Literature & the arts

‘Just one scribbled note from Marcie Muir led us to this amazing discovery … If we hadn’t had that serendipitous moment where Belinda [Murrell] was discovering in one book that Charlotte [Waring Atkinson] had written more than one published work, and then I almost simultaneously found this note, we would never have put the two things together and made that amazing discovery … It was a series of astonishing, serendipitous findings that led us to many of our most exciting insights.’ - Kate...

Join The Australian National University Lecturer and author of Goodna Girls, Adele Chynoweth, and National Library of Australia Director of Indigenous Engagement, Marcus Hughes, as they reflect on the lives and stories of the women of Goodna and the role of cultural institutions in preserving the stories and experiences of marginalised communities. Goodna Girls tells the story of children incarcerated in Wolston Park Hospital, an adult psychiatric facility in Queensland. It contains the...

Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell are the sisters behind the latest NLA Publishing title, ‘Searching for Charlotte’. Join the bestselling authors as they discuss the process of writing a book and what ‘Searching for Charlotte’ means to them in part one of this two-part author talk.

Join National Library Exhibition Curator Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, and Director of Exhibitions Dr Guy Hansen, for an online tour of our latest exhibition, Birds of Paradise: Ellis Rowan in New Guinea. Best known for her striking wildflower paintings, Ellis Rowan also had an interest in birds and produced a stunning collection of New Guinea's Birds of Paradise (Paradisaeidae) in circa 1917. This must-see exhibition is on now and also viewable online, showcasing 13 of Ellis Rowan’s most...

Stalin's Wine Cellar is billed as 'the Raiders of the Lost Ark of wine'. It is a wild treasure hunt from Double Bay in Sydney to Tbilisi in Georgia, following the search for a cellar full of wine believed to be that of former Georgian revolutionary and Ruler of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin. Join Stalin's Wine Cellar authors John Baker and Nick Place in conversation with Genevieve Jacobs. John recounts the intriguing tale of cracking the code of a historic wine list, having business...

Grab your helmet and join long-time cycling enthusiast Daniel Oakman alongside National Library curator Susannah Helman as they talk about Daniel’s latest book, Wild Ride: Epic Cycling Journeys Through the Heart of Australia, and the collection material that tells the stories of the people behind these great cycling adventures. Australia is home to breath-taking landscapes, as rugged as they are beautiful. Some are driven to explore these places on foot, some from the air, but this book...

Join us as we celebrate the release of internationally bestselling author Kate Grenville’s first novel in nearly a decade - A Room Made of Leaves. In this special online event, Kate Grenville appears in conversation with award winning historian, author, broadcaster and public commentator Professor Clare Wright OAM. This event is delivered in partnership with Text Publishing.

Are you still a liar? From its first icy scenes in the Arctic Circle, Felicity Volk’s new novel tells an epic story of a compulsive, unconventional love that spans decades and crosses continents. Desire Lines sets its exploration of truth and lies against society’s uneasy relationship with its own truth-telling in history, war and politics. Canberra’s coming of age, the construction of its institutional landmarks and milestones in Indigenous relations are the backdrop for the novel’s moving...

Join Chet Van Duzer, Cartographic Historian and Board member of the Lazarus Project at the University of Rochester, as he explores the early modern belief that there had to be a substantial landmass in the south to counterbalance the continents in the north. This hypothetical landmass was depicted on many maps beginning from c.1508, when such a continent appeared on a world map by Francesco Rosselli. Rosselli’s map showed a very large island at the South Pole, yet many maps from the...

Join Paul Sharrad as he explores some of the delights found while researching Thomas Keneally's papers, including the forgotten highlights from his career. Paul will explore the conditions under which writers in the 1960’s and 1970’s worked to survive, and how writers fit within the drive to create a national culture. How does a writer attempting to create a living from his work assemble a long-lasting career in negotiations with editors, agents, reviewers and markets? He will also question...

The need for a grand narrative in the life and obsessive collecting of Rex Nan Kivell is telling. His collecting stories, invented or elaborated, are engaging and, when examined, often untrue. Without doubt however, was the significance of the items he collected and frequently ‘boosted’ through imaginative tall tales. Examining key acquisitions made over decades, this illustrated lecture will test the stories surrounding them and what this can tell us today. The Treasures Curator is...

Join Professor Lyndall Ryan, AM FAHA, from the University of Newcastle, as she discusses her continuing work on documenting the frontier massacres across colonial Australia. Her project includes mapping these sites, to create a historically accurate record of the Frontier Wars (1788-1930).

Join two world-class writers and old friends, Garth Nix and Felicity Packard, as they chat about their childhood and university years growing up in Canberra; their work; and their most recent venture together, a pilot for Amazon Studios adapted from Garth’s Old Kingdom books. About the speakers Garth Nix Having sold more than five million books around the world, you will often see Garth Nix books listed in the New York Times bestseller lists, the Guardian and the Australian, with his work...

Why did Mr Chicken go to Paris? Why do two blankets change the way we see the world? Why do animals give us insights into ourselves? Our star-studded panel featured illustrators Freya Blackwood, Leigh Hobbs and Alison Lester who discussed the ways in which characters are created and go on to warm the hearts of children and readers worldwide. As children, the ways in which we see the world are often shaped by our favourite children’s books and characters, leaving us with a nostalgic...

Curator Grace Blakeley-Carroll offers a behind-the-scenes look at the development of the exhibition Story Time: Australian Children’s Literature. Hear about how she brought together material from the National Library, the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature and other important collections. She will also explore some of the key themes and books featured in Story Time.

Librarian Margy Burn shares experiences acquiring rare and unique collections during her career at the National Library and other great Australian research collections. Margy Burn recently retired as the National Library’s Assistant Director-General, Australian Collections & Reader Services. Before joining the National Library, she held senior positions working with Australiana collections at the State Libraries of New South Wales and South Australia. Margy began working with archives and...

Using examples of cartoons displayed in the Inked exhibition, Dr Guy Hansen will provide a short history of Australian cartooning over the last 200 years. Guy will discuss examples of satirical prints from 1780s, cartoons during colonial Australia from The Bulletin and the emergence of cartoonists as social commentator in the twentieth century. Guy will reference works from a range of cartooning superstars including Livingston Hopkins, Phil May, David Low, Stan Cross, Bruce Petty , Ron...

Between them, Geoff Pryor and David Pope have over 50 years of cartooning experience. In this conversation, they will discuss their experiences in editorial cartooning at The Canberra Times. Facilitated by Inked: Australian Cartoons curator Dr Guy Hansen, Pryor and Pope will also turn their keen satirical eyes to politics and the changes they have seen in Australia’s newspaper industry. Geoff Pryor was the editorial cartoonist for The Canberra Times from 1978 to 2008. During his 30-year...

Beginning with Poems of the Atomic Bomb by Sankichi Tōge in 1951, Japan continues to produce literary and pictorial narratives of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - preserving memories of the catastrophe so it wouldn't be repeated. Dr Yasuko Claremont explores responses to atomic bomb literature, including the work of Professor John Whittier Treat, author of Writing Ground Zero. 2019 National Library of Australia Fellowship in Japan Studies supported by the Harold S Williams Trust. Image: Poems of the...

Warning: This audio contains strong language which may be offensive to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. Throughout the twentieth century, many gay Australian writers and artists left Australia—some of them would never return. Literary scholar Dr Ellen Smith explores the relationship between expatriatism and queer identity in mid-twentieth-century Australian writing through a number of case studies of writers whose decision to leave Australia can be linked to their sexuality. About...