Discover our exciting Author Talk Program with visiting authors inspiring your reading and writing:
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Postponed Event: Orange City Library: Mothering Heights Book Launch with Rachael Mogan McIntosh Friday 26 April 5.30pm – 7pm
Please note our April event with author Rachael Mogan McIntosh has been postponed and we will host her visit at a later date – thank you.
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Orange City Library: Local Author Brendan Lamerton’s Book Launch for Bonded on Thursday 2 May at 5.30pm
Come along to Orange City Library to meet local author Brendan Lamerton when he launches his first book – a fantasy novel titled Bonded – on Thursday 2 May at 5.30pm.
About the book: Jin has always dreamt of training at the School of the Ebon Fist, just like his mother. He’d like nothing more than to become a powerful martial sorcerer, capable of defending the weak and helpless, going on adventures in far off lands, and trying all the different styles of noodles from across the empire.
So, when a chance encounter in the forest marks him as one of the bonded and word spreads that one of the Great Schools is coming to recruit new students, it seems like he might finally get that opportunity. But nothing is ever that easy.
Before the School even arrives, he’ll have to deal with missing townsfolk, hopping vampires, and a powerful lord who hates him. And he’ll have to do it all before the bond drives him crazy.
About the author: Brendan Lamerton is an Australian author currently living in Orange, New South Wales. He grew up an avid fan of fantasy novels and early morning cartoons. Unsure of what he wanted to do as adult, he got a degree in accounting, has worked in local government and I.T., at bars and breweries, and as both a 35mm and digital projectionist, but it wasn’t until he started a daily train commute for a job in the city that he took up writing, writing the first draft of his novel on his phone. He now spends his free time writing, combining aspects of two of his favourite things from childhood: fantasy worlds and cartoon action.
Join in the celebration for Brendan’s first book Bonded at Orange City Library on Thursday 2 May at 5.30pm – 7pm. Free event, refreshments served, all welcome. Please book your spot online or call Orange City Library on 6393 8132.
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Cowra Library: Meet Authors Ruth and Don Pollock in Conversation on Friday 3 May at 10am
“What do you do when Covid has closed your international business and you are in lockdown at 80?
You write your family history because you have time, and you are the last one left to tell the stories!
The community is invited to Cowra Library on Friday 3 May at 10am to meet Ruth and Don Pollock as they discuss their books: Clouds and Sunshine – an aerial-themed romantic fiction set in Gunnedah, and Hard Women – three generations of women against a background of social history; and Don’s anthology of war stories – Suggy’s Men.
Ruth’s book, Hard Women, compares the lives and challenges faced by women in Australia and Sweden spanning from 1870 to 2021. The book is a family trilogy that covers the lives and times of three generations of Australian Women, a grandmother, a mother and a daughter.
Her fiction book Clouds and Sunshine is about Rosie Franklin, an enthusiastic teacher and sports coach who, through her desire for adventure, cements a teenage school friendship into a loving relationship with Chas Anderson.
Chas, a local, daredevil stunt pilot, is also a well-known crop-duster. Together they weave their dreams for the future, unaware of the betrayal by friends and associates to undermine their aspirations. From the days of settlement during the early 1900s in the mid-western New South Wales farming region, to the 1980s, there is generational discord, inheritance arguments, and jealousy, all of which ultimately create dissension between the characters, while adventurous pursuits continue in the isolated, NSW, country town of Gunnedah.
Suggy’s Men is a book dedicated to the Men of RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam (RTFV) 1964-65 and the wonderful women in their lives (mothers, sisters, relatives, girlfriends, lovers, wives, nurses, acquaintances and companions), who have supported them.
The ‘originals’, arrived in Vietnam on 8th August 1964, 50 years after Australians entered World War 1 on 4th August 1914. This small team of aircraft and support personnel marked the first deployment of a RAAF unit on operations since the Korean War, and the first war in which Australians did not fight alongside British.
The survivors of the first RAAF unit in Vietnam, (RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam-RTFV) collaborated to produce the anthology of personal stories – Suggy’s Men.
Proceeds from the sale Suggy’s Men go to supporting veterans and their families.
Meet Ruth and Don Pollock in Conversation at Cowra Library on Friday 3 May at 10am. Refreshments served and all welcome. Please book your spot online or call Cowra Library on 6340 2180
Enjoy the Sydney Writers Festival: Livestream & Local at Orange: Thursday 23 – Sunday 26 May
One of Australia’s most loved forum for literature, ideas and storytelling – the Sydney Writers’ Festival – will live-stream its headline events from Sydney to Orange on Thursday 23, Friday 24, Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 May!
