Final Rotunda night

Here's a reminder from Bruno about our final Rotunda event for this year:

Professional Writing and Editing (TAFE) presents

ROTUNDA in the WEST: Conversations with Australian Writers

Michael McGirr -“Lost Art of Sleep”
-“Things you get for free”
-“Bypass: The Story of a Road”
Enza Gandolfo -“Swimming” - recently launched at Melbourne Writers Festival by Helen
Garner and VU lecturer in Professional Writing and Editing
John Weldon -writer of “In Sunshine”(short piece) lecturer in Professional Writing(VU),
former CAE lecturer and much more


Thursday 12th November
6.30pm for 7pm start
@ Toniq BarBuilding M (level 0)
-drinks at bar prices
Footscray Park campus
Victoria University
Ballarat Road
Footscray
$10 or $5 concession (includes finger food)
PLUS MUSIC and SONGS

RSVP (Essential)

-Last Rotunda for 2009
William McInnes as promised will come in 2010

Wave back very soon per favore - let us know you’re coming and put on your dancing shoes http://groups.vu.edu.au/wws/arc/st.albans/2009-11/bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au 0422 29 86 43

Rotunda is proudly supported by
Office for Industry and Community Engagement
Office of Vocational Education

Another Rotunda event

Here's a reminder from Bruno:

Dear Rotundians, dear lovers of books and beautiful language, dear chance visitors to Victoria’s, dear never-beens to Victoria’s (everybody welcome!!)

This is our last chance to gather there for..

An EVENING of

READINGS and MUSIC and delicious food and wine and heartening conversation
(and perhaps some dancing-who knows??)


Guest readers: Poet extraordinaire Kristin Henry
Local legend Barry Garner
“Westgate Sister” Margaret McCarthy
Plus music and songs
Light meal $20
Drinks available from bar

Wednesday 21st October
kicks off @6pm
Victoria’s Restaurant
Building 1
Sunbury Campus
Victoria University

We are strictly limited to 60 places. Please book early. We need exact bookings too

-per favore
RSVP (essential): bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au
0422 298 643
Please give me a wave to let us know message received! Grazie.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PR0FESSIONAL WRITING AND EDITING (TAFE) @ VU

Next Rotunda event (after tonight!)

And news of the next Rotunda event, which will be back in the Toniq Bar...


Just when you thought we'd never be back at the Toniq Bar @ Footscray Park and see that river and that racetrack and those open sports fields.
Just when you thought
Don Watson was only on Bruno's wish list and would never materialise.

Just when you were despairing that public language would never find its vitality and vibrancy and poetry.

Just when you thought music and conversation and wine and camaraderie couldn't all meet in the same space

Rotunda in the West: Conversations with Australian Writers
brought to you by

Professional Writing and Editing (TAFE)

presents

Don Watson,
"American Journeys"
"Recollections of a Bleeding Heart"
"On Indignation"
"Death Sentence-The Decay of Public Language"

Thursday, 17th September 2009
6.30pm for 7pm start

Venue: TONIQ BAR (drinks at bar prices)
Building M (level 0)
Footscray Park campus
Victoria University
Ballarat Road
Footscray

$10 or $5 (concession)

RSVP essential: bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au
0422 29 86 43

Please wave back and tell us you, your friends, your students are coming.
Grazie mille!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rotunda in the West is proudly supported by Office for Industry and Community Engagement
and Office for Vocational Education

Rotunda tonight!

Here's the latest news from Bruno:

Rotunda in the West: Conversations with Australian Writers

in the spirit of community engagement

opens

Brimbank Literary Festival
@ Australian Technical College, Sunshine

A three way PARTNERSHIP between VU, Brimbank Literary Festival and ATC Sunshine

6.30pm
Tuesday 1st September
free event
Venue: ATC Sunshine
76 Suffolk Rd
Sunshine
(wine and finger food served)

Special Guests:

Hannie Rayson (playwright, columnist)
in conversation with

Michael Cathcart (historian, broadcaster)

Please wave back and indicate your interest...open to all.
Just a five minute drive from Rotunda's traditional home.
Please pass on this invitation.

