1. No category

TONY BIRCH
JOHN BIRMINGHAM
MEREDITH BURGMANN
DOMENICO CACCIOLA
ANNA CAMPBELL
KRISTY CHAMBERS
NICHOLAS CLEMENTS
MATTHEW CONDON
TOBY CRESWELL
GEOFFREY DATSON
ROBIN DE CRESPIGNY
WILL ELLIOT
ANNAH FAULKNER
CLEMENTINE FORD
ZANE HACKER
ASHLEY HAY
DOUG HENDRIE
DAVID LESER
MELISSA LUCASHENKO
KEELEN MAILMAN
LIN MARTIN
JANE McADAM
MAXINE McKEW
ANDREW McMILLEN
KATIE NOONAN
CAROLINE OVERINGTON
ALEXANDRA PAYNE
HENRY REYNOLDS
MATTHEW RICKETSON
MANDY SAYER
INGA SIMPSON
LINDSAY SIMPSON
ANDREW STAFFORD
MARK TREDINNICK
MEG VANN
23-26
OCT
2014
NOOSA
HINTERLAND
IREALITYBITES
PROGRAM
2014
www.realitybitesfestival.org
PROGRAM
2014
A message from the Director
It’s been a year of changes for Reality Bites Festival – the most
obvious being our change of dates and location. Having enjoyed
great support in Eumundi – from the Eumundi Green magazine
and the Eumundi Historical Association, which has sponsored
our festival launch since the event began – the time seemed
right to spread the word out to the wider Hinterland. While our
workshop program and community events will remain at the
Cooroy Library, our home for the last two years, hosting the main
program in Eumundi allows us to kick off events Friday afternoon, and continue right through Saturday and Sunday with two
streams of panels, conversations and close-up sessions.
For a nonfiction writers’ festival, ‘Reality Bites’ is a fitting name,
and has held us in good stead for seven years now. When planning the program for 2014, our name got me thinking about the
term ‘reality’ and, more particularly, what we mean by ‘real’. Real
is considered synonymous with truth. We understand real to be
what is actual, rather than imaginary. For a literary festival that
specialises in showcasing Australia’s best nonfiction, concepts
of what are actual, real and the truth, are the touchstones of our
existence. That might suggest we are in the business of disseminating cold, hard facts, but the truth is, that’s rarely the case.
What is real, or even what seems real, may be true only so far
we, as individuals, communities and societies, perceive and feel
things to be real – whether that be love, loss, deviancy, injustice,
the workings of our own mind (as with mental illness), or our
shared past.This idea of real is the thematic thread that underpins this year’s program.
So often the prerogative of fiction, real love, for example, holds
a prominent place in this year’s program. As well as launching
Australian Love Stories – a new anthology of short stories and
memoir – we’ll be discussing the use and abuse of the ‘L’ word in
fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in ‘Words of Love’. With proceeds
THURSDAY 23
going to the Morcombe foundation, both real love and real
crime will be in focus, as author Lindsay
Simpson talks about the process of
co-writing Looking for Daniel with
Bruce and Denise Morcombe, and
their 10 year quest to find out what
happened to their son. Real crime
and real dirt turns on the agents
of the law enforcement themselves
with ‘Watching the Detectives’ −
our police diaries conversation in two
parts, while ‘Dirty Secrets’ looks into the
ASIO files of well-known Australian activists.
For the ‘big issues’ this year we’re talking about women in politics, or the lack of, in ‘Dis-man-tling the Joint’, and the competing realities of compassion and the law in ‘Seeking Refuge’. In
a special 90-minute session, ‘Forgotten War’, Outspoken’s
Steven Lang will discuss the ‘white washing’ of Australia’s real
history about the frontier wars with historian Henry Reynolds,
and academics Nicholas Clements and Tony Birch. For our
Saturday morning-tea event, Maxine McKew will talk about
inequality in our education system, and real solutions to remedy
the problem. These are but a sampling of the conversations
I hope will generate real discussion, real ideas, and perhaps
even, one day, real change.
Ultimately, as readers and writers we have the power to create
our own realities, and I hope you find something to inform yours
at Reality Bites ’14.
Enjoy!
Melanie Myers
WORKSHOPS COOROY LIBRARY
2014
SATURDAY 25
FRIDAY 23
1. Researching History
THURS 23, 9 – 12pm
Historical fiction is big business! Join
award-winning Sunshine Coast author
Anna Campbell as she explains how
to transform history into page-turning
fiction. Learn what resources to seek
out and which details make your fiction
come alive, and transform history into
a compelling story. Please bring writing
materials.
3. Nature Writing
FRI 24, 9 – 12pm
This workshop with Inga Simpson is ideal
for fiction and nonfiction writers with a
passion for the natural world, as well
as professional writers in environmental
fields. You’ll focus on techniques for
bringing landscapes, flora and fauna to
life for your audience, including: evocative description, effective use of emotion,
and the importance of story.
8. Pitching Clinic
SAT 25, 9 – 10:30am
Watch prospective authors pitch their
TRUE stories to our panel of industry
experts: Annette Hughes, Matthew Ricketson and Alexandra Payne.
2. The Little Red Writing Workshop
THURS 24, 1 – 4pm
Mark Tredinnick is a much-loved poet,
and patron of our True Story Award for
young writers. The Little Red Writing
Workshop is a short course in grace,
based on Mark’s The Little Red Writing Book, for everyone who writes and
wants to do it better.
4. The Agile Writer
FRI 24, 1 – 2:30pm
QWC’s Meg Vann opresents this skills
development seminar. Whether writing
true crime or historical fiction, looking
for readers, publishers, markets or
networks, the more advanced your
research the better your results will be.
