Sean Murphy is back and he is running the world’s best games for kids at Orange City Library during the school holidays on Thursday 19^th July at 10.30am. He will lead kids on an hilarious interactive exploration into the best games from around the world. Audiences will learn a little and laugh a lot in a show that takes history, play and silliness to new heights. Following the show he will host an interactive workshop where kids can create games of their own. Tickets for the Performance 10.30am – 11.30am are $5, and $2 for the Workshop from 11.45am to 12.30pm.  So to go to both the Performance and Workshop is $7. The Performance and Workshop is for children aged 6 – 12 years. Parents do not need to pay if they wish to stay with their children. Please book your place online through Eventbrite.

Boardgame Days

Orange City Library will also be hosting Boardgame Days during the school holidays on Wednesday 11^th July and Wednesday 18 July from 9am to 3pm. This is for everyone aged 8 – 90 and is a free event with no bookings required. We will have roving librarians to help people with boardgames. So come in and try a new boardgame.

Food and travel combine to make a mouth-watering theme for the Orange Readers and Writers Festival on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 July 2018 at the Hotel Canobolas. Be ready to be entertained by the fabulous Monday Morning Cooking Club – a group of dynamic Sydney women who meet each Monday to test recipes and chat about food.

The Paris dreamer Katrina Lawrence will take us on a journey to the city of light to meet the residents who have inspired us. We will nourish body and soul with Margaret Fulton’s granddaughter Louise Keats and her new book Sweet Nourish. Jacqui Newling is the resident gastronomer at Sydney Living Museums who uses food as a means of communicating our history and heritage. She will be delving into the world of our first fleet ancestors through food. To round out our table of speakers we have invited author Anthony Hill to talk about his book Captain Cook’s Apprentice and Cook’s foodie adventures. And you can also meet Better Reading’s Cheryl Akle.

And for writers we have a blogging e-newsletter workshop with Local is Lovely blogger Sophie Hansen. We also have an all day seminar with the History Council of NSW talking food and travel. And we will also be announcing the winners of the Banjo Paterson Writing Awards. So come and join us for what promises to be some mouth-watering literary delights. Program and bookings here. Early-bird tickets close 30 June.

If you have ever dreamed of moving to France or Italy to seek ‘the good life’ you will find bestselling author Amanda Hampson’s latest novel, The Yellow Villa, a fascinating and highly entertaining read. Amanda was a huge hit at last year’s Readers and Writers Festival. Don’t miss her this time around at Orange City Library on Thursday 28th June at 5.30pm.

Join Amanda – bestselling author of The French Perfumer and The Olive Sisters – for an entertaining talk about her insights and research in France into the expat life, the flip side of ‘la belle vie’ – and why it’s not all brie and rose. This event is supported by Collins Booksellers, Orange. Book your place through eventbrite.com or call the Library on 6393 8132.

Pageturners had a lively discussion this month about Macbeth by Jo Nesbo. It is one of the books in the Hogarth Shakespeare series where well-known writers are asked to re-imagine a Shakespeare tale.

Pageturners described it as action-orientated, engrossing, parallels with original were good, fast-paced, exciting, lengthy, dragged-on, far-fetched, awful, uncomfortable, dark and violent. Read more on the Pageturners Blog.

The next read will be the classic Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte on Wednesday 11th July at 5.30pm.  It’s Bronte’s masterpiece about Cathy and Heathcliff – a tale of love and revenge on the Yorkshire moors and so much to talk about.

Join us at Canowindra and enjoy the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Verdi’s Requiem on Thursday 21 June streamed live from the Sydney Opera House. The event will be held at Montrose House, 71 Gaskill Street (opposite the Library) at 6pm. Canapes and drinks will be served. This is a free event but please book your place online or phone the Library on 6344 1796.

With the support of Create NSW, ABC Classics, Sydney Opera House Creative Learning, Music Australia and the Australian Music Association, the livestream will be the flagship event in Australia’s first participation in the worldwide music festivities of Make Music Day.