Skip to content

The Wheeler Centre Gala 2018: Words on Fire

When

Event Status

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). ... Read more

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 ... Read more

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 th... Read more

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... Read more

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 arou... Read more

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, a Wheeler Centre podcast about Australians’ lives in the fog of ... Read more

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. She’s been awarded the Victorian, NSW and Queensland PremiersR... Read more

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. It’s in stores now. She writes on disability and appearance... Read more

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 ... Read more

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 and The Pronoun Lowdown a useful guidebook on all things related to pronouns. ... Read more

Location

Athenaeum Theatre

188 Collins Street Melbourne Victoria 3000

More details

Stay up to date with our upcoming events and special announcements by subscribing to The Wheeler Centre's mailing list.

Privacy Policy

The Wheeler Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Centre stands. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their Elders, past and present, as the custodians of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.