This session will teach you how to think
strategically and to effectively link into
the peer and professional networks.
5. Telling True Stories
SAT 25, 1 – 4pm
Matthew Ricketson is the author of
Telling True Stories and a specialist in
narrative nonfiction. For writers of narrative nonfiction, there are a number of
interesting challenges at various points
throughout the journey. This workshop
explores those potential hazards, and
address how to resolve them.
$100/$85
$100/$85
$100/$85
$70/$60
NB – If you wish to pitch to the panel,
please email your synopsis to pitch @
realiybitesfestival.org
FREE Booking Essential
$100/$85
www.realitybitesfestival.org
1
PROGRAM
2014
VARIOUS VENUES
Thursday & Friday October 23, 24
GREEN ROOM
Friday October 24
BERKELOUW BOOKS EVENTS
9. Love Child
Check website for details. http://www.berkelouw.com.au/events/
‘Renowned for his determination to discover the truth in his
subjects’, David Leser gets to the very heart of tenderness in his
moving memoir To Begin to Know: Walking in the Shadows of
My Father, about the love of a father.
Berkelouw Books - Memorial Drive, Eumundi
Early Bird Breakfast
THURS 23, 7:30am
AV Presentation by Raoul Slater of the new book Glimpses of Australian Birds
Ticketed event includes buffet breakfast supplied by Berkelouw Cafe.
FREE event
Croissants provided, buy your own beverages from Berkelouw Cafe.
FRI 24, 12 – 1pm
$20/$15
10. A Cook’s Tour
FRI 24, 1:30 – 2:30pm
Berkelouw Books Open Bookclub
THURS 23, 6 – 8:30pm
Join Eumundi Book Club for its discussion of Thomas Picketty’s,
Capitalism in the 21st Century. Check website for details.
http://www.berkelouw.com.au/events/
FREE
(Bookclub attendees can attend Reality Bites session #24,
AmalgaNations for free. Please register with Amanda at Berkeleow’s.)
Zane Hacker pitched his incredible story at our very first pitching
clinic and it is now in print. Follow his journey through snow, ice and
self-publishing. Antarctic Sundays is a book of adventure, food and
photography in a place that can only be described as remarkable.
$20/$15
11. Real Deals
Bali Heaven and Hell
FRI 24 Oct, TIME TO BE CONFIRMED
Berkelouw Books, Eumundi
Phill Jarratt talks about his new book.
FREE
Beyond Fossil Fuels: Alternatives for a
Clean Energy Future
THURS 23, 6:30 – 7:30pm
School of Arts Hall
Ian Lowe, Drew Hutton discuss with Tasmin Kerr the single most
important issue of our time.
Tickets at door $5/$2
6. SCBWN Literary Lunch with Maxine McKew
FRI 24, 3 – 4pm
You wrote a book, you entered it for an award and it won. What
happens next? Will Elliot, Annah Faulkner and Inga Simpson talk
with festival director Melanie Myers about getting long and shortlisted, winning coveted prizes, getting published, and what happens after
the hullabaloo.
$20/$15
12. Words of Love
FRI 24, 4:30 – 5:30pm
‘A madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet,’
wrote Shakespeare of love. Love – romantic, obsessive, erotic,
sensual and enduring – has been fuel for writers of plays, poetry and
prose since time immemorial. Tony Birch discusses with Anna
Campbell and Mandy Sayer the use and abuse of the ‘L’ word, and
the words we use to write about love.
$20/$15
FRI 24, 12-2pm
Noosa Springs, Noosa Heads.
Presentation of The Hoopla Young Women’s Essay Award and a
Key Note Speech by Maxine McKew about her new book,
Class Act. Sponsoered by the Sunshine Coast Business Women’s
Network. Separately Ticketed Check wwebsite for details.
Katie Noonan’s Song Book
FRI 24, 6 – 8:30pm
School of Arts
Local song-siren Katie Noonan hosts and performs with special
guests in this annual community fundraiser. Profits go to Eumundi
State School and School of Arts Hall.
Separately Ticketed Check website for details:
13. Book Launch: Australian Love Stories & Elegies of
Resistance + Speakeasy Poetry Reading
FRI 24, 6 – 8pm
Join us for a drink and the launch of two new works by independent
publishers. Author of The Railway Man’s Wife, Ashley Hay, and
contributor Tony Birch will launch Inkerman & Blunt’s new anthology
Australian Love Stories, and editor Geoffrey Datson will launch
Christopher Barnett’s elegies/ of resistance.
Then stay for our ‘Speakeasy’ poetry reading convened by Ashely Hay.
FREE
SAVE AND BUY A FRIDAY PASS
the
www.realitybitesfestival.org
2
PROGRAM
2014
GREEN ROOM
Saturday October 25
SCHOOL OF ARTS HALL
Saturday October 25
14. The Geography of Me
15. Class Act
In their new memoirs, Kristy Chambers and David Leser write about
travelling vast distances from home, and discovering just how far you
have to go before you realise you’re running away from yourself. Chair:
Melanie Myers.
In Class Act Maxine McKew invites reflection on one of our most pressing national dilemmas – how we replicate success across a fragmented
educational system and reverse the decline in student performance.
Join us for morning tea to hear Maxine speak with our schools program
co-ordinator Louise Francis.
SAT 25, 9:30 – 10:30am
$20/$15
SAT 25, 9 – 10:30am
Sponsored by Noosa District State High School
$20/$15 (Teachers FREE - To register, refer to the website.)
16. Brave New World
17. The Poet’s Wife
Is it possible to work as a writer anymore, or are we returning to the
days of the gifted amateur, the gentleman scholar of independent
means? John Birmingham hopes not and will try to help you find a
path to the written future, whether it’s in the brave new world of online
publishing, gaming or fan fiction.
