Authors & Artists
The 2009 Aireys Festival of Words program features a range of talented and successful Victorian authors and artists who will entertain and inspire audiences from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 August.
Here is some background information on our guests for this year.
Demir Aliu
Local musician Demir Aliu is an intuitive sound artist whose performances and workshops offer dynamic opportunities to explore the feeling and interaction between sounds and words.
Demir is currently the facilitator of a Full Moon Sound Meditation group in Ocean Grove and conducts the Divine Dance sound and movement sessions at Bellbrae Hall. He performs solo and with vocalist and dancer Natasha Doan, creating soundscapes of song. Demir approaches the creation of sound as an intuitive, organic expression of self that provides further possibilities of enriching one’s life.
For the Festival Damir is conducting a sound workshop in which participants will have the opportunity to create an organic soundscape using words, toning and supplied instruments.
Anglesea Performing Arts
Anglesea Performing Arts Inc. has a well-earned reputation on the Surf Coast for presenting highly innovative theatre of an excellent standard. This talented ensemble of actors, formed under the direction of Iris Walshe-Howling six years ago, has challenged and delighted the expectations of audiences with an eclectic range of theatre experience.
For the Festival Janine McKenzie, Genevieve Roberts, Valda Conolly, Nikki Watson, Liz Gustus and Kirstyn Honey perform Peter Handke’s one-act play Self Accusation.
Iris Walshe-Howling has directed this ‘Sprechstucke’ or speak-in, in which the actors create theatre from a text that points to the world not by way of pictures but by way of words. The speak-in employs natural examples of self-indictment, confession, swearing, testimony, interrogation, justification, evasion, prophecy and calls for help. It is theatrical inasmuch as it employs natural forms of expression found in reality.
John Bartlett
John Bartlett’s features, essays and stories have been widely published. His first novel, Towards a Distant Sea, was released by Indra Publishing in 2005 and a collection of his short stories, All Mortal Flesh, was published in March of this year.
John has conducted classes and workshops in creative writing for the past eight years and teaches Professional Writing at Deakin University in Geelong.
For the Festival John is taking a workshop entitled Writing Short Stories: Trusting the Unexpected. Participants will be encouraged to trust the unexpected fragments of words that will be revealed through a series of activities and exercises to awaken the subconscious ‘writer’ and to learn ways of shaping them into completed work. At the end of the workshop participants will have the ‘bones’ of a piece of short fiction and ideas for how these can be shaped into a more polished work for possible publication.
David Campbell
David Campbell is a local writer who has won a number of literary awards in recent years for short stories and poetry (both traditional and free verse). He has contributed to three poetry books for children, and in 2007 published Skycatcher, an anthology of original Australian bush verse, and Morning Light, a collection of short stories. David has won the written section of the Victorian Bush Poetry Championships for the last four years and is also a freelance contributor to major metropolitan newspapers.
Allan Campion
Allan Campion started as an apprentice chef at age 16 and has worked in Australia, Ireland, England and Turkey. Food travels have brought him further afield to eat in Egypt, India, Nepal, Japan, Spain, France, Italy and most recently Singapore and Vietnam.
Together with Michele Curtis, Allan began the successful Foodies' Diary in 1995 as a way to remind food lovers about the importance of using fresh, seasonal ingredients. The Foodies' Guide to Melbourne followed soon after and explores the city's very best food stores. Both books continue today as annual releases. Many other popular titles followed including Tucker for Tots, Chilli Jam, Sizzle!, Campion and Curtis in the Kitchen, Every Day Cooking and Food with Friends.
The latest Campion & Curtis cookbook (number 30) is titled In The Kitchen, a giant 1000-plus recipe tome covering everything the home cook will ever need. Allan founded Melbourne Food Tours in 2004 and Melbourne Cooking Classes in 2008.
For more information visit www.campionandcurtis.com
Sophie Cunningham
Sophie Cunningham worked in publishing for 15 years, ten of which she spent as a senior publisher of innovative fiction and non-fiction. These days she works full time as a writer and journalist, as well as being editor of Meanjin. Her journalism includes travel writing, cultural analysis, and writing on Buddhism and television.
