Posted by Matthew Lang, on April 29th, 2011% I made my first foray into the world of open mic speaking today, at the People’s Choice and Poetry Night of the Williamstown Literary Festival, which kicks off it’s event program on Saturday. They event turned out to be a combination of the People’s Choice Prose event and the Poetry in the Pub event that was started last year, and they held it at the Pirate’s Tavern, which turned out to be very hard to find. It was hidden away behind Seaworks, which is a community based corporation which aims to retain and restore our maritime history. Even showing up for a 7 PM start (and arriving around 6:40), this is Australia in winter, and the sun had been down for a good forty five minutes at least. I remember being on Nelson Place, but I knew to actually get there we had to go down a side street because the Tavern was around the back. So I turned down Ann Street, which was dark, and virtually unlit, and found a sign pointing in behind Seaworks, and drove in. And couldn’t see anything but an almost empty parking lot. I was wondering if I was in the wrong place when another car pulled in an a little old lady stepped out. So I would down the window and asked her if it was the right place–and it was.
We just had to go through another gate into a different unlit carpark and turn left.
Despite the difficulties getting there (which I assume a lot of other people faced as well), there was probably fifty or sixty people there, including eighteen writers performing their work (ten poets and eight prose writers). It was fantastic to be able to listen to some great writing, and see some old friends (and as it turns out, some new ones), perform their work.
We were given a time limit of 3 minutes, so I performed a little piece called Raisins and Cheese, which is basically a retelling of a conversation I overheard years ago going on at the back of a double decker bus in Hong Kong, at a time before everyone had a mobile phone. It’s fairy accurate retelling of the original conversation (complete with a valley girl accent), and naturally fell into the style of Dr. Seuss.
Once all the writers had read their work, the audience cast one vote for their favourite author or work. Then the votes were tallied and the winner (and runner up) announced, along with their cash prizes. For prose, it was announced that only one vote separated the two frontrunners.
Turns out raisins and cheese is more popular than you’d first think. And no, I didn’t vote for myself.
I want to say thank you to everyone who came along to present their work and everyone who voted. I’d also like to extend my thanks to the board of the Williamstown Literary Festival for creating the event. . . . → Read More: And the People’s Choice Award goes to…
Posted by Matthew Lang, on April 28th, 2011% Better late than never, and as a kind of anniversary thing, I went to see Hairspray the Musical today (well, technically last night, but whatevs, I’m still really happy and pumped), with my partner and my NaNo friend Mousie. And it was fantastic. Worth the wait, given I was working through the entire summer, and I now want that set. I am seriously in love with the Hairspray set. I want those amazing, amazing screens that they used for animated backgrounds. If you haven’t seen it, go see it. It’s about to head to Sydney, but is around for another three days in Melbourne, and I’m sure it’ll tour Australia eventually, so make sure you catch it. Interestingly, I think Heath Keating from So You Think You Can Dance Australia has joined the cast. Last time I checked he was doing dance shows at ARQ in Sydney for the gay boys. Possibly they did some recasting for the Sydney season.
I have to say, after the movie, well, I wish they’d been able to work in ‘Ladies’ Choice’, because it’s an awesome song, but seeing the theatrical version… I now want the Broadway soundtrack, and I can see how the songs fit together on stage. If nothing else, see this show before Trevor Ashley leaves the cast, because he is amazing as Edna Turnblad.
We also had NotNaNo drinks which was attended by quite a few people who I haven’t seen since the end of November, and I am so missing them right now. Need to do some more catch ups. Maybe not every week, but every month or so would be nice. Bring on November already, I want more NaNo!
In other interesting news, I’ve opened talks with the Melbourne Rainbow Band about having some music available at my book launch. I’m hoping to turn it into a bit of a community fundraiser, possibly for the ALSO Foundation, and I’ve already got one visual artist on board for a charity auction, and hopefully I can get at least one more. I’ll post more once I get some more details nailed down, but that’s going to have to wait until after the weekend…I’ve got the Williamstown Literary Festival to get through first! Fingers crossed it all goes well!
Posted by Matthew Lang, on March 17th, 2011% 
There’s a new page on this website. It’s been a busy few days for me (no, Dragon Age 2 is still yet to arrive), but I’ve confirmed a book launch for The Secret of Talmor Manor, entered the People’s Choice Night of the Williamstown Literary Festival, and been invited to be a panelist at the Emerging Writers’ Festival for their Romance Genre panel.
I did a few other things too, but those are the most interesting ones. And as a result, I’ve added an events page to this site so they don’t get lost amongst the flurry of posting on this blog. Or the hopeful flurry of posting on this blog.
So without further ado, this is what I’m up to!
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AND POETRY NIGHT: WILLIAMSTOWN LITERARY FESTIVAL For a bit of fun I’ve entered the Williamstown Literary Festival‘s People’s Choice and Poetry Night, which is an open mic style event for ten short works of poetry and prose, with the audience deciding the winner in each category, with prize money to the tune of $50-$100 each. If you’d like to come along and help me win, your support would be very much appreciated. When: 7:00 PM Thursday 28 April, Where: Pirates Tavern, 82 Nelson Parade Williamstown
MC of the Poetry will be Mike Reynolds of Passionate Tongues. And the MC of the Prose will be notable story teller, Jackie Kerin, who was joint winner of the Ada Cambridge prize in 2009.
Tickets are $5.50 concession and $7.70 adult.
If you would like to enter click here.
Tickets for the event are available at the box office here.
BOOK LAUNCH: THE SECRET OF TALMOR MANOR The Secret of Talmor Manor will be launched on Friday the 20th of May at Hares & Hyenas
When: 7:00 PM Friday 20th May Where: Hares & Hyenas 63 Johnston St. Fitzroy, 3065
Please come down and join me to celebrate the publication of my book, have a drink, possibly listen to a reading, and I’ll be on hand for signings.
I’m also talking to some artist friends about possibly having some artwork auctions or similar for charity (most likely the equal love campaign). I’ll provide updates as details get finalised. There will be a bar open for the launch as well.
EMERGING WRITERS’ FESTIVAL: ROMANCE GENRE PANEL I will be appearing as a panelist in the Emerging Writers’ Festival’s Romance Genre Panel.
When: 6:00 PM-7:00PM, Wednesday 1st of June Where: Wheeler Centre 176 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne Victoria 3000
Other Panelists: + Author Stephanie Laurens + A publishing representative from Mills & Boon
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So don’t forget to pop those dates into your diary and watch this space for updates! I hope to see you at one (or several) of the events!
Matt
. . . → Read More: Launches, Festivals and Readings, Oh My!
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