At the age of 26 Mandy Sayer won the coveted Vogel award for her
novel Mood Indigo. She followed up that success with her award-winning memoir, Dreamtime Alice. Here she discusses with Mary-Lou
Stephens her latest memoir, The Poet’s Wife – the story of the ten
years she spent with Yusef Komunyakaa, first as lovers, then as
husband and wife.
SAT 25, 11 – 12pm
$20/15
SAT 25, 11 – 12pm
$20/$15
18. Writing the Music Beat
19. Seeking Refuge
Music journalism has always had an air of glamour. But what’s it
really like to ‘hang backstage with the band’ and write about it the
next day? Andrew Stafford talks reportage and rock n’ roll with
fellow music journalists Toby Creswell and Andrew McMillen.
It’s an issue that divides Australians. Genuine refugee or opportunistic
queue-jumper? Jane McAdam and Robin de Crespigny have written
two very different books on what it means to seek asylum. Hear them
talk with Bronwyn Stevens about compassion, refugees and the law.
SAT 25, 12.30 – 1.30pm
$20/$15
SAT 25, 12:30 – 1:30pm
$20/$15
Sponsored by Social Alternatives Journal
20. Last Woman Hanged
21. Dirty Secrets
One woman. Two husbands. Four trials. One bloody execution.
Clementine Ford talks with Caroline Overington about Louisa
Collins – the last woman hanged in NSW, and the subject of
Overington’s brand new work of nonfiction.
Dirty Secrets: Our ASIO Files is a collection of essays by well-known
Australians – mavericks, activists, movers and shakers – reflecting on
their ASIO files. The book’s editor Meredith Burgmann and Geoffrey
Datson, editor of Christopher Barnett’s elegies/of resistance, speak
with John Birmingham about our national spy agency and the people
they’ve spied on.
SAT 25, 2 – 3pm
$20/$15
SAT 25, 2 – 3pm
$20/$15
22. Watching the Detectives (Police Diaries): Part 1
23. Forgotten War
Domenico ‘Mick’ Cacciola was a straight cop in a crooked police force.
Listen to Mick discuss with John Birmingham his latest book Who’s
Who in the Zoo?, and his life as a CIB and Special Branch Detective
over three decades – pre- and post-Fitzgerald Inquiry.
History is written by the victors, so the saying goes, and nowhere is
this more apparent than in the writing, and accepted versions, of white
settlement in Australia. Henry Reynolds, Nicholas Clements and
Tony Birch discuss with Steven Lang the forgotten and untold stories
of the frontier wars on the mainland, and Tasmania’s ‘Black War’.
SAT 25, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
$20/$15
SAT 25, 3:30 – 5pm
$20/$15
COOROY LIBRARY
7. Celebration Event
HeartSpaces
Keelen Mailman will firstly present the 2014 Mark Tredinnick True
Story Award, then will present the 2014 festival keynote address about
her remarkable The Power of Bones. The evening will then continue
with an after-party to welcome our festival authors.
SAT 25, 11 – 12pm
Artist and writer Lin Martin presents HeartSpaces – a community arts
project incorporating the written word and photography to investigate
our deep connection to place.
FREE
Project assisted by Noosa Council’s RADF program.
SAT 25, 6 – 8:30pm
$40/$35
This event forms part of your Festival Pass or Celebration Day Pass. Your
ticket entitles you to a free glass of wine thanks our festival sponsors,
Bibliotheque wines. Catering and cash bar.
www.realitybitesfestival.org
3
PROGRAM
2014
GREEN ROOM
Sunday October 26
SCHOOL OF ARTS HALL
Sunday October 26
24. AmalgaNations
25. Dis-man-tling the Joint?
The world is becoming multipolar, multicultural and mono-cultural, all
at the same time. Doug Hendrie discusses with Tony Birch the rush
of information from all over the world, the resulting unexpected and
bizarre cultural mash-ups, and what globalisation does to culture.
In 2013, following the LNP’s federal election win, Tony Abbott
appointed a new cabinet featuring only one woman, and made
himself minister for women’s affairs. Meredith Burgmann, Maxine
McKew and Caroline Overington discuss with Clementine Ford
what this means for women’s equality, and why we’re still a long way
from ‘Destroying the Joint’.
SUN 26, 9:30 – 10:30am
$20/$15
SUN 26, 9:30 – 10:30am
$20/$15
26. Real Short, Real Heart
SUN 26, 11:00 – 12:00am
Tony Birch is one of Australia’s finest
writers of short-form fiction. Listen to Tony talk about the art of
creating verisimilitude or ‘likeness to truth’ when writing short stories
that punch above their word length in emotional weight.
$20/$15
27. Academic to Accessible: To Publish or Not
to Publish?
SUN 26, 11:00 – 12:00am
Turning a PhD into a publishable book, or translating complex
academic ideas into intelligible prose, is not just a matter of
removing the endnotes. Jane McAdam, Nicholas Clements and
Doug Hendrie give Ginna Brock the lowdown on the process and
pitfalls of turning academic research into an accessible and
engaging work of nonfiction.
$20/$15
28. Remembering Madness
29. Telling True Stories: The Art of Narrative Nonfiction
If memoir is the selective retelling of a life, what happens when that life
becomes gripped by mental illness? Kristy Chambers, Will Elliot and
Mandy Sayer share with Mary-Lou Stephens how they recounted their
battles against pervasive and persistent mental illness.
There is more than one way to tell a true story. Narrative nonfiction
specialist Matthew Ricketson talks with Matthew Condon, Robin
de Crespigny, and Caroline Overington about the approaches to
and challenges of writing stories about real people and real events.