Her first novel, Geography, was published by Text Publishing in 2004 and her second, Bird, will be out in June of this year. This spellbinding new novel is an exquisite depiction of the equivocal bond between mother and daughter, and the search for identity through Buddhism.
Sophie has begun to research a third novel, based on the early years of Leonard and Virginia Woolf's relationship.
For more information visit www.sophiecunningham.com
Deborah Forster
Deborah Foster grew up in Footscray, Melbourne. She worked as a staff and freelance journalist for many years and was a ‘This Life’ columnist for The Age and The Sunday Age.
Deborah is married to Alan Kohler and they have three children. Her first novel, The Book of Emmett, is a heart wrenching story of the Brown family. This novel about hope and love and surviving has been described as one that makes you hug those you love ever tighter.
Dr Ian Freckleton
Dr Ian Freckelton is a Senior Counsel in full-time practice as a barrister in Melbourne. He is also a Professor of Law, Forensic Medicine and Forensic Psychology at Monash University. He has been a member of many tribunals including the Medical Practitioners Board, the Mental Health Review Board, the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, the Disciplinary Appeals Board and the Northern Football League Tribunal.
Ian is the author and editor of over 30 books and more than 400 articles on expert evidence, coroners, compensation law, medical law, mental health and the law, forensic science, policing, and criminal law. He is the Victorian President of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law and the editor of the Journal of Law and Medicine. 
His book on Death Investigation and the Coroner's Inquest (OUP, 2006) was shortlisted as Australia's scholarly book of the year. His most recent book (with Hugh Selby) is Appealing to the Future: Michael Kirby and His Legacy (Thomson, 2009).
Nick Gadd
Nick Gadd grew up in Yorkshire and migrated to Australia in 1990. He has worked among other things as an ESL teacher, television extra, editor and speechwriter. Ghostlines is Nick’s first novel and was the winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript in 2007. It was published by Scribe in 2008 and selected as 'Read of the Week' by the Sunday Age. The story centres on Philip Trudeau, a once-respected investigative
journalist who has stepped on the wrong toes. Sent to cover what appears to be a tragic yet routine death at a level crossing, Philip is drawn into a multilayered mystery that involves art theft, political intrigue, and business corruption. This novel seamlessly weaves aspects of Australian art history into an engrossing narrative that is part thriller, part psychological realism, and part ghost story.
Nick lives in the western suburbs of Melbourne with his wife and two daughters.
Tim Gibson
Tim Gibson is a retired academic, now living in Fairhaven. He has enjoyed doing battle with cryptic crossword compilers for most of his life, and has presented lecture courses and workshops on the art of solving cryptics. One of his favourite memories is of sitting on the top of a double-decker bus, travelling through the Hampshire countryside on the way to work (while on sabbatical leave in the UK), and trying to complete the Guardian crossword – not always successfully!
Jacinta Halloran
Jacinta Halloran is a GP and writer. She has written on medical science for the Sunday Age and has had two short stories published. Her first novel, Dissection, was shortlisted for the 2007 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript. In it the world of Dr Anna McBride begins to fray at the edges after she is sued for medical negligence.
Her daily work as a doctor, once routine, becomes increasingly difficult as she scrutinises her every action and questions her worth. Will her work, her marriage, her family survive?
Jacinta, who lives in Melbourne with her husband and three sons, is now working on her second novel.
Caroline Hawkins
Caroline Hawkins has been a mosaic artist for over ten years and has worked on several community mosaic projects along the Surf Coast. Over the last few years she has been adapting her skills into a new form of art, ‘bark mosaics’, that differs to the original bark painting with the bark being used in mosaic style. Most recently she has been exploring alternative applications for bark strips, such as weaving.
Caroline’s long-held passion for the environment is now being incorporated into her art as she investigates environmentally friendly materials and processes and methods of including sustainability concepts into community art projects.