Grazie mille
Bruno Lettieri
0422 29 86 43

bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au

Rotunda in the West is hosted by Professional Writing and Editing (TAFE) @ VU
and
Supported generously by: Office for Industry and Community Engagement
Office of Vocational Education

Details of the next Rotunda event

Fresh in from Bruno:

Rotunda in the West: Conversations with Australian Writers

in the spirit of community engagement

opens

Brimbank Literary Festival
@ Australian Technical College, Sunshine

A three way PARTNERSHIP between VU, Brimbank Literary Festival and ATC Sunshine

6.30pm
Tuesday 1st September
free event
Venue: ATC Sunshine
76 Suffolk Rd
Sunshine
(wine and finger food served)

Special Guests:

Hannie Rayson (playwright, columnist)
in conversation with

Michael Cathcart (historian, broadcaster)

MUSIC AND SONGS: LISA BARTELS and NAOMI EVANS

Please wave back and indicate your interest...open to all.
Just a five minute drive from Rotunda's traditional home.
Please pass on this invitation.

Grazie mille
Bruno Lettieri
0422 29 86 43

bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au

Rotunda in the West is hosted by Professional Writing and Editing (TAFE) @ VU
and
Supported generously by: Office of Community Engagement
Office of Vocational Education

Fresh in from Bruno

Professional Writing and Editing (TAFE) @ Victoria University
Presents

Rotunda in the West: Conversations with Australian Writers
goes to

August Arts =Wyndham Arts Month

Helen Garner :

an afternoon

RETROSPECTIVE
(The Spare Room, Joe Cinque’s Consolation, Cosmo Cosmolino and more)

Plus

Quarter Hour Taster sessions in CREATIVE WRITING (poetry, short short story, non-fiction, life writing)

Saturday 15th August
2pm start for free taster sessions (4 sessions on a speedy rotation)
musical interlude
3.30pm Helen Garner readings


Wyndham Civic Centre
45 Princes Hwy
Werribee (Melways 206 B7)

Free Event

Guests are asked to bring along some wine or soft drinks or a plate for the communal refreshments table

A collaboration between Wyndham Arts and Cultural Development and Rotunda in the West

RSVP (essential): bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au
0422 29 86 43

Please let us know you are coming
Please circulate among friends and fellow students and writers
Wave back and tell us you’re coming.

Grazie!!

Bruno Lettieri

Ps-Look out for Hannie Rayson, Michael Cathcart, Don Watson, William McInnes, Sarah Watt @ Rotunda in the West

Next Rotunda is filling fast

And this is just in from Bruno. Make sure you contact him if you're interested! And, students, please do consider going. I know some of you didn't bother last time because you'd heard it was full, but there is always some space reserved for our students!

Professional Writing and Editing (TAFE)

 

Victoria University

 

presents

 

Rotunda in the West: Conversations with Australian Writers

 

{OPEN TO STUDENTS, FRIENDS, FAMILY,RESIDENTS-Please feel free to spread the word among your colleagues and friends}

 

cartoonist, poet, essayist

Michael Leunig

in conversation with Paul Bateman (State Library of Victoria) and Bruno Lettieri (VU teacher)

 

 

Thursday 4th June,2009

 

6.30pm for 7pm start-please come early, settle yourself in

 

Venue:   Toniq Bar (drinks at bar prices)

Building M Level 0

Footscray PARK campus

Victoria University

Ballarat Road

Footscray

 

$10 or $5 (concession)

 

RSVP-Bruno Lettieri

bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au 

0422 29 86 43

RSVP Essential

Don't delay - wave back and let us know you are receiving our good news

 

Our Rotunda conversations are proudly sponsored by Office of Industry and Community Engagement and Office of Vocational Education

 

 

Enquiries about Creative Writing and Professional Writing and Editing-

Susanna.Bryceson@vu.edu.au  Tel: 9919 2904

Readings at Rotunda

John King hooks the audience in with the beginning of his novel.

How fantastic are our Rotunda nights! Excuse me if I have a little bragging session, but I'm really excited about all that's going on in PWE at the moment. And this session didn't let us down. This session was entertaining and informative -- as you'll see if you read Kathy's report below. Sherryl looked like she was born for the interviewer's chair, and John Clarke was just sensational, and we followed this up with some pretty sensational PWE student readings, which John was generous enough to hang around for and to listen to.

Megan Green gets gritty in her crime novel.