SUN 26, 12:30 – 1:30pm
$20/15
SUN 26, 12:30 – 1:30pm
$20/15
30. Talking Smack
31. Where is Daniel?
Talking Smack is a collection of interviews with some of Australia’s
best musicians about the link between drugs and creativity. Author
Andrew McMillen talks with veteran music journalist Toby Creswell
about why ‘sex, drugs and rock n’ roll’ is more than just a cliché.
True crime author Lindsay Simpson talks with Matthew Condon
about Where is Daniel? – the book she co-authored with Denise and
Bruce Morcombe about the search for Daniel, and the family’s
emotional upheavals during their 10-year quest to find out what
happened to their son.
SUN 26, 2 – 3pm
$20/$15
SUN 26, 2 – 3pm
$20/$15
Proceeds to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation
32. Watching the Detectives (Police Diaries): Part 2
33. Place of Origin
Andrew Stafford, author of Pig City talks with Matthew Condon
about his new Jacks and Jokers — the second installment of the
rise, and spectacular fall, of Terry Lewis, an entire state, and
generations of police corruption in Queensland.
For some writers, place and the way it resonates through their work, is
at the heart of their writing. Clare Archer-Lean asks Annah Faulkner, Melissa Lucashenko and Inga Simpson how they evoke the
mood and feel of a place, and why distilling the essence of location is
fundamental to their writing.
SUN 26, 3:30 – 4:30pm
$20/$15
SUN 26, 3:30 – 4:30pm
$20/$15
NEED ACCOMMODATION ?
VISIT OUR FESTIVAL SPONSORS AT
F E S T I VA L B O O K S E L L E R
8 Kingfisher Dv Peregian Beach P. (07) 5448 2053
www.realitybitesfestival.org
4
PROGRAM
2014
AUTHORS
AUTHORS A - C
Tony Birch is the author of Shadowboxing (Scribe), the short story collection Father’s Day (Hunter), and Blood (UQP),
which was shortlisted for the 2012 Miles Franklin Award, and won the 2012 Civic Choice award for the Melbourne
Literary Prize. Shadowboxing and Father’s Day are both taught at secondary and tertiary levels in Victoria. His most
recent book is The Promise (UQP), a critically acclaimed collection of short stories. He is a frequent contributor to ABC
local and national radio, and a regular guest at writers’ festivals. He lives and works in Melbourne, where he teaches in
the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne.
John Birmingham is a writer, journalist, and winner of the National Award for Nonfiction, the Carlton United Sports
Writing Prize, and the Commonwealth Writing Prize. He has twice been named Columnist of the Year by the Magazine
Publishers Association of Australia. John has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Australian Financial
Review, The Australian, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wisden, The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, and the Quarterly Essay
(twice).
Dr Meredith Burgmann studied at the University of Sydney and was involved in political activity against the Vietnam
War and apartheid in the ’60s and ’70s. She was also actively involved in the beginnings of the women’s movement and
the early environment movement. She was one of the leaders of the ‘Stop the Springboks’ campaign in 1971, infamously
receiving a two month gaol sentence for disrupting the all-white South African team. She was elected as a Labor
member of the NSW parliament in 1991 and became President of the Legislative Council in 1999, a position she held
until retirement in 2007.
Domenico ‘Mick’ Cacciola is a decorated police officer who joined the police force in 1966. He received the
Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct in 1977 and the National Medal in 1991, among other awards. Now retired,
he runs a consultancy service and enjoys time with his wife, three children and grandchildren. He is the author, with Ben
Robertson, of his memoir The Second Father: An Insider’s Story of Cops, Crime and Corruption (UQP) and Who’s Who
in the Zoo: A Story of Corruption, Crooks and Killers (UQP).
Kristy Chambers is an Australian nonfiction writer and nurse. Her first book, Get Well Soon! My (Un) Brilliant Career
as a Nurse – a darkly humorous career memoir with a fairly self-explanatory title – was published by University of
Queensland Press (UQP) in 2012. Her second book, It’s Not You, Geography, It’s Me, is a brutally honest memoir about
depression and mental illness, and attempts to remedy it by fleeing overseas on a semi-regular basis. Kristy is currently
on hiatus from her nursing career and resides in New York City.
Anna Campbell has written nine historical romances for Avon HarperCollins which have been widely praised for their
attention to Regency period detail. Her work is published internationally. Anna has won numerous awards for her
sweeping, emotional stories set in the first quarter of the 19th century. She has three times been nominated for the
Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA Award (including in 2014 for A Rake’s Midnight Kiss) and three times for
Australia’s Romantic Book of the Year.
Dr Nicholas Clements is an eighth generation Tasmanian whose convict descendants lived through and participated
in the Black War – the savage frontier conflict that engulfed the island during the 1820s and 1830s. In 2003 he enrolled
in university where he discovered that he was not alone in his ignorance of the frontier conflict. He made it his mission to
change this, and embarked on a PhD under veteran historian, Henry Reynolds. Nick’s recent book, The Black War:
Fear, Sex and Resistance in Tasmania (UQP), is the culmination of that mission.
Matthew Condon is a prize-winning Australian novelist and journalist. He is currently on staff with the Courier Mail’s
Qweekend magazine. He began his journalism career with the Gold Coast Bulletin in 1982 and subsequently worked for
leading newspapers and journals including the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph and Melbourne’s Sunday
Age. Matthew is also the author of ten books of fiction, most recently The Trout Opera (Random House) and the
nonfiction book Brisbane (New South).
www.realitybitesfestival.org
5
AUTHORS C - H
Robin de Crespigny is a Sydney film-maker, producer, director, writer and a former Directing Lecturer at the
Australian Film, Television & Radio School. She graduated from La Trobe University with an Arts degree in literature
and, like many other young Australians in the 1960s, joined in the street marches protesting against the Vietnam War
before travelling extensively throughout Asia, Mexico and America. In 2009 Robin began work on a film script based on
the life of Ali Al Jenabi, revealing the universal emotions and internal processes at the heart of the life-changing moral
choices Ali made as he strived to save so many others.