Rosalie Ham
Rosalie Ham’s first novel, The Dressmaker, was published in 2000. It was short listed for the Christina Stead prize for fiction in the NSW Premier’s Literary awards and nominated for Vision Australia’s Braille Book of the year as well as the Booksellers Association book of the year award. The Dressmaker was on the VCE Readers list for Literature as well as the CAE book club list and has sold nearly 50,000 copies in Australia, France and Germany. It has been optioned for a film, currently under development.
Rosalie wrote her second novel, Summer at Mount Hope (2005), a story of expectations amid adversity in 1894, as the creative writing component for her Master of Arts. She teaches English Literature at Trinity College, Melbourne University and is writing her third novel.
Rodney Hyett
After a six year stint as an architectural photographer in Melbourne, Rodney Hyett returned to the coast in 1987 and settled in Port Campbell, chosen for its uncrowded waves and dramatic coastline. A detour into ceramics was quickly corrected and since then Rodney has self-published four books and 12 calendars on the Great Ocean Road.
Robert Ingpen
Robert Ingpen, is one of Australia’s most successful illustrators and has written and illustrated more than 100 published books, both fiction and non-fiction. In 1986 he became the only Australian to be awarded the coveted international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration.
Robert’s illustrations are known and loved throughout the world, and bring to life the characters in his centenary editions of The Jungle Book, Peter Pan and Wendy, Treasure Island, The Wind in the Willows and A Christmas Carol. Recently he has written and illustrated the inspiring story of Sir Donald Bradman, The Boy From Bowral: The Story of Sir Donald Bradman.
Other well known books include The Dreamkeeper, Ziba Came On A Boat and The Voyage of the Poppykettle. Highly anticipated and soon to be released later this year is the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
John Jenkins
John Jenkins lives in Kangaroo Ground, on the rural fringe of Greater Melbourne, near the Yarra Valley. As well as poetry, he writes variously on music, travel and the arts. He has written, co-written or edited about 20 books across several categories, as well as a great many reviews and articles.
John’s poetry has been extensively anthologised and broadcast. His most recent titles are Growing Up With Mr Menzies (John Leonard Press, 2008); the verse novel, A Break in the Weather (Modern Writing Press, 2003) and the poetry collection Dark River (Five Islands Press, 2003) and he has also published a non-fiction travel book Travelers' Tales of Old Cuba (Ocean Press, 2002). John's hobbies and interests include tree planting, wine tasting and horse 'whispering' – and sometimes shouting, when they don't take any notice.
Chrissie Keighery
Chrissie Keighery is the author of 35 books for children and young adults, including her stories in the Go Girl! and Star School series under her married name, Chrissie Perry.
Outside In (to be published August 2009) is her first stand alone novel for Young Adults. Through seven very different characters, and charting seven very different emotional and physical journeys, it explores the idea that teenage lives are not always as they appear from the outside.
A former high school English teacher, Chrissie lives in Fairhaven with her husband and three children.
Cate Kennedy
Cate Kennedy is the author of two poetry collections (Signs of Other Fires, 2001, and Joyflight, 2004) and a memoir about her time living and working in Mexico called Sing, and Don't Cry: A Mexican Journal (Transit Lounge, 2005). She is best known, however, for her short fiction, which has appeared in many publications in Australia and internationally. Her short story collection Dark Roots, (Scribe Publications, 2006) was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier's Prize and the Australian Literature Medal, and is published in the US and the UK by Grove and Atlantic Books respectively.
Cate’s debut novel, The World Beneath, will be published by Scribe in September 2009. Cate is also a playwright and in 2007 adapted Charles Waterstreet's memoir Precious Bodily Fluids for the stage. She is currently researching and writing Ladies Bring a Plate, a new play about the Queen's 1954 tour of Australia.
Cate lives in north east Victoria and occasionally teaches writing workshops, especially in the short story form, which remains her passion.
Kate Legge
Kate Legge is an award-winning journalist who has covered politics and social affairs in Australia and the United States. She edited The Australian's Review of Books in 1997 and now writes for The Weekend Australian Magazine. She is married with two children and lives in Melbourne.
The Unexpected Elements of Love was Kate's first novel, which was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her newly released novel is The Marriage Club, a confronting and passionate story that explores questions of who we marry and why – and whether we can ever truly know another person, even when we share their life.
