Stella Day Out, a mini literary festival, began in November 2023. It’s a free, one-day literary festival. It focuses on celebrating and promoting the outstanding contributions of women and non-binary writers to Australian literature, and celebrating Australian literature as diversely and as broadly as I can is what this blog is all about, so I am very much behind a festival like this.
The first festival last November 2023, was held at the Treasury Theatre in Melbourne, and for this event, Stella pulled together four sessions that connected everyone who has an interest in literature. For those who missed the sessions, they can be found online:
So, you can explore all of them, or the ones that interest you. Each one is about an hour, and they all look very interesting. It’s cool events like this that make things accessible to people who can’t get to the live event that are ones that are well worth supporting, and that can create a wider sense of community and connection beyond live events and written content.
Stella Day Out is back for 2024, and is coming up soon! In a couple of weeks, in fact, on the 16th of February at The Salon at the Hedburg, at the University of Tasmania in Hobart – find them at 19-27 Campbell Street, Hobart if you are able to get there in person. The line-up this year includes 2017 Winner Heather Rose, Stella Prize longlisted author, Amanda Lohrey and poet and editor Michelle Cahill.
The program is as follows:
1pm until 2-m – Exploring hope and trust in fiction. During this event, Amanda Lohrey will sit down and chat with Michelle Cahill, where they will talk about hope and trust in literature – book your free ticket here.
2.30pm until 3.30pm Nothing bad ever happens here: Heather Rose in Conversation with Danielle Wood. During this event, you will hear the winner of the 2017 Stella Prize, Heather Rose – Museum of Modern Love as well as her latest book, Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here. Free tickets are available here.
Free tea and biscuits will be available after each session, and whilst this is a free event, you will need to reserve your spot. And the bookshop for this event will be Fullers Bookshop.
Presenters:
Michelle Cahill (she/her) is a poet and novelist with Indian heritage, and was the 2023 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence who has written a short story collection called Letter to Pessoa which was awarded the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for New Writing. She has also written a novel called Daisy and Woolf, which was longlisted in the ALS Gold Medal and the Voss Literary Prize. Michelle has also been shortlisted in the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Prize, the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, and she has received the KWS Hilary Mantel International Short Story Prize, and is the artistic director of Mascara.
Amanda Lohrey (she/her) lives in Tasmania, where she writes fiction. In November 2012, she received the 2012 Patrick White Award for literature, and her 2020 novel, The Labyrinth won the 2021 Miles Franklin Award, the Voss Award for Fiction, the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction, and the Tasmanian Literary Award for Fiction. Amanda’s most recent publication is a novel called The Conversation in 2023, and in 2022, Melbourne University Press published a critical study of her work called Lohrey, by Dr Julieanne Lamond from the Australian National University.
Heather Rose (she/her) has written nine novels and a memoir, and her books have been shortlisted, longlisted, or even won awards across a range of genres, including literary fiction, crime fiction, fantasy/sci fi, and children’s literature. It was her seventh novel, The Museum of Modern Love that garnered her further attention when it won the 2017 Stella Prize, the Christina Stead Prize and the Margaret Scott Prize. This novel has been widely translated, and her most recent novel, Bruny, won the ABIA 2020 General Fiction Book of the Year, and this novel is currently being made into a six-part television series, and The Museum of Modern Love is being made into a film. A stage version of The Museum of Modern Love, written by Tom Holloway, debuted at the Sydney Writer’s Festival in 2022. Heather’s latest work is the memoir, Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here, and her next novel will be published in late 2024.
Danielle Wood (she/her) is a Vogel-prize recipient. She wrote The Alphabet of Light and Dark, Rosie Little’s Cautionary Tales for Girls, Housewife Superstar: the very best of Marjorie Bligh and Mothers Grimm. She also writes as ‘Minnie Dark’ – Star-crossed, The Lost Love Song, and With Love from Wish and Co, and the novellas Wild Apples and The Yellow Wood. She also writes books with Heather Rose as ‘Anjelica Banks’ – the author of the Tuesday McGillcuddy books for children. Danielle has also co-edited two anthologies of Tasmanian writing – Deep, South: Stories from Tasmania and Island Story: Tasmania in Object and Text. Danielle lives in Hobart and teaches writing at the University of Tasmania.
The Tasmanian program for Stella Day Out is supported by:
- The University of Tasmania
- Mecca M-Power
- Canyon Brand
- Bonsoy
- Spicers
- Southern Impact
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