The Wheeler Centre Gala 2013: Where the Wild Things Are
Let the wild rumpus start!
The Wheeler Centre kicks off our first season of events with a celebration of storytelling that revels in the deepest recesses of the imagination. This year, we dedicate our dearest tradition – our annual Gala Night – to a classic work celebrating its fiftieth birthday. Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are has captivated generations of children – and inspired countless creative artists to travel to their dark sides and back … in time for dinner.
We’ve gathered a diverse tribe of eleven Australian writers to take this much-loved classic as inspiration for their own creative work, to be performed at the Town Hall. There will be poets and dramatists, essayists and fiction writers, journalists and lyricists – with works that will transport you to faraway lands, explore the wildness within and ultimately transcend.
They’ll roar their terrible roars, gnash their terrible teeth and show their terrible claws. (Or something like that, anyway.)
Join us at the Town Hall for an imaginary journey like no other – a communal celebration of storytelling with some of Australia’s best creative minds.
What better way to start the new year?
We’ll open the night with a screening of Oslo Davis’ short film Melbhattan.
Twitter: #wildthings
All profits go to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
Featuring
Luka Lesson is a poet and rap artist of Greek heritage. His work engages with the history of his family homeland, the fiercely political and the vulnerably self-reflective. Luka has worked with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Akala (UK), Dr Cornel West (USA) and the National Gallery of Victoria. ... Read more
Josephine Rowe was born in 1984 in Rockhampton and raised in Melbourne. Her novel, A Loving, Faithful Animal, was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice and led to her being named a 2017 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist. Her work has... Read more
Monica Dux is a writer and commentator. She is the author of Lapsed: losing your religion is harder than it looks (HarperCollins ABC Books, 2021), Things I Didn’t Expect (when I was expecting) (MUP, 2013), co-author of The Great Feminist Denial (MUP, 2008), and editor of the anthology Mothermorpho... Read more
Alison Lester grew up on a farm by the sea, and first rode a horse as a baby in her father’s arms. Her picture books mix imaginary worlds with everyday life, encouraging children to believe in themselves and celebrate the differences that make them special. Alison is involved in many community... Read more
Anthony Morgan has been working as a stand up comic since 1982. Anthony has performed his conversational stand up across Australia, as well as in London, Manchester and twice at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1998 Anthony stunned the comedy industry and his management by announcing on stage in front of ... Read more
David Marr is the author of Patrick White: A Life, Panic, The High Price of Heaven and Dark Victory (with Marian Wilkinson). He has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, the Saturday Paper, the Guardian and the Monthly, and been editor... Read more
Hannie Rayson is a playwright and screenwriter best known for Hotel Sorrento. Hannie Rayson has established a reputation for topical, complex dramas written with wit and insight. A graduate of Melbourne University and the Victorian College of the Arts, she has an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from L... Read more
Clare Bowditch is a musician, broadcaster, sometimes actor, speaker, entrepreneur, and just recently became a top-ten, best-selling author. Somewhat of a slashie you might say. She has won the coveted ARIA Award for Best Female for her music, the Rolling Stone Woman of the Year Award for her contr... Read more
Robyn Davidson was born on a cattle property in Queensland. She moved to Sydney in the late Sixties, returning to study in Brisbane before going to Alice Springs to prepare for her journey across the Australian desert. Davidson’s first book Tracks was an international sensation, and was adapted in... Read more
Arnold Zable is a highly acclaimed novelist, storyteller and human rights advocate. His works include Scraps of Heaven, Violin Lessons, The Fighter, which was shortlisted for a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and a New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, and his most recent work The Wat... Read more
Bruce Pascoe is a Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man born in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. He’s the author of the best-selling Dark Emu, Young Dark Emu: A Truer History, Loving Country: A Guide to Sacred Australia and over thirty other books including the short story collections Night Animals... Read more
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