Books & Authors
Whole Town Book Club
Lets get the whole town reading and talking -
This is a new project for Words in Winter Trentham. We have three books, one for each of June (Greg Pyers), July (Jill Rivers) and August (Rashida Murphy). Two are by local authors, and one is by a visiting author. Two are fiction, one is non-fiction. So, join in, read one, or read them all! Register here using the "I'm interested" button on the calendar.
June Author
Our first author is Greg Pyers, a local Daylesford author. The book is "The Unfortunate Victim".
About the Author
As a boy, Greg read the books of Gerald Durrell, and many years later, worked at Durrell's famous Jersey Zoo. Greg became a full-time writer in 1998, going on to write 160 natural history books and three novels for children. He was short listed in the 2005 Children's Book Council Awards in the non-fiction category. He won a 2004 Whitley Award from the Royal Zoological Society of NSW and in The Wilderness Society's 2002 Environment Award For Children's Literature, he won a Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to children's environmental literature. In 2005, Greg won another Wilderness Society Award, this time for non-fiction. The Unfortunate Victim is Greg's first work of adult fiction.
Author Talk - register your interest here
Greg will be at the Trentham library on Saturday August 5th immediately after the Clever Towns Crossword Challenge at 12.00pm. Please let us know if you're coming by using the 'I'm interested" button on the Calendar of events. It helps us plan things like morning tea and helps the author know what to expect...
Based on a true story…
At midnight on 28 December 1864, in the Australian gold-mining town of Daylesford, young newly-wed Maggie Stuart lies dead in her own blood. Rumour and xenophobia drive speculation over the identity of her killer, and when a suspect is apprehended, police incompetence and defence counsel negligence bring yet more distortion to the wheels of justice.
In this climate of prejudice and ineptitude, it seems only Detective Otto Berliner is able to keep an objective mind and recognise that something is terribly wrong. He intends to put matters right, though all the odds are against him.
July Author - Jill Rivers
Local author Jill Rivers is well known in the region for two of her current undertakings, Conversations in Pubs (initiated in 2002) and the Daylesford Macedon Open Studios (initiated 2012), both of which bring the arts and people together in engaging ways. Jill also has forty odd years experience in the arts, beginning as a journalist specialising in the arts (and food and wine), as media director with The Australian Ballet, chair of Ausdance, as writer of film scripts, culturally focussed travel itineries, creating Artspeak at the Victorian Arts Centre, serving on a number of arts related boards and numerous other activities.
Having spent so much of her life dedicated to the arts and to demystifying the world of the arts, Jill has now written a non-fiction book on the health-giving dimension of living an artful life. She offers evidence on the crucial role of the arts in the health and happiness of individuals, cultures and societies, and suggests ways we as individuals might live more artfully.
register your interest here
Jill will speak about her new book at 11.00am on Sunday morning August 20th, Dr B's Bookstore, 40 High Street, Trentham.
She will also speak about her related new project "Art-full Living" and invite everyone to celebrate their own creativity, be proud of their passion and show their flair.
The e-book will be available on 5th July on Amazon, and
hardcopy at Dr B's Bookstore as soon as possible.
Did you know that looking at a painting for 10 minutes or listening to a piece of music can lower your cortisol levels and increase your blood pressure?
August Author - Rashida Murphy
Rashida Murphy’s 2016 novel 'The Historian’s Daughter' deals with family and relationships against a backdrop of immigration, emigration and revolution. It explores what happens to people in difficult and threatening situations and reflects some of Rashida’s own experiences as a teenager in India when displaced people from Iran, Afghanistan and Palestine began to appear in her hometown. It also explores the deep experiences of women and how they react to the secrets, lies and jealousies shaping their lives.
Rashida’s poetry and prose has been widely published and anthologised in Australia and overseas, and The historians Daughter was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize in 2015 and won the 2016 Magdalena Award for Feminist Writing. She has been the CALD writer-in-residence at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in 2017 and is passionate about writing from a non-Eurocentric point of view.
Rashida, a warm and engaging speaker, will discuss her book and her writing life at DR B’s Bookstore on Sunday 20th August 2017 at 1.00pm.
If you haven't read it yet, get your copy at the talk, or bring your copy for Rashida to sign.
Register your interest here to help us with numbers and organisation.
This talk is supported by grant funding from Writers Victoria
and the Grace Marion Wilson Trust.
