News & Events

Newtown Review of Books One Year Anniversary

Happy first birthday to the Newtown Review of Books! BRTD is proud to partner this free online book review which has just celebrated its first twelve months.  Edited by Jean Bedford (author of eight novels including Sister Kate and former Literary Editor of the National Times) and Linda Funnell (book editor and former publisher for HarperCollins and Random House) the Newtown Review of Books carries reviews of fiction, memoir, true crime and biography – plus crime-writing legend Peter Corris’s regular weekly ‘Godfather’ column.

Visit the NRB site at newtownreviewofbooks.com and check out their reviews of some of our favourite books, including: Margo Lanagan’s Stella Prize-shortlisted Sea Hearts; Jo Case’s new memoir of motherhood and Asperger’s Boomer & Me; Robin Hobb’s Blood of Dragons; Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life and Michael Duffy’s Call Me Cruel.

Better Read Than Dead Talking Heads Presents: Kate Forsyth

On the last Tuesday of every month Better Read Than Dead, in conjunction with the Newtown Library hosts a conversation with an author as part of our Talking Heads Series. This May, please join us as author Kate Forsyth discusses her latest novel; Wild Girl, the next in her romantic fairytale series following thecaptivating Bitter Greens.

Kate Forsyth is the internationally bestselling and multi-award winning author of over twenty books. Join her at the Library as she talks about her most recent novel Wild Girl, the story of Dortchen Wild, neighbour, childhood friend and lover of Wilhelm Grimm. Against her abusive father’s wishes, Dortchen became close friends with the poverty-stricken Grimm Family and shared with them many stories that would go on to be some of their most popular fairy tales.

Please RSVP via the Library.

Email: library@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

Phone: 8512 4250

Sally Rippin @ Better Read Than Dead

Creativity Workshop & Book Discussion with Anthony Meindl

Come along to Better Read Than Dead to participate in a Creativity Workshop and Book Discussion with Anthony Meindl. Anthony) is an American Yoga Instructor, stage and film actor, and is the founder and artistic director of the MetaTheatre Company and the Director's Workshop in Los Angeles, California. Join Anthony to break the myths surrounding acting and become the artists and actor you have always wanted to be.

To participate in the event you must purchase a copy of Anthony's book; At Left Brain Turn Right, on the night of the event. All attendess will also go in the running to win a one on one creative consultation with Anthony.

RSVP EMAIL:eric@anthonymeindl.com

2nd Wednesday Bookgroup: June 2013 - Sarah Thornhill

Come and join the 2nd Wednesday Bookgroup as they discuss Sarah Thronhill; sequel to the beloved Australian novel The Secret River. The novel follows the eponymous Sarah Thornhill a third generation Australian settler, as she faces not only the consequences of family secrets but also the fractured relationship between white and indigenous Australia. 

Kate Grenville is one of Australia's best-known authors. She's published  eight books of fiction and four books about the writing process. Her best-known works are the international best-seller The Secret River,  The Idea of Perfection, The Lieutenant and Lilian's Story. Her novels have won many awards both in Australia and the UK, several have been made into major feature films, and all have been translated into European and Asian languages. 

The 2nd Wednesday Bookgroup meet every second Wednesday of the month, upstairs at Better Read Than Dead. You are more than welcome to come along provided you have read the novel before the night.  For any other enquiries please contact Thomas at Better Read Than Dead.

Murakami's Music presented by Strathfield Symphony Orchestra

Murakami uses music as an integral part of his novels. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle starts with the overture to The Thieving Magpie by Rossini, setting the tone, if not the pace, for the entire book. The orchestra next undertakes Janacek's Sinfonietta which appears all the way through IQ84, a theme or leitmotiv to weave around his parallel worlds. Rarely heard live because of its massive brass requirements - no less than 4 horns, 12 trumpets, 2 bass trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba and 2 tenor tubas - this is a challenge that could not be resisted by the Strathfield Symphony. And finally in Norwegian Wood, the novel that launched him to fame in Japan, Murakami references Brahms' monumental Fourth Symphony. This magnificent piece brings the concert to an end.

Book early as seating is limited.

2nd Wednesday Bookgroup: July 2013 - Consider the Lobster

This July the 2nd Wednesday Bookgroup will be stepping away from fiction for July and will be discussing the incomperable David Foster Wallace's "Consider the Lobster". 

Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures. Whether covering the three-ring circus of a vicious presidential race, plunging into the wars between dictionary writers, or confronting the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the annual Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace projects a quality of thought that is uniquely his and a voice as powerful and distinct as any in American letters.

 David Foster Wallace was an award-winning American novelst, essayist and short story writer, and professor. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel The Infinite Jest, which was name one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005 by Time magazine.

Introduction to Memoir with Patti Miller @ Better Read Than Dead

Patti Miller is the author of six books: Writing Your Life and The Memoir Book, (both best-selling writing texts) Child, (a novel), The Last One Who Remembers, (memoir), Whatever The Gods Do (memoir) and the latest, critically acclaimed The Mind of a Thief (narrative nonfiction) . She also writes for national newspapers and magazines, is a writing mentor, and teaches memoir workshops around Australia and in Bali and Paris. Many of the people she has worked with have now been published. For more info, see Patti's website: http://www.lifestories.com.au/ or Life Stories FaceBook page: http://www.facebook.com/LifeStoriesWorkshop?ref=h

Writing in Bali with Patti Miller

Come with writer Patti Miller to the highland town of Ubud, the artistic centre of Bali, for a unique writing enrichment course. Whether you are writing from actual or imaginary life – memoir, autobiography, short stories or novels – The Art and Craft of Writing will show you how to create the colour, texture and weave of lived experience on the page.

Each morning for five days, from 10am to 1pm, the workshops will offer readings, discussions and writing exercises designed to re-awaken the senses and heighten observation, to explore the rich symbolic world of sensory images. You’ll learn how to use the senses to convey – or create – scene, characters and texture. You’ll also discover how sensual writing can be used to further narrative and even to convey ideas.

If you want to move from more factual styles of writing – academic, journalistic, technical or report writing – or simply feel your writing needs revitalising, then this workshop will help you make the leap into the rich textured world of powerful writing. This workshop is for both memoir and fiction writers and, whether you feel you are a beginner or more experienced, it will extend your creativity and enrich your writing.

Patti Miller is a highly experienced writer of both memoir and fiction, and a writing teacher. She is the author of the best-selling Writing Your Life, The Last One Who Remembers, Child, Whatever The Gods Do, The Memoir Book and The Mind of a Thief.

She has taught writing at university and writers’ centres for over 20 years and has taken a number of writing workshops in Paris, Bali and Fiji. Her inspiring approach to writing is both passionate and attentive to the art and craft of writing. For a list of publications and further information on her work see her website: www.lifestories.com.au.