PROGRAM
2014
Toby Creswell is an Australian journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of Rolling Stone (Australia) and a
founding editor of Juice. In 1986 he wrote his first book Too Much Ain't Enough a biography of pub rocker and Cold Chisel
vocalist Jimmy Barnes. In recent years he has earned recognition as a writer of award winning documentaries for the ABC
and SBS for two series of documentaries, The Great Australian Albums in 2007 and 2008, which saw each episode
examine one of eight classic Australian albums over four decades. Toby’s book, 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time
(Hardie Grant) is used by Brian Nankervis, creator, producer and adjudicator of the SBS program RocKwiz.
Geoffrey Datson is a performance poet and sound artist, combining spoken word and instrumentation. In 2010,
Datson’s first book of poetry, Then, and Then: a memoir (Stickybooks), was published and performed at Reality Bites,
Gloucester and Byron Bay literary festivals, and 2011 Sydney Fringe Festival. His most recent work Protest Singer
(Stickybooks) was published in May 2012 with an accompanying performance tour of works from the collection. His most
recent work is as editor of Christopher Barnett’s book length memoir-poem when they came/ for you/elegies /of
resistance.
Will Elliot won the ABC manuscript award in 2006 with The Pilo Family Circus (Quercus), which also won Golden
Aurealis, the Aurealis for Best Horror, the Ditmar, the Australian Shadows Award and, in 2011, the Spanish Nocte for
Best International Book. The book was turned into a play by the Godlight Theatre Company in New York in 2012. Will
has written seven other books and is published in ten countries. His memoir, Strange Places (ABC), was short-listed for
the Prime Minister’s literary award in 2010.
Annah Faulkner’s early writing comprised mostly of poetry and short stories, some of which featured in newspapers
and bush poetry magazines. Annah’s major work to date is a novel set in post-colonial Port Moresby during the 1950s
and 1960s. The Beloved (Pan Macmillan) won the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for an emerging author in 2011
and was published by Picador in 2012. It was commended in the 2013 FAW Christina Stead Award and, in 2013,
shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and won the Nita B Kibble Award. Annah lives with her husband on
Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and is working on her second novel.
Clementine Ford is a writer, speaker and feminist based in Melbourne. Her work appears regularly in Fairfax’s The
Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, and she has a twice-weekly column with Fairfax Digital’s popular feminist website
Daily Life. Clementine also regularly contributes to the ABC’s The Drum and the Victorian Women’s Trust’s Sheilas
publication. Clementine is a regular guest on ABC 774. She appeared on Q&A once, but she swore and then sassed
handsome Malcolm Turnbull and they’ve never invited her back. Clementine is a passionate advocate of the rights of
women and girls.
Zane Hacker trained as a chef in the beautiful surrounds of the Whitsunday Islands. Working on tall ships and yachts,
as well as restaurants, he learnt a craft that would take him around the world. The son of a beekeeper and a storyteller
provides a background that would undoubtedly lead to unusual places. He continues to cook, write and speak about his
adventures. HIs memoir Antarctic Sundays is published with spectaular photography throughout.
Doug Hendrie is a freelance foreign correspondent, magazine writer and lecturer. His first book, AmalgaNations
(Hardie Grant), emerged out of his longstanding interest in the globalisation of culture. The book took him to Korean
videogaming stadiums, Filipino gay retirement homes, Indonesian punk squats and Ghana’s streets to meet DIY
filmmakers. He’s also reported on everything from Australian sex surrogates to Kenya’s internet startups, the Raskol
gangs, mobile phone culture and elections in Papua New Guinea. His work has been published in newspapers and
magazines in Australia, the US and the UK. Doug was the researcher for Jacqueline Kent’s biography of Julia Gillard.
He is unaccustomed to writing in the third person as it makes him squirm. He much prefers interviewing.
www.realitybitesfestival.org
6
PROGRAM
2014
AUTHORS H - M
Ashley Hay’s most recent novel, The Railwayman’s Wife, was shortlisted for this year’s Colin Roderick and Christina
Stead awards, long-listed for the Miles Franklin and Nita B. Kibble awards, and won the People’s Choice award at the
NSW Premier’s Prize. She is the editor of this year’s Best Australian Science Writing (to be published in November). A
former literary editor of The Bulletin, she writes for publications including The Monthly and The Australian, and her
essays and short stories have appeared in volumes including the Griffith Review, Best Australian Essays (2003), Best
Australian Short Stories (2012 and 2013), and Best Australian Science Writing (2012).
Melissa Lucashenko is an award-winning novelist who lives between Brisbane and the Bundjalung nation. Her
writing explores the stories and passions of Aboriginal people and others living around the margins of the First World.
Melissa’s most recent book is Mullumbimby (UQP), a contemporary novel of romantic love and cultural warfare, which
was awarded the prestigious 2013 Queensland Literary Award for Fiction and long-listed for both the Stella and Miles
Franklin awards. Melissa is also a Walkley award-winner for her nonfiction writing, and a founding member of Sisters
Inside.
David Leser is a multi-award winning journalist who has worked in Australia, North America, the Middle East, Europe
and Asia for the past thirty-five years. He has worked as a feature writer for The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald,
The Age, HQ magazine, The Bulletin, Good Weekend, the Australian Women’s Weekly, Italian and German Vanity Fair,
Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He has also worked as a Washington D.C, Jerusalem and Paris-based correspondent.
