Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 11 November
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Our first ever event was a Debut Monday. Three years on, it’s still going strong, introducing new Australian talent each month.
Whether it’s meeting Australia’s latest wunderkind or hearing an unknown quantity strike a bold new path, Debut Mondays is your chance to discover your next favourite author.
You’ll meet a selection of new voices – from Victoria and beyond – including a special guest in each session from Voiceworks magazine.
Pop down to the MOAT, our resident bar and cafe, to grab a drink or a meal – and be nourished and entertained by the pick of our latest storytelling crop.
This month’s guests will include Michele Lee, Margaret Merrilees, Kyle Kohinga and Diana Greentree.
Featuring
Kyle Kohinga
Kyle Kohinga is a writer and student from Melbourne. His poetry has been published in a few journals, including Voiceworks. He is on the cusp of finishing his undergrad degree.
Diana Greentree
Diana began her working life in theatre, first as a classical dancer then later as an actress in theatre, film, radio and television. Her latest book is The Camros Bird, published by Horizon.
Her passion to write began at an early age with poetry and stories published in school magazines, and later her political ditties were featured in the Age.
Her screenplay, The Paper Bride, was funded by Film Victoria for a live reading at Cinema Nova. Her short film scripts, Take 2, have been published for schoolchildren.
Diana has travelled around the world and recently, long stays in Bali enabled her to work as Playreading Coordinator with the Ubud Writers Festival. She was honoured to have Benjamin Law launch The Camros Bird at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, followed by a launch with Julian Burnside at the Ubud Festival. The Camros Bird encompasses stories she learnt as a visitor to immigration detention centres, and with Actors for Refugees.
Margaret Merrilees
Margaret Merrilees’ debut novel The First Week was published in 2013 after winning the Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award at Adelaide Writers’ Week. The book was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award and for a NSW Premier’s Literary Award.
In 2014, Wakefield Press published Fables Queer & Familiar (illustrated by Chia Moan). The Fables have also been broadcast as a weekly radio serial.
Mag's short work has appeared in Meanjin, Island, Griffith Review and others. In March 2015, she represented Flinders University at a Melbourne symposium showcasing some of the best practice-led PhD projects from a decade of creative arts programs in Australia and New Zealand.
Michele Lee
Michele Lee is an Asian-Australian playwright and theatre-maker working across stage, audio and live art.
Her work is largely narrative-focused, in comedy and drama and explores stories of women, otherness and found families. She has been commissioned by Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company (STC), Malthouse Theatre, Arts House, Next Wave Festival, Darwin Festival, Platform Youth Theatre and St Martins Youth Arts Centre. Current works and works-in-development include Single Ladies (Red Stitch) and Security. Previous works include An assistant's notes for a pandemic (Arts House Refuge project, Hypothetical) Going Down (Malthouse, STC), Rice (Queensland Theatre, Griffin Theatre), Off Centre (STC), The Naked Self (Arts House, FOLA) and Talon Salon (Next Wave Festival, You Are Here, Darwin Festival). Rice won the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, an Australian Writers’ Guild award and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award, Nick Enright Prize. Her memoir, Banana Girl, is published by Transit Lounge.