advocate and author Thomas Mayo and former independent MP Cathy McGowan explore civic responsibility, political engagement and public identity in the wake of the federal election. With host Sally Warhaft.  

Award-winning biographer Judith Brett will be in conversation with Virginia Haussegger on her new book Fearless Beatrice Faust: Sex, Feminism and Body Politics

Judith Brett AM is a political historian and biographer and emeritus professor of politics at La Trobe University. Her books include Robert Menzies’ Forgotten People: Australian Liberals and the Moral Middle Class, The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, which won the 2018 National Biography Award, and was shortlisted in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, NSW Premier’s History Awards and Queensland Literary Awards and From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. 

Virginia Haussegger AM is an award winning journalist, broadcaster & former ABC News anchor in Canberra. Virginia is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra and Deputy Chair of the media think-tank PIJI, the Public Interest Journalism Initiative. In 2019, Virginia was named ACT Australian of The Year, in recognition of her community leadership and women’s rights advocacy. Virginia’s book, Genderquake: is our feminist future written in the past?, will be published in October.

The vote of thanks will be given by Frank Bongiorno AM, Professor of History ANU and President of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

Books are available for signing from 5.30pm and again after the event.

Student Session

Some consider short fiction more challenging to write than a novel. Certainly, it requires great discipline and precision with language. Whilst existing as its own artform, short fiction can also serve as a training ground for writers before embarking on long-form adventures.

To examine the artform in more detail, we are joined by Associate Professor Debra Adelaide, who teaches creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney, and Melanie Cheng, the esteemed author of the short story collection Australia Day.

In Your Favourites’ Favourites, our most-loved writers introduce one of their favourite authors.

Multi-talented writer, presenter and Festival favourite Benjamin Law introduces Melanie Cheng and her second novel, The Burrow. 

Set in locked down inner-city Melbourne, the novel tells the story of Amy and her family, who huddle together in a fugue state of trauma and loss when two arrivals spark change: Amy’s mother and a pet rabbit for daughter Lucie. Under Melanie’s artful and tender touch, they linger on the precipice of further tragedy. 

Join Melanie and Benjamin as they talk about the tension between grief and hope. 

Bookings are essential.

SLNSW Book Club

Library Friends are invited to gather in the Library’s historic Friends Room to listen, chat and share ideas about great books

The Burrow tells an unforgettable story about grief and hope. With her characteristic compassion and eye for detail, Melanie Cheng reveals the lives of others—even of a small rabbit. We are thrilled that Melanie Cheng will be joining us at this book club event.

Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner. She was born in Adelaide, grew up in Hong Kong and now lives in Melbourne. Her debut collection of short stories, Australia Day, won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2016 and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction in 2018. Room for a Stranger, her highly acclaimed first novel, was published in 2019.

Our bimonthly meetings held in the historic Friends Room will be intimate enough to allow for discussion, so places are limited and bookings essential. Ahead of each meeting, you’ll receive some short notes in preparation for an enjoyable and stimulating discussion. Some participants may want to keep the conversation going afterwards at the Library Bar.

Cost: $30 (includes a glass of wine).