Keelen Mailman was born in Clermont, and grew up in Augathella. During her troubled childhood she witnessed
alcoholism, child abuse, racism, domestic violence, but as a born survivor and eternal optimist, she never let those
obstacles get in her way. She is the first Aboriginal women to manage a cattle property in Australia, on the traditional
country of her Bidjara people. In 2007 Keelen was an Australian of the Year QLD Finalist. In 2014 she published her
powerful memoir, The Power Of Bones. She lives and works on Mount Tabor Station, her home for the past eighteen
and a half years.
Lin Martin is a photographer and writer living on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Her work combines text and images,
and focuses on the sublime in the ordinary, the sacred in the profane. She has been an exhibiting photographic artist,
teacher and writer for over 30 years. Her practice is heavily influenced by her scientific background and Buddhist
studies.
Jane McAdam is Scientia Professor of Law and the Director of the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International
Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales, which was established in 2013. She holds an Australian Research
Council Future Fellowship, is a nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington DC and a research
associate at the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre. She is the joint editor-in-chief of the International
Journal of Refugee Law, and in 2013 was appointed as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Andrew McMillen is a freelance journalist based in Brisbane. His work has been published in Rolling Stone, The
Australian, The Monthly, Qweekend, BuzzFeed, TheVine.com.au and Mess+Noise. Andrew’s first book is Talking
Smack: Honest Conversations about Drugs (UQP), which features intimate interviews with some of Australia’s best
musicians, including Paul Kelly, Gotye, Tina Arena, Phil Jamieson, Steve Kilbey and Holly Throsby. Andrew moved to
Brisbane in 2006 to study at the University of Queensland and has lived and worked in the city ever since.
Maxine McKew is an advisor on education for the not-for-profit group Social Ventures Australia, and a director of three
not-for-profit boards, Playgroup Australia, Per Capita and the John Cain Foundation.Her career spans both politics and
journalism. Her hosting of Lateline in the mid 1990s, and later as the part-time anchor of The 7.30 Report, earned her a
reputation as one of the country’s most authoritative interviewers. Her television reporting has been recognised by her
peers with both Logie and Walkely awards for broadcast excellence, while her work for The Bulletin magazine saw her
secure the Magazine Publisher’s award for Columnist of the Year. Maxine is involved in a range of voluntary activities
including acting as an ambassador for Alzheimer’s Australia.
www.realitybitesfestival.org
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AUTHORS N - S
Katie Noonan Her technical mastery and pure voice makes her one of Australia’s most versatile and beloved
vocalists. A mother, singer, producer, songwriter, pianist and business woman, this four-time ARIA Award winning and
six-time platinum selling songstress first received widespread praise as the angel-voiced songstress of indie-pop band
George and has since taken audiences on sublime excursions through Jazz, Pop and Classical music.
PROGRAM
2014
Caroline Overington is a bestselling Australian author and an award-winning journalist. Currently the associate
editor of the iconic Australian Women’s Weekly, Caroline has previously worked for The Age, the Sydney Morning
Herald, and The Australian. She has written two nonfiction books and five novels, and lives in Sydney with her family, a
blue dog and a lizard.
Henry Reynolds is one of Australia’s best-known historians. He grew up in Hobart and was educated at Hobart High
School and the University of Tasmania. In 1965 he accepted a lectureship at James Cook University in Townsville, which
sparked an interest in the history of relations between settlers and Aborigines. In morally charged works such as This
Whispering in our Hearts (Allen & Unwin) and Why Weren’t We Told (Penguin), he gave the cause of reconciliation an
historical underpinning. Since then he has written Drawing the Global Colour Line (Cambridge) with Marilyn Lake and
co-authored What’s Wrong With Anzac? (NewSouth). His latest book is Forgotten War (NewSouth), which won the
Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Nonfiction.
Matthew Ricketson has worked as a journalist since 1981 with The Age, The Australian and Time Australia. He has
won several awards, including a United Nations Media Peace Prize citation and the George Munster Award for best
freelance journalism. He freelances for various publications and comments regularly on radio and elsewhere about
media issues. Matthew is now a professor of journalism at the University of Canberra. His biography, Paul Jennings: The
boy in the story is always me (Viking) was published in 2000. Matthew also edited The Best Australian Profiles (Black
Inc), and his bestselling guide Writing Feature Stories (Allen & Unwin) is now followed by Telling True Stories, published
by Allen & Unwin in April 2014.
Mandy Sayer won the Vogel Award at age 26 with her first novel, Mood Indigo (Vintage). Since then she has
published four novels and the short story collection 15 Kinds of Desire (Vintage). Sayer’s first memoir, Dreamtime Alice
(Vintage) won the 2000 National Biography Award, Australian Audio Book of the Year Award, and New England
Booksellers’ Award in the US. It was published to critical acclaim in the US and UK, and translated into several European languages. Her second memoir, Velocity (Vintage) won the 2006 South Australian Premier’s Award for Nonfiction and
the 2006 Age Book of the Year (NonFiction). With the 2014 publication of her third memoir, The Poet’s Wife (Allen &
Unwin), she has completed the first trilogy of literary memoir to be published in Australia.
Inga Simpson is the author of the acclaimed Mr Wigg (Hachette), which was shortlisted for the 2014 Indie Award
(debut fiction), and longlisted for the 2014 Dobbie Award. Her new novel, Nest (Hachette). Inga was awarded the 2012
Eric Rolls Nature Writing Prize for her essay ‘Triangulation’, and shortlisted for the 2009 Queensland Premier’s Award
for best emerging author. She has a PhD in creative writing from the Queensland University of Technology and a
Masters in English literature from the University of New South Wales. She is currently researching the history of
Australian nature writing for a PhD in English literature at the University of Queensland. alian nature writing for a PhD in
English literature at the University of Queensland.