After the success of Live & Local in 2023, Sydney Writers’ Festival returns to Orange Regional Gallery Theatre for a third BIG year, hosted by Orange City Library, in 2024 to bring the best of the Festival direct to you!! Prepare to be invigorated and engaged by conversations, debates and discussions featuring some of the world’s finest writers and thinkers. Audiences can also participate in live Q&A sessions at each event, sending questions straight to the Sydney stage.
Join us for Livestream & Local 2024, streamed live by Sydney Writers’ Festival and delivered locally to Orange. Author sessions to be livestreamed include: Julia Baird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen, Suzie Miller, Julian Borger, Philosopher A.C. Grayling, Nobel Prize winner for literature Abdulrazak Gurnah, Celeste Ng, Trent Dalton, Leigh Sales and Lisa Millar, Abraham Verghese, Barrie Cassidy, Chloe Dalton, David Wengrow and Antony Lowenstein. We cannot express to you enough how incredible these authors are!!! They are all amazing!
Please book your spot early to avoid disappointment. Last year the most popular session was Barrie Cassidy’s State of the Nation panel session about Australian Politics – it is not to be missed.
All live-streamed sessions will be free, and screened at the Orange Regional Gallery Theatre, 149 Byng Street, Orange. Bookings are now open online via eventbrite with details about each session including well-known hosts. There will be a break-out area next door in the West Room on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10am – 4pm, where guests can enjoy refreshments.
Please do not bring coffee, drinks or food into the Gallery as there are art exhibitions on show. And we know plans can change, so if you do book a spot and can no longer attend, please contact us on 6393 8132 so the next person on the waiting list can attend. We really appreciate this courtesy – thank you.
Save the Date: Orange Readers and Writers Festival 2024
Join in the 8th Annual Orange Readers and Writers Festival on Saturday 3rd August 2024 – a day-long event including morning tea and lunch – held at the Hotel Canobolas, 248 Summer Street, Orange with a line-up of incredible authors including author, radio host and broadcaster Indira Naidoo author of The Space Between the Stars: On Love, Loss and the Magical Power of Nature to Heal.
A deeply moving and uplifting exploration of the power of nature – to heal the deepest hurts.
Meet Central West crime writer Rhys Gard, author of the successful Four Dogs Missing
Art theft, revenge and murder play out against the Mudgee wine region vineyards in this ‘edge of your seat’ thriller.
Tickets will be available for sale online via eventbrite.com.au in June 2024.
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Thank you to all our wonderful authors who visited during the 2023:
Nat Amoore – The Right Way to Rock
Lisa Ireland – The One and Only Dolly Jamieson
Christine Stewart – Collits’ Inn: Uncovering the Past
Seana Smith – The Australian Autism Handbook
Inga Simpson – Willowman
Rachael Mogan McIntosh – Pardon My French – Library UpLate event
Maggie Mackellar – graft
Dianne Yarwood – The Wakes
Harold Treasure – King’s Spur – “in conversation” with Reading and Writing Coordinator Jasmine Vidler
Claudia Harrison – Dinner First
Kate Gadsby – Convicts, Capitalists and Corruption – Research and Maps Talk to celebrate Orange Family History Group’s 40th anniversary
Colin Bower and Richard Medd – Orchids of Central Western NSW
Beckie Plant – children’s art book Amazing Like You
Sallyanne Pisk – Eating For You
Greg Mutton – 12th Realm – Sci-Fi series
Kamille Roach – former Banjo Paterson Writing Awards winner launched crime novel Pine Creek set in the Central West
Dirty Janes duo Athol Salter and Jane Crowley – launched Beeswax and Tall Tales
Judy Nunn – Black Sheep
Penelope Janu and Pamela Cook – A Country Vet Christmas
Amanda Hampson – The Tea Ladies and The Cryptic Clue
Dr Gregory Smith – Better Than Happiness: The True Antidote to Discontent
Hannah Diviney – I’ll Let Myself In
Hayley Rawsthorne shared her debut children’s book – These Little Feet – at Storytime
Stuart Lloyd – Started Out Drinking Beer – The Mental As Anything Story – “in conversation” with drummer David ‘Bird’ Twohill
David Marr – Killing For Country: A Family Story – “in conversation” with Orange City Librarian Sean Brady
Kim Kelly – Ladies Rest and Writing Room co-winner of the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Novella Publishing Prize
Special 2023 Author Events:
Touring Kids One Library One Book author Nat Amoore with The Right Way to Rock
Touring Adults One Library One Book community read – Dianne Yarwood with The Wakes
Live-streaming annual Sydney Writers Festival in May (2nd Year)
Orange Readers and Writers Festival on the first weekend in August with guest authors – Grantlee Kieza – The Remarkable Mrs Reiby, and Knockout, Yvonne Weldon- Sixty-Seven Days, Adam Courtenay – Mr Todd’s Marvel, Michael Thompson – How to be Remembered and Kim Kelly – The Rat Catcher.