Literary La Trobe
Episodes
Where’s All the Community?: Aboriginal Melbourne Revisited (2026 Launches at the Library)
25 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this important and engaging conversation Professor Julie Andrews discusses her new book, Where Are All the Community? Aboriginal Melbourne Revisite...
Shared Reading
14 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
La Trobe University lecturers Sarah James from Sociology and Juliane Roemhild from English discuss the practise of shared reading, a group experience ...
Creative Freshness
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2024 acclaimed Australian writer and La Trobe University Adjunct Research Fellow Christos Tsiolkas was one of the judges of the Melbourne Prize for...
Prove It (2025 Launches at the Library)
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Award-winning science journalist and former Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at La Trobe University, Elizabeth Finkel, discusses her latest book, Prove It: ...
Five Words That Shaped Australia
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Alexis Harley and Dr Tom Ford like to yabber – that’s a Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung word – and they are both fascinated by the etymologies and liv...
Writing Beginnings (2025 Writers on Campus)
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Author and creative writing lecturer Catherine Padmore engages in conversation with two La Trobe postgraduate researchers and writers: Tara Calaby, wh...
The Sandhurst Mechanics' Institute and Lives of Poets
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Sandhurst Mechanics' Institute opened in 1854 and for more than fifty years held the largest book collection in Bendigo. In this lively conversati...
Diving, Falling and Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective (2025 Launches at the Library)
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cold-blooded killers, grief-stricken widows, famous artists, independent women with sharp minds and large fortunes, and a cap doffed to Jane Austen’...
Voices of Australia (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
05 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Closing Gala of the Bendigo Writers Festival was a celebration of Australia’s leading writers and thinkers. In this event you’ll hear from cel...
Unmaking Australian History (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens to our national story when three unconventional historians listen to people, country and the archives in new and challenging ways? In t...
From Stage to Page (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some of our most acclaimed novelists got their start writing for stage and screen, but each medium presents different thrills and challenges. In thi...
Close Encounters (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
28 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can you understand the heart of a nation – and its narrative – through the public and personal relationships which have forged a path to both conf...
Stories of Hope and Freedom (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do three writers play at the heart strings of migration and belonging through the power of their words in novels, poetry and memoir? In this sess...
Writing Queer Lives (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Queer storytelling is experiencing a golden age, with some of Australia’s most talented young writers taking to fiction and non-fiction to document ...
When Two Heads are Better Than One (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Writing is often portrayed as a lonely, isolated pursuit. But what happens when two people write together, collaborate together on storytelling or try...
Epic Journeys in a Time of Crisis (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
14 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How can we navigate local and global journeys, across time, space and country, in an age of climate change and imminent environmental collapse? This p...
Security Starts at Home (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When do neighbours become good friends - or enemies? In this event three security analysts, Professor Bec Strating, Allan Behm and Dr Kylie Moore-Gibe...
Animal Rights and Wrongs (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Animals can be companions and resources, cyphers and symbols. But who gets to speak for them, and how? In this event novelist James Bradley, farmer Ma...
Up Close and Way Too Personal (2024 Bendigo Writers Festival)
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a veteran interviewer becomes the interviewee? In this event Clare Wright turn the spotlight on political journalist, podcaster and ...
Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions and Enlightened Aboriginal Futures (2024 Launches at the Library)
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For years books exploring Australian Indigenous history have been reframing the story, addressing the wrongs of previous historiography. In this event...
The In-Between (2024 Launches at the Library)
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Acclaimed writer Christos Tsiolkas will be in conversation with Catherine Padmore to discuss his new book ‘The In-Between’, a tender, affecting no...
Creating Characters for Stage and Screen (2023 Writers on Campus)
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We all have favourite characters on screen or stage – people we love, love to hate, or simply find fascinating. In this panel Nicole Skeltys an...
How to Write a Poem (2024 Writers on Campus)
09 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Poetry is one of the oldest forms of art and storytelling in many cultures, and one of the most vibrant. From the song cycles of Arnhem Land to Sa...