I'm not joking when I say it was generous of John to stick around. I can't tell you how many readings I've been to where the guest readers get up and do their bit and then go off. If there's an open-mic session afterwards, you'll never find them there. They're long gone. And these are people not nearly as well known as John -- perhaps with fame comes grace. No, I know that's not true. It's obviously just something he has.

Christine Kowal shares some poems with the audience.

Many people find it hard to get up and read in front of an audience. Last year, we had Debra Byrne come in and do a performance workshop with the Poetry and Writing for Young Adults students, and for anyone else who wanted to join. I know, as the Poetry teacher, that it was one of the highlights of the year for most of us. Debra's workshop was lots of fun and informative, and I know it helped me deal with my own nerves -- yes, I admit it, even those of us who stand up in front of a class week after week get nervous sometimes. I know some of our readers were nervous, but they covered it well. They all looked like seasoned pros -- no-one rushed, and they all read well. They all read as if they were proud to "own" their work, and so they should be.

Lucia Nardo reads from her Ada Cambridge shortlisted entry.

One of the great benefits of Rotunda, is not just that we're engaging with the wider community, but that it does give our students a chance to strut their stuff. Last year we had performances by the Comedy 1 and Poetry 1 students -- on separate nights. I'm not sure I would've been grateful of the large audience when I was a student, but a few years on I can tell you it would've been good for me. And that's why I was so pleased with our five readers -- their readings was a late addition to the program, but you wouldn't have thought so. They looked very well prepared and did themselves proud. Thanks, guys, for having the guts to put your work out there. And, I can tell you from looking around, which I know you were too busy to do, that it was all very well received.

Hugh Deacon has everyone in stitches with his story.

John Clarke comes to Rotunda

John Clarke in coversation with our own Sherryl Clark

John Clarke was just as you imagine him to be.  Down-to-earth and straightforward.  Answering the question on everybody's lips of Why don't you ever dress up and pretend to be the person you are impersonating, he replied that he's not so good as an actor, and much better at just being himself, so rather than try and reconstruct the politicians, he deconstructs them.  (Follow that?)

Like most of us, he hates pitching to the hierarchy to get his ideas across.  Maybe we all need an agent at some time?  His conversation about his early difficult home and school life gave an interesting insight: "It's nice to be getting paid for what I got kicked out of school for".  Perhaps careers advisers might note that?  

As a mature-aged student, it was enjoyable to take my husband whose only contribution to this blog post is "the audience were in awe of him.  Everybody was silent and totally attentive".  When asked if he'd have a blog, John replied "Never", which made some of us squirm a little, but then he added "I just don't have time".  He did however, have time to chat while signing books, and to stay and listen to the five readings at the end of the night.  

One of the messages I came away with was to be true to your own style, and to write for the audience.  Try to remember what it's like to be the audience looking back at you.

Kathy Mexted

News from the trenches

Well, the term's quickly wrapping up. Sherryl and I came in today to be part of a panel, along with Christine, Julianne and Sue, for Industry Overview. The students were split into groups and each group got one of us to interview for five minutes, and then had to devise further questions to interview us in front of the whole class. I hope the students found it interesting and productive. I know I did. I learnt things about some of my fellow teachers that I'd never known before!

This week the five students involved in shortlisting for the Ada Cambridge and I met to have our shortlisting meeting. These students have been busy reading all of the stories and ranking them so that we could come up with a shortlist of ten stories to be passed on to the final judges. These ten stories will all be published in a booklet that will be available after announcement of the winner at the Williamstown Literary Festival. It's an interesting process, and one of the students is going to blog about it for me, so I won't say too much here, except that we came to our decision without the need to spill any blood, which is always a good thing.

This last week, we've also had the Poetry Bus -- I haven't heard any reports of this yet, but Kristin Henry is always a terrific reader and poet -- and Paul Mitchell and Lisa Gorton are great too, so I'm sure it was a brilliant night. (I'll see if I can get someone to write us a report). 

In other Rotunda news, our next event is Sherryl Clark interviewing satirist John Clarke on 23 April, which promises to be hilarious. (Venue yet to be announced.) If you're interested, you'd better let Bruno know fast, because he's already had a mountain of interest. Email Bruno if you want to go (bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au). It's $5 for students or unwaged people, and $10 for everyone else.

In the meantime, you students will be on your mid-semester break. I hope you'll all be doing lots of writing. I know we teachers will be!

Happy writing!

