September Author Talks

City of Parramatta Libraries have once again teamed up with Public Libraries NSW to offer our communities the chance to attend FREE online author talks over the coming months. 
There are two author talks for the month of September that you can attend from the comfort of home – Tom Keneally and Matt Murphy.

Tom Keneally Presents ‘Corporal Hitler’s Pistol’
Thursday 9 September, 12.30pm

Tom Keneally will be in conversation with Christine Dearness from Willoughby City Libraries discussing his compelling new story set in early twentieth-century Australia.
How did Corporal Hitler’s Luger from the First World War end up being the weapon that killed an IRA turncoat in Kempsey, New South Wales, in 1933?
Corporal Hitler’s Pistol speaks to the never-ending war that began with ‘the war to end all wars’. Rural communities have always been a melting pot and many are happy to accept a diverse bunch … as long as they don’t overstep.
To register book online – parra.city/keneally21

Matt Murphy Presents ‘Rum: a distilled history of Colonial Australia’
Wednesday 15 September, 6.30pm

Matt Murphy will be in conversation with Eric Dodson from Lane Cove Library taking us through his account of the formation of Australia through the distorted view of a rum bottle.
He will cover questions like Would the Eureka Stockade have been different if the rebels weren’t pissed? And how were prisoners able to get drunk if Macquarie closed the only pub in the goal?..
To register book online – parra.city/murphy21

August Author Talks

City of Parramatta Libraries have once again teamed up with Public Libraries NSW to offer our communities the chance to attend FREE online author talks over the coming months. Each ‘in conversation’ style talk will be with a range of best-selling authors and a librarian from the hosting library.
There are two author talks for the month of August that you can attend from the comfort of home – Kyle Perry and Larissa Behrendt.

Kyle Perry Presents The Deep
Thursday 5 August 6.30pm

Kyle Perry will be in conversation with Catherine du Peloux Menage from Bad Sydney Crime Writers’ Festival speaking about his new book, The Deep.
From the bestselling breakout author of The Bluffs comes a heart-stopping new thriller set on the rugged coast of Tasmania about modern-day pirates, family bonds and betrayals, and the hidden dangers that lurk in the deep…
To register book online – parra.city/perry21

Larissa Behrendt Presents After Story
Thursday 19 August 6.30pm

Larissa Behrendt will be in conversation with Kiesha Mealey-Haroa from City of Parramatta Libraries, discussing her moving new novel, After Story.
When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother Della on a tour of England’s most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together and help them reconcile the past. Ambitious and engrossing, After Story celebrates the extraordinary power of words and the quiet spaces between.
To register book online – parra.city/behrendt21

Radicals: Remembering the Sixties

Are you tired of watching online author talks by yourself? Want to meet with other book lovers and reminisce about the 1960’s?  We invite you to either watch at home or get your ‘groove on’ at our watch at the library event on Thursday 13 May at 1pm.

Join us at Parramatta Library at our Sixties gathering to watch the talk on our big screen. Enjoy our 60s themed décor and free light lunch inspired by the period. Did you know that the 1960’s saw the invention of Splice (1962), Tim Tams (1964) and the release of the first Margaret Fullton Cookbook (1968)?

Meredith Burgmann and Nadia Wheatley will be in conversation via Zoom with Melinda McNaughton from Wollondilly Library Service discussing Radicals: Remembering the Sixties with the support of NSW Public Libraries Association.

Register to attend our 60s themed ‘watch at the library’ event by calling Parramatta Library on 9806 5159 during opening hours. Each attendee for the on-site event will go into the draw for a chance to win a copy of the book in our lucky door prize. Get an extra entry into the draw by dressing up in Sixties themed clothing or accessories. Social distancing and covid19-safe restrictions will apply.

Unable to get to Parramatta Library but want to watch the talk?
To attend the event online via Zoom as an audience member – book here

The Sixties – an era of protest, free love, civil disobedience, duffel coats, flower power, giant afros and desert boots, all recorded on grainy black and white film footage – marked a turning point for change. Radicals found their voices and used them.  While the initial trigger for protest was opposition to the Vietnam War, this anger quickly escalated to include Aboriginal Land Rights, Women’s Liberation, Gay Liberation, Apartheid, Student Power and ‘workers’ control’. 

In Radicals some of the people doing the changing – including David Marr, Margret Road Knight, Gary Foley, Jozefa Sobski and Geoffrey Robertson – reflect on how the decade changed them and Australian society forever.