Lindsay Simpson is a published author and co-author of eight books. She is currently writing her ninth book for Pan
MacMillan. Five of these books are in the true crime genre. Her first book, Brothers in Arms (1989), co-authored wither
best friend, Sandra Harvey, has sold more than 100,000 copies and was made into a successful six part mini-series by
Screentime (2012) called Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms. It attracted more than a million viewers. Lindsay was investigative journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald (1989-1995) for 12 years and the first female Chief Police reporter. She
has taught life writing and founded two postgraduate writing programs at the University of Tasmania and James Cook
University (1999-2012).
Andrew Stafford is an author and freelance journalist whose first book, Pig City, made history in 2007 when it was
turned into a key event as part of the Queensland Music Festival, headlined by the original line-up of seminal Brisbane
band The Saints. When he’s not writing, you may find him behind the wheel of a cab, or online at www.andrewstaffordblog.com, and on Twitter (@staffo_sez).
Mark Tredinnick is a celebrated Australian poet, essayist and teacher. He is the winner of the 2011 Montreal
International Poetry Prize and 2012 Cardiff International Poetry Competition. Mark is the author of 13 books, including
four volumes of poetry; Bluewren Cantos (Pitt Street Poetry), Fire Diary (Pitt Street Poetry), The Lyrebird (Wagtail), and
The Road South (River Road); The Blue Plateau (UNSW Press); The Little Red Writing Book (UNSW Press); and
Writing Well: the Essential Guide (Cambridge). For 20 years he has taught poetry, grammar, creative nonfiction and
business prose in Sydney and around the world. Once upon a time he was a lawyer.
www.realitybitesfestival.org
8
PROGRAM
2014
AUTHORS T - V
Mark Tredinnick is a celebrated Australian poet, essayist and teacher. He is the winner of the 2011 Montreal International Poetry Prize and 2012 Cardiff International Poetry Competition. Mark is the author of 13 books, including four
volumes of poetry; Bluewren Cantos (Pitt Street Poetry), Fire Diary (Pitt Street Poetry), The Lyrebird (Wagtail), and The
Road South (River Road); The Blue Plateau (UNSW Press); The Little Red Writing Book (UNSW Press); and Writing Well:
the Essential Guide (Cambridge). For 20 years he has taught poetry, grammar, creative nonfiction and business prose in
Sydney and around the world. Once upon a time he was a lawyer.
Meg Vann is the CEO of Queensland Writers Centre. Meg formerly led The Australian Writer’s Marketplace unit at
QWC, and comes from a community development background in both the arts and legal sectors. Meg is an emerging crime writer who leads the Queensland chapter of Sisters in Crime and regularly presents workshops on writing
and publishing. Her novella Provocation was published in The Review of Australian Fiction in 2012.
CHAIRS
Annette Hughes is a literary agent whose practice is dedicated to the identificatioin and promotion of creators of quality music and literature.
Mary-Lou Stephens is a radio journalist at ABC Sunshine Coast and author of Sex, Drugs and Meditation.
Melanie Myers is the Artistic Director of Reality Bites Festival (2012 – 2014). She is currently researching a Doctorate in Creative Writing,
Steven Lang is an author and director of Outspoken in Maleny, an extended writers festival, presenting conversations with well-known authors.
Ginna Brock is an Associate Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast teaching in both the English and Creative Writing programs.
Alex Payne is nonfiction publisher at University of Queensland Press.
TICKETS BUY ONLINE AND SAVE
FESTIVAL PASS
MEMBERS
FULL
VALUE
ONLINE
PRICE
DOOR
PRICE
$260
$150
$100
NOT
AVAIL
SAVE
$ 110
By far the most economical way to enjoy the festival is with a three day pass which includes your
choice of Single Sessions and a ticket to the
CELEBRATION EVENT featuring Molly Meldrum.
WRITER’S PACK
MEMBERS
$460
$300
$250
NOT
AVAIL
$100
REALITY BITES offers a three day
festival pass that includes a program
of close-up sessions, panels and
conversations with a brilliant lineup
of local and interstate authors.
Join us for a feast of ‘food for
thought’ in the REAL heart of the
Hinterland.
A FESTIVAL PASS (see inclusions above) plus your choice of two WORKSHOPS.
CELEBRATION DAY PASS
MEMBERS
$140
$ 80
$ 70
$ 50
NB. There are two strands in the program
and sessions overlap: you have to choose
between Green Room and School of Arts
sessions. We strongly suggest that you
double check your selections before going
to the ticket purchase page.
NOT
AVAIL
$25
Seating is on a ‘first in best dressed’ basis, so
arrive in plenty of time to grab a coffee and a
good seat.
NOT
AVAIL
$130
Sessions are intended to be informal and
relaxed with time for questions from the floor.
There is time between sessions to purchase
books for the authors to sign.
NOT
AVAIL
$ 50
All Saturday Single Sessions including our CELEBRATION EVENT featuring Molly Meldrum.
SATURDAY/SUNDAY PASS
MEMBERS
$100
$ 50
$ 40
NOT
AVAIL
$ 35
$ 25
NOT
AVAIL
All Single sessions on Saturday or Sunday.
FRIDAY PASS
MEMBERS
$60
All Friday sessions.
REAL STAYER - NOT AVAILABLE ON LINE
$130
Available only to out of town visitors. (Excludes Celebration Event) Contact the organisers to arrange tickets (07) 5447 7063
WORKSHOP
$85
$100/85
$ 25
LITERARY LUNCH
TBA
TBA
TBA
CELEBRATION EVENT
$35
$40/35
$5
SINGLE SESSIONS
$15
$20/15
$5
No concession available on line as tickets are already discounted to the concession
price.
