Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 10 December
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Location
wheelercentre.com
This year, 2020, marks the Wheeler Centre’s tenth birthday. It hasn’t turned out exactly how we planned, but many events and milestones have taken unusual shapes and forms this year.
Few of us could have predicted the events of this painful, bizarre, confusing and at times, strangely exhilarating year. But why should that stop us from dreaming about the future, imagining how we might rebuild things, and planning better days – or at least a new-new normal?
In our closing event of the year, we're bringing together brilliant speakers to reflect on these momentous times, and to share their hopes for what might lie ahead. What have we learned about ourselves and our communities from living through the changes of 2020? What do we want to leave behind? What new insights and resolutions – hazy or crystal clear – will propel us into 2021 and beyond?
At this very special digital event, Trent Dalton and Bruce Pascoe will share speculations and imaginings for the future; then they’ll appear in conversation with Wheeler Centre CEO Caro Llewellyn. With a Welcome to Country from N'arweet Carolyn Briggs, and poetic performances from Paul Kelly and Jazz Money. Crack open the champagne with us (or not) as we blow out our birthday candles, farewell 2020 and cheer for the arrival of 2021.
This is the final event in the Wheeler Centre’s tenth birthday year; a year where things haven’t turned out exactly as expected. It's been a difficult time in the literary sector, but we're proud of the smart and engaging digital events we’ve presented and of the work opportunities for writers we’ve created throughout this time.
We hope you’ll consider supporting us, and the exciting programme we have planned for 2021, with your ticket purchase or by adding a tax-deductible in-cart donation with your booking.
Featuring
Caro Llewellyn
Caro Llewellyn is CEO of the Wheeler Centre and the author of four works of non-fiction including the 2020 Stella Prize shortlisted memoir, Diving into Glass, which is about her father’s polio and her own MS diagnosis. She’s also the former artistic director of several large-scale literary festivals, including Sydney Writers’ Festival, the PEN World Voices Festival chaired by Salman Rushdie in New York, the New Literature from Europe Festival also in New York, and the Paris-based Festival des Écrivains du Monde for Columbia University. She is on the Board of the Summer Foundation and is Chair of the Suburban Review.
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N'arweet Carolyn Briggs
N'arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM is a Boon Wurrung senior elder and is the chairperson and founder of the Boon Wurrung Foundation. A descendant of the First Peoples of Melbourne, the Yaluk-ut Weelam clan of the Boon Wurrung, she is the great-granddaughter of Louisa Briggs, a Boon Wurrung woman born near Melbourne in the 1830s.
Carolyn has been involved in developing and supporting opportunities for Indigenous youth and Boon Wurrung culture for over 40 years. In 2005, she established the Boon Wurrung Foundation, which has been responsible for significant work in cultural research, including restoration of the Boon Wurrung language. The Foundation also helps connect Aboriginal youth to their heritage.
Carolyn has worked across numerous communities for over 40 years and is currently completing her Doctorate in Philosophy researching assisting urban indigenous youth to understand indigenous knowledge.
Her cultural knowledge and experience has been recognised by communities throughout Australia. These achievements have been recognised by:
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Being Awarded the National Aboriginal Elder of the Year in 2011 by the National NAIDOC Committee;
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Being inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2005;
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Being entered into the 2012 and 2013 'Who’s Who Australia';
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Being appointed an Elders in Residence at RMIT University 2017;
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Being inducted into the 2017 Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll;
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Receiving the Member of the Order (AM) of Australia for significant service to the Indigenous community 2019;
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Elected member of inaugural First People’s Assembly of Victoria 2019.
She is the author of Journey Cycles of the Boon Wurrung: Stories with Boonwurrung Language, Bundjil Creation Story and Barraeemal Story.
Trent Dalton
Trent Dalton is the international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe – which broke records to become the fastest selling Australian debut novel ever – All Our Shimmering Skies and Love Stories. His books have sold over 1.2 million copies in Australia alone. Boy Swallows Universe has been adapted to a smash-hit theatrical production by Queensland Theatre Company and will shortly be seen as a major Netflix series.
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Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly was born in Adelaide, one of nine children, in 1955. He wrote his first song in 1976 and has been making records since 1978, over thirty to date. He has collaborated with many other songwriters and written music for film and theatre. His prose has appeared in Meanjin, The Monthly, Rolling Stone and the Age, and in 2010 he published a ‘mongrel memoir’, How to Make Gravy. Love is Strong as Death: Poems chosen by Paul Kelly was published in 2019. His most recent albums are 2019’s Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds and 2020's Please Leave Your Light On, with Paul Grabowsky.
Bruce Pascoe
Bruce Pascoe is a Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man born in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. He’s the author of the best-selling Dark Emu, Young Dark Emu: A Truer History, Loving Country: A Guide to Sacred Australia ...
Jazz Money
Jazz Money is a Wiradjuri poet and artist whose practice is centred around poetics to produce works that encompass installation, performance, film and print. Their writing has been widely published nationally and internationally ...