Tracey Rolfe

Students from the Ada Cambridge shortlisting panel (from L to R): 

Melinda Hall, Andrew Mead, Rhiannon Lacy, Andrew Ellis and John King

Rotunda Rocks

Rotunda nights are a must! Get yourself to the next one and the one after that – hell, just go to them all. March 6 Rotunda was as entertaining as ever and excellent food and a great bar were nicely on hand. The fabulous, Bruno Lettieri provided the audience with his usual enthusiastic intro to guest speaker, Portland Magazine Editor and American writer, Brian Doyle. Brian was amusing, intelligent and generous with his time, even stopping halfway through to reflect on the recent bushfire tragedy we Victorians have suffered.

For any writer/editor with serious aspirations, you really need to come along to events like this. It’s a chance to listen to those more travelled who are willing to share insight and motivation to those of us far less travelled. It’s also a chance to get your name firmly in the mindset of those who matter within the industry, provided you’re prepared to stand up and put yourself ‘out there’. (Sometimes this means making a bit of dolt of yourself, as I did by giving the James Button, Age reporter and now Speech Writer for the Prime Minister, a deadline to submit for Platform. But, hey, at least he’ll remember me.)

Mingling, with respect and openness, has afforded me some great contacts in the writing world. As a student, I’ve made sure I’ve put my name down for everything, gone to every event possible and above all, treated everyone: teachers, peers and industry heavyweights with the value they deserve.

It’s easy as a fledgling student to feel slightly dismissive of these sorts of writing events. But therein lies your first mistake. If you are someone serious about being a writer/editor, you can’t afford to pass up any opportunities that could make the difference to your career. Submit to every uni publication going, attend every event and get out into your local community. Find out what you can write/edit for and send it in.

Confidence is everything in this game and the more faith you have in what you do, the more likely you are to succeed. Listen to your teachers, (they actually know what they are talking about) and take on board the advice given from the many invaluable sources our course provides.

Good luck.

Megan Green

Welcome to our student blog

Hi, everyone,

And welcome to the student blog. We're only three weeks into the semester and already it seems like everything is happening.

A couple of weeks ago, Sherryl and I attended the launch of Scribe's new publication New Australian stories, edited by Aviva Tuffield. It's always exciting to see a new book come out, particularly a short story collection, but this one was more so than usual for us because one of our past students, Demet Divaroven, has a story there. (And it was one she workshopped in one of Sherryl's classes!) Demet's story sits very well alongside those of authors such as Margo Lanagan, Carmel Bird, Cate Kennedy, Max Barry and Michael McGirr, and it was terrific to see her up on stage as a reader on the night. It was also lovely to see another of our students, Karen Sertori, there, supporting Demet. Friendship groups, which often become workshop groups after the course has finished, are one of the great benefits of doing a course. Keep a watch out for photos of the night -- if I can find the cord to upload the photos! In the meantime, keep an eye on Demet. She was shortlisted last year for the Vogel Award, and we just know there are lots of exciting times ahead for her!

Sherryl and I have also been out and about to the poetry reading at The Bank in Yarraville, where Margaret McCarthy, one of our PWE teachers, read along with Paul Mitchell, Lisa Gorton and Jillian Pattinson. This reading, which was part of the Yarraville Festival, was also the first of our Rotunda events for the year and was very well attended.

Our next Rotunda event is this Friday night -- The Age writer James Button in conversation with US essayist Brian Doyle. If you regularly attend Rotunda nights, you'll know how great these are, but just be aware that this one is at a different venue to usual: it's at the Terrace Restaurant at the Footscray Nicholson campus (the campus is on the corner of Albert and Pilgrim Streets). It's almost booked out, so if you do want to come, you'd better respond to Bruno pronto (bruno.lettieri@vu.edu.au). Admission prices are still $10 or $5 concession.

If you're looking for something a bit different, there's the poetry bus tour with poets Kristin Henry, Paul Mitchell and Lisa Gorton (to be confirmed) on Friday 27 March at 6 pm, departing from the Footscray Nicholson Campus. The bus will be visiting a range of venues including piers and rotundas in the Williamstown, Altona and Westgate Bridge areas. Tickets are $15 or $10 concession, and you'll need to book with Bruno. BYO picnic basket, torch and wine bottle!

Tracey Rolfe

Karen Sertori and Demet Divaroven at the launch of New Australian Stories