Alison Lester
Alison Lester is one of Australia’s best-loved children’s authors and illustrators, with such classics as Magic Beach, Imagine, My Farm, The Quicksand Pony and Are We There Yet? guaranteeing her a lasting place in Australian children’s literature.
Alison trained as an art teacher and began illustrating children’s books when her first baby arrived. She soon found herself becoming ‘picky’ about the texts, which led to her writing her first story – Clive Eats Alligators. She’s been producing best-sellers every since, with many of her books informed by her own 
childhood on a farm near the Gippsland coast.
Much of Alison’s time is spent working with children in schools, often in remote communities. In 2005 she travelled to Antarctica as an Australian Antarctic Arts Fellow, sharing the adventure via email with children all over the country. Alison is a warm and funny speaker whose rich life has informed many wonderful children’s books.
Brendan McAloon
Brendan McAloon is an award-winning writer, filmmaker and television producer living in Anglesea. He has written feature articles for a wide range of magazines, both in Australia and overseas.
Brendan has collaborated with renowned cinematographer Jon Frank on a number of surf films, including Inner Visions and Mick, Myself & Eugene, and was a finalist in the 2008 Melbourne International Film Festival short film competition. He founded Rip Curl’s Search TV television series and was series producer of television programming from surfing’s elite ASP World Tour.
Brendan’s first book, Deep Water, has just been published. Charting his journey around the globe in search of perfect surf, it has received praise from the likes of author Martin Flanagan who says, “Each story is like a wave, ridden with respect and verbal agility.”
Maureen McCarthy
Maureen McCarthy is the ninth of ten children and grew up on a farm near Yea in Victoria. After working as an art teacher, she became a full-time writer. Her novels have been shortlisted for numerous awards and include the In Between series, which was adapted from scripts Maureen co-wrote with Shane Brennan for SBS TV; Ganglands; Cross My Heart; Chain of Hearts; Flash Jack; and When You Wake and Find Me Gone. Her bestselling and much-loved book Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude get a life was made into a highly successful four-part mini-series for ABC TV.
Maureen’s most recent novel, Somebody’s Crying followed her first work to be published by Allen & Unwin, Rose by any other name. Described by the publishers as a compulsive read from a master storyteller Somebody’s Crying features intensely real characters who draw readers deep into a world of suspicion, betrayal, desire and redemption.
Maureen has three sons and lives in Melbourne.
John McSweeney
Some years ago John McSweeney wanted to frame a drawing of his kids, so he invested in some picture framing equipment and started framing. Business took off. Now, 25 years later, he still hasn’t framed that drawing, but he’s framed a heap of other things along the way.
John now runs his own picture framing business in Ocean Grove, framing for artists, photographers, retail outlets and of course the general public. He has travelled overseas teaching picture framing techniques and has assisted small businesses in under developed countries.
John reckons just about anything can be framed and his presentation for the Festival, “Everyone has something in the drawer that needs framing” (including the framer) will not only look at the most appropriate way to frame conventional items but will discuss framing those odd little things like – spark plugs!
Shane Maloney
Shane Maloney is one of Australia's most popular novelists. His award-winning and much loved Murray Whelan series – Stiff, The Brush-Off, Nice Try, The Big Ask, Something Fishy and Sucked In – is characterised by a strong sense of humour and an acute sense of Melbourne's political and cultural nuances. The first two novels were turned into acclaimed telemovies starring David Wenham.
In the most recent addition to the Murray Whelan collection, Sucked In,
Murray, now pushing 50, has a crack at federal politics and – as always – finds himself in hot, deep water.
Shane has been described by the press as ‘brilliant’ and ‘one of the funniest writers in the land’ and his work has been published in the UK, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, Finland and the US.
