Life Writing classes have been held twice a year nearly every year since 2009.
Each course is held over 8 days and is limited to 8 people.
Collections of short stories written by 54 of the participants during the courses have been published as “While the Music Lasts” and the follow-up volume “And the Beat Goes On.” Both volumes have been very successful and current and future courses will doubtless lead to further collections.
For information about courses, contact me by email.
Fourth Wall Down ...
Mostly actors pretend that no-one is watching them, while ensuring they can be seen and heard. The pretend barrier they call the Fourth Wall.
When an actor giving a naturalistic performance broaches the Fourth Wall it’s a surprise for the audience though the actor knows the effect she is having. When the Fourth Wall is down we as an audience feel we are part of the action.
Anna Volska
You may remember the trio of children’s books published way back in 2011 and 2012?
Ducks Crossing and the Secret Shadow, Ducks Crossing and Thunderbolt Island, Ducks Crossing and the Hungry Dingo.
In each book, Alison, Owen (AKA The Hawk), Lily, and the twins Meg and Chaz were the key characters in mighty adventures that took place on the
Central Coast of New South Wales in the mid 1950s. Did you, erstwhile reader, ever speculate about what became of those children?
(Alison, the oldest, was 12 at the time). Where did their lives take them after their idyllic childhoods? Did they ever come back as
adults to the Central Coast? Yes indeed they did!
As the 20th century was about to end, they left behind their various lives in various countries to re-unite on their childhood stamping ground.
This was the time when the world was poised for a possible catastrophe: the tipping point moment of midnight 1999,
when the Y2K bug was widely held to be threatening apocalypse.
The story is unfolding. Stay tuned!
Helen Menzies with Actor John Bell launching her latest book, a collection of two novellas,
The HARBOUR MYSTERIES:
The Body in the Bridge. Whose body? How did it get there? And when? Retired teacher Bax, her former student – now policewoman – Lauren, and famous journalist Kate McClymont delve into the underworld of the “other Sydney” of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Pinchgut Paradox. The island in the Harbour with a grisly convict past is the present-day setting for an attempted murder. Who is the target? And why? Bax is back, with Jeremy, another former student, and Charles, a retired barrister, as they confront more red herrings than there are sharks in the waters surrounding Pinchgut.
The Harbour Mysteries is now available at The Book Store in Umina, at Wagstaffe Store and through this website.