BOOK ON LINE & SAVE
To become a member and take advantage of high discount tickets, go to www.shwc.
org.au
w w w. r e a l i t y bi te s . or g
OFFLINE BOOKINGS
CHEQUE Contact Box Office and we will
send you an order form.
CASH
Buy tickets in person at
Annie’s Books, 8 Kingfisher Dv
Peregian Beach,
P. (07) 5448 2053
DOOR
Tickets are available at the door
at full price/concession.
CONTACT BOX OFFICE
www.realitybitesfestival.org
9
tickets at door
School of Arts
13
Book Launch
&
Poet’s Speakeasy
FREE
12
Words of Love
11
Real Deals
10
A Cook’s Tour
Comm Room
5
WORKSHOP
Telling True Stories
with
Matthew
Ricketson
HeartSpaces
Main Library
FREE
PITCHING
CLINIC
Comm Room
FREE
8
COOROY
LIBRARY
22
Police Diaries (1)
20
Last Woman
Hanged
18
Writing
the Music Beat
16
Brave New World
14
Geography of Me
GREEN ROOM
7
CELEBRATION
EVENT
Keelen Mailman
&
23
Forgotten War
21
Dirty Secrets
19
Seeking Refuge
17
15
Class Act
SCHOOL OF
ARTS
32
Police Diaries (2)
30
Talking Smack
28
Remembering
Madness
26
Real Short,
Real Heart
24
AmalgaNations
GREEN ROOM
33
Place of Origin
31
Where is Daniel ?
29
Telling True
Stories
27
Academic to
Accessible
25
Dis-Mantling
the Joint
SCHOOL OF
ARTS
5:00
4:30
4:00
3:30
3:00
2:30
2:00
1:30
1:00
12:30
12:00
11:30
11:00
10:30
10:00
9:30
9:00
TIME
www.realitybitesfestival.org
9:00
8:30
8:00
7:30
7:00
6:30
School of Arts
separately ticketed
9:00
8:30
8:00
7:30
7:00
6:30
6:00
KATIE NOONAN’S
SONGBOOK
EVENT
separately ticketed
9
Love Child
GREEN ROOM
SUN 26 OCT
6:00
Meg Vann
4
WORKSHOP
SCBWN
LITERARY
LUNCH
with
Maxine McKew
NOOSA SPRINGS
OTHER
VENUES
SAT 25 OCT
5:30
Beyond Fossil
Fuels
Writing Workshop
with
Mark Tredinnick
2
WORKSHOP
Nature Writing
with
Inga Simpson
3
WORKSHOP
COOROY
LIBRARY (CL)
FRI 24 OCT
5:30
5:00
4:30
4:00
3:30
3:00
2:30
2:00
1:30
1:00
12:30
12:00
11:30
11:00
with
Anna Campbell
10:00
10:30
Researching History
9:30
COOROY
LIBRARY (CL)
THURS 23 OCT
1
WORKSHOP
9:00
TIME
PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
10
PROGRAM
2014
VENUES
Workshops and the Pitching Clinic are held at the Cooroy Library’s
Community Access Room which is at the end of the corridor to the right
as you enter. There is plenty of parking nearby. Please arrive to be
settled and seated by the published start time.
The literary lunch with Maxine McHugh is at Noosa Springs, in Noosa
Heads.
DRIVE:
The drive between Cooroy/Eumundi to Noosa Heads takes 10 mintues.
Eumundi is a couple of kilometres off the Bruce Highway, a 90 minute
drive from Brisbane and 20 mins from Noosa Heads.
On Saturday morning, Eumundi is crowded due to the markets so leave
plenty of time to find a park and walk to the venue from the parking area.
Parking is $5 for the whole morning.
FLY: The Sunshine Coast Airport is a 30 minute drive from Eumundi and
there are several flights per day to and from most major capital cities.
TAXI: Suncoast Cabs Phone 131 008
PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
Eumundi/Cooroy Bus and Train Timetables – www.translink.com.au.
Eumundi train station is located on the Eumundi-Noosa Road and is on
the Nambour and Gympie North line.
Bus Route 630 and 631 – Cooroy, Eumundi, Nambour station, Noosa
Heads, Tewantin, Yandina
Bus Route 632 – Cooran, Cooroy, Noosa Heads, Noosaville, Pomona,
Tewantin
WALK
The walk between the Green Room and School of Arts is 5 minutes.
Join us on the verandah of
the Green Room, upstairs at
the Imperial.
COOROY LIBRARY COMMUNITY ACCESS ROOM 9 Maple St,Cooroy
THE GREEN ROOM : Upstairs, Imperial Hotel 1 Etheridge St. Eumundi
SCHOOL OF ARTS HALL
NOOSA SPRINGS
Cnr. Memorial Dr. & Pacey St. Eumundi
Links Dr, Noosa Heads
FESTIVAL HUB
Here you can relax between
sessions, enjoy a bevvy or
two, and browse through
the festival bookshop. Chat
with authors and select
from the Green Room’s
great menu.
Festival patrons show tickets for
discounted meals. For information go to the website:
http://www.imperialhoteleumundi.com.au
Celebrate Maleny’s passion for books, writing and reading
at the boutique literary festival, now in its third year.
Join in on one of the Celebration’s signature events – the Big
Book Club Gathering. First meet in small groups to discuss The
Circle by internationally acclaimed writer Dave Eggers. Then
enjoy a whole group discussion of issues raised in the novel.
Saturday 25 October from 2pm at the Maleny RSL Hall. For
tickets and more information on the full program of events
being held over the weekend, go to
www.celebrationofbooksmaleny.com.
www.realitybitesfestival.org
11