For more information visit www.shanemaloney.com
Karen Martin
Karen Martin is an artist, director, performer, and writer. She has extensive theatre experience in both a professional and community arts capacity. Her performance scripts include: Drowning in her Soup, Don’t Tell Me I’m Glowing, and Shoes of Desire Pt 1. Karen was awarded the prestigious Ewa Czajor Memorial Award in 2001 for her work on The Women's Jail Project, which she toured to Ireland, and she is a recipient of the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship (St James Ethic Centre). She is also a co contributor to The Women Circus Book.
For the Festival Karen will lead a Working towards a Playscript Workshop, which will explore processes of summoning one’s muse and finding inspiration to put pen to paper. It will include visualisation, images and writing games to help participants create various types of playscript.
Darren Matthews
Darren Matthews has exhibited sculptures and unique furniture at Eagles Nest Art Gallery in Aireys Inlet for the last ten years. He presented the Aireys Festival of Words Sculpture Trail in 2007 and 2008 using themes that connected the coastal community with culture, history and its unique lifestyle.
Darren’s artwork explores the partnership and combination of individually selected old and new materials for the construction of art pieces. Through his creative imagination and great visual perception, abstract combinations of stone, metal and wood are combined to create inspiring art pieces sold all over Australia.
This year Darren presents his third Sculpture Trail for the Festival, which will connect with this year’s arts theme ‘fluid’.
Mattski
Having played in ska bands, rock bands and all sorts of musical groups, local musician Mattski found a cupboard door, his favourite guitars and decided to go solo. The result has seen him create a collection of original material that digs into roots traditions with a heap of blues and lashings of dub and reggae along the way.
Patrick O’Neil
Thirty-year-old Patrick O’Neil was born in Melbourne and still lives there most of the time. He scraped through an Arts degree with majors in English and Politics, and then embarked on a largely inglorious career as a newspaper journalist. He has spent every cent he’s ever made on travelling.
Tripping from the Sahara Desert to the Amazonian jungle, Patrick’s first novel Sideways reveals that the way forward isn't always straight ahead. It has been described as a wild ride memoir of a young man throwing himself at the world, seeking enlightenment, direction, experience and (mis)adventure.
Sonia Orchard
Sonia Orchard has a background in classical music, marine biology, teaching, cooking and scuba-diving, as well as an impressive array of menial jobs that enabled her to travel through 30-odd countries during her twenties. She has written for Lonely Planet, The Age, The Age Cheap Eats, and a variety of magazines and has a PhD in Creative Writing from RMIT, where she also teaches.
Sonia’s first book, Something More Wonderful (Hodder Headline, 2003), hit Number 3 on the national bestseller list for biography. Her second book, The Virtuoso (Fourth Estate, Feb 2009), a novel inspired by the brilliant and tragic life of Australian concert pianist Noel Mewton-Wood, has received rave reviews, and went into a second print run within a week of its release.
Sonia lived and surfed on the Surf Coast for five years, but now lives in Melbourne with her husband and two daughters.
Christos Raskatos
Anyone who has been fortunate enough to wander into the famous Lorne Fishermen’s Co-Op on the Lorne pier will undoubtedly have been surprised to discover a rare and passionate bard, the talented Christos Raskatos. A wonderful, raw, energetic and humorous poet, Christos exhibited a love of literature and writing at the tender age of ten. He cites as his inspiration a love of the ancients, the beauty of Lorne, and his girlfriend, ‘the goddess’.
Robyn Rowland
Dr Robyn Rowland AO has published nine books, six of them poetry, as well as essays and reviews. Her work has been published in Australia, Ireland, Japan, Canada, the US and New Zealand and has often been featured on Australian radio. Robyn is known for her moving readings and a 100 minute selection of her work can now be heard on her CD, Off the tongue. Her powerful collection Silence and its tongues was shortlisted for the 2007 Judith Wright Poetry Prize.
Previously Professor of Social Inquiry at Deakin University, Robyn, spent 18 years creating critiques of reproductive technology and genetic engineering (‘Living Laboratories Women and Reproductive Technology’, 1992). Her work was used by national and international committees in framing legislation, and she has addressed England’s House of Lords on embryo experimentation. She was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for her contribution to higher education and women's health in 1996, retiring that year after breast cancer and burnout.
