Coming Up
IN-PERSON WORKSHOPS + EVENTS
MARCH
Reading Like a Critic Beejay Silcox
DATE: Saturday 14 March, 10:30-4:30pm
COST: $90 for MARION members
$110 General Admission, non-members
TYPE: In-person Workshop
VENUE: Salthouse Community Centre, Henty Street,
Braddon ACT
LEVEL: Prerequisite reading required.
This workshop is best suited to intermediate and
advanced writers, as well as serious readers.
About the workshop:
A critic is more than an incisive reader; they are a bridge-builder, connecting text, history, author, and audience. In this day-long workshop, you’ll step inside a new Australian novel with a trusted critic as your guide. Together, you’ll uncover how a work reflects its moment, speaks across time, and reveals the author’s practice – the choices and risks that shape their storytelling. You’ll also learn to move beyond taste into the language of craft, to balance subjectivity with objectivity, and to unlock a text for other readers. Whether you want to begin your own critical practice, or deepen your reading, this immersive day of book-talk will connect you to the larger conversation that literature makes possible.
IMPORTANT: For this program, participants are asked to read Arborescence by Rhett Davis (Hachette) in advance of the workshop. You can hear Rhett discuss his work on ABC Radio National’s The Bookshelf (7 August) — listen here
About Beejay Silcox
Beejay Silcox is a book critic. Her work appears in high-profile publications across three continents, and is celebrated for its resolute – some might say foolhardy – honesty. She has been described as “the most significant new Australian critic in decades". Beyond the page, she is a literary polymath: interviewer, prize judge, manuscript doctor, festival programmer, and award-winning creative writing educator. Beejay has stories to tell; she eloped to Las Vegas, escaped quicksand, and was once rescued from a picnic at Hanging Rock.
Shelf Life: Stories from Readers In conversation event
DATE: Saturday 28 March, 2-3:30pm
COST:Entry is free, though donations are welcomed.
TYPE: In conversation
VENUE: Tuggeranong Arts Centre, Greenway
About the event:
How often do we pause to reflect on the role books play in our lives? At the right moment, a book can shape who we become and deepen how we see the world.
In this special in-conversation event, journalist and passionate reader Alex Sloan AM joins lifelong readers Kathryn Favelle and Deborah Stevens to reflect on the books that have shaped their lives. Drawing on decades spent immersed in books, publishing and literary culture, they will share the works that have stayed with them over time and the ideas that continue to resonate.
The conversation will also invite audience members to reflect on the books that have shaped their own lives. Join us for a lively and reflective discussion about reading, memory and the role stories play across a lifetime.
This event is proudly presented by MARION, and supported by UPSTAGEING Canberra. Thank you to Tuggeranong Arts Centre for their support of this event.