Eloise Grills at the Deakin Edge — Photo: Jon Tjhia

Melbourne has always been a city of literature. Our population is bursting with rabid readers and writers. We have the best libraries, the coolest bookshops, the finest festivals and some truly pioneering publishers. Also, Monkey Grip is set here and we are the best at wearing turtlenecks.

So it made perfect sense when, in 2008, Melbourne joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and made it official – becoming a designated City of Literature in recognition of our literary spirit. 

For the tenth anniversary of this designation, we kicked off the celebrations with a gala night of readings and storytelling at Deakin Edge. We heard from ten brilliant writers – both established and emerging – who have made Melbourne home for either a short time or a lifetime. Where, for them, does Melbourne come alive on the page? Which classic stories and scenes of Melbourne are part of our literary DNA, and how are a new generation of writers remaking the city with words?

In order of appearance … hear from Alice Pung, Tony Birch, Jane Rawson, Eloise Grills, Moreno Giovannoni, Jennifer Down, Alexis Wright, Patricia Cornelius, Andy Griffiths and Sumudu Samarawickrama.

This event was presented in partnership with the Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office.

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Romantic love is the subject of squillions of songs, sonnets and stories. Is there a single new thing to say about it? If Shakespeare was growing weary of the cliches back in the 1600s (‘My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun’), where does that leave writers striving to write fresh romance in the 21st century? 

Toni Jordan — Photo: James Penlidis

These are good questions to ask Australia’s star romantic-comedy writer Toni Jordan. Starting with her 2008 debut novel, Addition, and following up with Fall Girl and Nine Days, Jordan has built a reputation for romantic comedies that are smart, sexy, surprising and hilarious. Her fourth novel, Our Tiny, Useless Hearts, is an uproarious farce set in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.

With an acerbic wit and an eagle eye for the absurd, Jordan’s brand of comic writing incorporates incisive social commentary. Join her for a conversation about screwball humour and the enduring popularity of romantic comedy, hosted by Hilary Harper.

Books and Ideas at Montalto series sound design and music: Jon Tjhia.

Malcolm Knox is a writer of remarkable range.

In his non-fiction, he’s investigated the history of mining in Australia, the jury system, the ice epidemic, Australia’s supermarket duopoly and Greg Chappell. As a novelist, his award-winning books have explored surfing, celebrity, mental illness and male friendship. He is a Walkley award-winning journalist who has served as both literary editor and chief cricket correspondent at different stages of his career at the Sydney Morning Herald.

His latest book is another work of fiction. The Wonder Lover, the story of John Wonder, a man with three secret families, is as audacious as it is original and as joyful as it is accomplished.

In conversation with Christos Tsiolkas, Knox talks about his many and varied fascinations from surfing to supermarket giants to secret lives – before the pair consider the question of writing as work.

Malcolm Knox

Books and Ideas at Montalto series sound design and music: Jon Tjhia.

Family, literature, Papua New Guinea and the complicated lives of creative women –  these are the themes to which Drusilla Modjeska has repeatedly returned in her impressive body of work. As a memoirist, essayist, novelist (and master of combining and confounding literary forms), Modjeska is among Australia’s most celebrated writers.

Most recently, she has added a memoir, Second Half First, to an already substantial list of literary accomplishments, including Exiles at Home, Poppy, Stravinsky’s Lunch and The Mountain. That book reflects on the books, people and journeys that have most profoundly affected her in the second part of her life.

At Montalto, Modjeska discusses travel, reading and the intersection of life and work with Andrea Goldsmith.

Books and Ideas at Montalto series sound design and music: Jon Tjhia.

‘A political career is not a bad training ground for writing fiction,’ Lindsay Tanner has said. 

Since leaving the chamber in 2010, the former federal politician has devoted much of his time to the printed page – though it’s only recently that fiction has become his focus. His first book, Sideshow, critiqued the Australian media environment, arguing that spin doctors and tightening news cycles were ‘dumbing down democracy’. 

With his debut novel, Comfort Zone, Tanner is again engaging with a hot topic in Australian political discourse, multiculturalism, however he tackles the theme from a markedly different perspective. His story’s protagonist is not a former finance minister, but a pot-bellied cabbie who finds himself drawn into a vortex of drug-dealing and criminal violence.

Tanner is not your average ex-politician and certainly not your average author. Join him for a unique discussion on writing, life after politics … and the job of lying for a living. In conversation with Emily Sexton.

Books and Ideas at Montalto series sound design and music: Jon Tjhia.