Writing Memoir (2023 Writers on Campus)
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Memoir and autobiography are among the most popular forms of writing in the world. From football players to movie stars to that bloke down the street,...
Australia's National Identity (2024 Launches at the Library)
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Australia has a unique view of its place in the world. Surrounded by ocean, a part of the South Pacific but with undeniable links to the legacy of col...
Crime Fiction (2024 Writers on Campus)
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Crime writing is one of the most popular genres in the world: from detective novels to television series to scripted podcasts, crime is enjoying anoth...
Writing Translation (2023 Writers on Campus)
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine the world with only the original language version of the texts and stories we hold close to our hearts. Many of us couldn’t read the fairyta...
Oscar: A Literary Love Affair
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate a new exclusive ballet in Melbourne based on the life and writings of Oscar Wilde, this event will explore the cultural influences on Wil...
The Laughter Effect (2023 Launches at the Library)
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Laughter Effect is a powerful philosophy that enhances wellbeing and provides a road map to tap into the lighter side of life and awaken both your...
O'Leary of the Underworld (2023 Launches at the Library)
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
O’Leary of the Underworld delves into the brutal events that took place in the Kimberly during the 1920s, uncovering the injustices inflicted on the...
Forgive and Forget? (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Readers love Helen Garner's three volumes of diaries, the apparent ease with which this brilliant writer skewers those who, barely disguised, are part...
First Nations First (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of the four pillars of the Albanese Government’s national cultural policy is ‘First Nations First’. What does this mean for Australian writi...
A Stella Event (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a year when Revive: National Cultural Policy is inviting us all to lift our game, it’s a brilliant opportunity to celebrate a decade of Stella: h...
Two Worlds (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is this the story Don Watson was always meant to write? It begins 50 years ago, at the fledgling La Trobe University where young people were fired up ...
In Search of Beauty (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I’m not a journalist, I’m a poet.” Says the narrator of Cristos Tsiolkas’ novel ‘seven and a half’. Following on from the complex challeng...
In Search of Beauty (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I’m not a journalist, I’m a poet.” Says the narrator of Cristos Tsiolkas’ novel ‘seven and a half’. Following on from the complex challeng...
Who Cares? (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is the moral outrage of an individual enough? What makes groups or institutions work? What can threaten their efficacy, and how do they help us care w...
Not then, Not Now, Not Ever (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How have the past six decades of feminist activism shaped Australian politics? Who are the rebels, ratbags and renegades behind the revolution? What w...
Heart to Heart (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In which we pay our respects to literary elders very much present. A chance to recollect, rehash, rebel, reprove and reflect with Barry Jones and Thom...
Seeing and Believing (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is the role of documentary film-making in the process of truth-telling? Do we trust what we read in books more than what we see on our screens? ...
Independents Day (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The success of the ‘Teal Independents’ was the breakthrough story of the 2022 Federal Election. How does a political aspirant decide to run as an ...
Growing Pains (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Remember the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High? Well books for young adult readers went and grew up. While first love is still a YA staple, menta...
The Gun Century (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a full metal jungle out there. Still. Military action has continued to define the 21st century in a way that survivors of and peacemakers after...
The Memoir Industrial Complex (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
13 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Memoir has become one of the most popular genres of the literary marketplace, competing with Biography and Autobiography as forms of life writing. Why...
David and Goliath (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
13 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The perennially popular account of David and Goliath is understood as a tale of courage, faith and overcoming seemingly impossible odds. What does a c...
Historical Fictions/Future Opportunities (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is the role of fiction in the process of truth-telling? Do stories of past injustices and atrocities have the power to heal present and future ge...
#BOSSGIRL vs #QUIETQUITTER (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To lean in or to lean out? That is the question many women are asking themselves in ‘post’-Covid times of exhaustion, overload and burnout. Does l...
Black Lives, White Law (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is the Australian justice system broken? Was it ever sound when it comes to the discipline and punishment of First Nations’ people? What can history...
Dream On (2023 Bendigo Writers Festival)
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I have a dream. Dream large. Blue sky dreaming. A dream come true. You may say I’m a dreamer. We ask four extraordinary thinkers to dream on. Profe...