Robyn is currently Deputy Chair of the inaugural Board of the Australian Poetry Centre (2007-2009) and an Honorary Fellow, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne.
For more information visit www.robynrowland.com
Denise Scott
Denise Scott has been treading the boards for longer than she cares to remember, but it is this wealth of experience that makes her one the country’s strongest live comic performers. Since she began in comedy in the early 1980’s, ‘Scotty’ has been making people laugh with her blend of personal stories and topical observations.
Scotty has received two Barry Award nominations for Best Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, has toured Australia as part of the Festival’s Roadshow, was part of the Vega 91.5.breakfast radio team and is a regular contestant on ABC TV’s Spicks and Specks.
Her first book All That Happened at Number 26 is a memoir relaying various amusing tales of moving into a house with her husband, his circus equipment, a king-sized futon sans base, a Ventolin inhaler (to cope with stress-induced asthma), no savings and a newborn baby.
Meredith Thomas
Meredith Thomas lives in Melbourne, where she works as an artist. Ever since she was a child she has loved to visit the beach. For her, the ocean is like a giant paintbox. Her book Rainbows of the Sea is her celebration of the beauty and energy of the ocean.
Meredith’s first book, Paper Shapes, showed readers how to make exquisite paper sculptures and she will share this skill in her paper sculpture workshops at the Festival.
Chris Wallace-Crabbe
Chris Wallace-Crabbe is a Melbourne poet and art critic. He has won the Dublin Prize for Arts and Letters (1987) and The Age Book of the Year Prize (1995). His latest books of poetry are the ludic epic, The Universe Looks Down (Brandl and Schlesinger) and his new collection, Telling a Hawk from a Handsaw (Carcanet Oxford Poets). Chris chairs the Australian Poetry Centre in Balaclava, and has holidayed for forty years on the Great Ocean Road.
Linda Waters
Linda Waters was a paintings conservator at the National Gallery of Victoria for over 15 years. She now lives permanently in Point Lonsdale and undertakes work for various state institutions. As well as being a paintings conservator, she has a great love of nature and the coast.
For the Festival Linda will uncover ‘The Secret Life of Paintings’. Focussing on paintings of the sea and the sky, she will show what the public rarely sees – some of the conservation work that goes on behind the scenes before paintings go on display. Participants will see beautiful images of paint and paintings through the conservator’s eyes, and find out about the life some paintings have lead both in and out of the museum.
Trudy White
Trudy White is an artist and author who moved to Aireys Inlet last year, leaving behind her studio in the middle of Melbourne for some fresh sea air and space to think.
The author and illustrator of Table of Everything, Japan Diary and Could You? Would You?, she also illustrated Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief.
Could You? Would You? (Allen & Unwin 2006) is a book of questions to bring people together through talking and exploring ideas.
Trudy started out as a painter before beginning to write fiction, and has exhibited her artwork since 1990. An eternal student and well-known teacher, she holds a Masters Degree in Fine Art and teaches special projects at schools, universities and at ArtPlay in Melbourne.
She is currently undertaking an Honorary Creative Fellowship at the State Library of Victoria, to create a new book.
Red Whyte
With 11 solo albums under his belt, Red Whyte is a mixed show bag of true Surf Coast talent. An entertaining, spiritual and energetic performer, Red displays extraordinary mastery within his music composition.
Red is not only a talented and committed musician but is also a unique photographer, brilliant artist and a dedicated surfer.
Spencer Zifcak
Spencer Zifcak is Professor of Law and Director of the Institute of Legal Studies at the Australian Catholic University and a Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Bristol. He has acted as a consultant to the United Nations and in that capacity assisted with the drafting of the Constitution of Timor-Leste. His principal research interests are in international, constitutional and human rights law.
His recently published work United Nations Reform: Heading North Or South? examines the attempts to reform the United Nations initiated by the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the wake of the institutional crisis provoked by the invasion of Iraq. It also considers proposals to recast UN policy in relation to the use of force in international affairs, humanitarian intervention and counter-terrorism. Founded upon extensive interviews with senior diplomats at the United Nations, the book provides a rare ‘insider’ account of UN politics and practice.
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