We’ve got you covered for Mother’s Day at the Library this month with a range of events and author talks. Come and visit our new exhibition, enjoy superb Autumn dining options at Bookplate and, of course, have a long and leisurely browse through our fabulous Bookshop.

Program

Canberra Writers Festival event: Look After Your Feet by Rosalie Ham

1 May | 6:00pm | $26-$30

Australia’s beloved author Rosalie Ham, best known for the international bestseller The Dressmaker, comes to Canberra with her signature wit and sharp observations in her latest book, Look After Your Feet.

Rosalie sits down with The Canberra Times’ Sally Pryor for an entertaining evening of laughter, candour and hard-earned wisdom. Rosalie will be signing books in the foyer following the discussion.

Postscript: letter writing workshop

9 May | 10:00am | $40

The world-famous Ms Constance Spry’s Letter Writing Service conducts a creative workshop in celebration of the humble art of correspondence. Impressive stationery, vintage tools and typewriters provided.

Participants receive a free copy of the latest NLA Publication, Postscript: Life, Love and Loss in Australian Letters. Book now, post-haste!

Night of the Bookers with David Szalay and Susan Choi

12 May | 6:00pm | $32-$35

Canberra Writers Festival presents renowned author and journalist Lisa Wilkinson AM in conversation about her new book. Evelyn Marsden was the only Australian-born survivor of the Titanic disaster. Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, Wilkinson’s first work of historical non-fiction uncovers Evelyn’s remarkable and uniquely Australian journey. 

The ‘archival imagination’ of Frank Moorhouse

19 May | 12:30pm | Free, in-person and online

Dr Matthew Lamb presents his recent Fellowship research on iconic Australian writer Frank Moorhouse’s ‘archival imagination’, exploring how his methods shaped his work and identity.

12 years in: Writing for the Future Library (2014-2114)

20 May| 6:00pm | Free, in-person and online

The Future Library is a century-long literary artwork, written for readers who will live 100 years from now. The work grows, quite literally, alongside a Norwegian forest planted in 2014, whose trees will become the paper on which sealed manuscripts will be printed in 2114.

Over the years, writers including Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Sjón, Elif Shafak, Han Kang, Karl Ove Knausgård, Ocean Vuong, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Judith Schalansky and Valeria Luiselli have entrusted their unseen texts to the project. This June, Tommy Orange and Amitav Ghosh will join them, handing over their manuscripts in a ceremony in Oslo.

The project’s curator and producer Anne Beate Hovind speaks with Kathryn Favelle about the Future Library’s first 12 years.

Wangka Wakanutja: The Story of the Papunya Literature Production Centre

Major exhibition now showing | Open daily 9:00am-5:00pm | Free entry

Papunya is a remote Aboriginal community in the Western Desert region of the Northern Territory, and the birthplace of the internationally known Western Desert art movement. Between 1979 and 1990, the Papunya Literature Production Centre produced hundreds of Pintupi-Luritja bilingual books guided by the community’s Elders, among them pioneers of the Western Desert Art movement.

Visit the exhibition to explore the incredible literary and artistic significance of Papunya.

Story Dogs on Sunday

31 May | 11:00am | Free, no bookings required

Drop in on the last Sunday of every month for a paw-sitive reading experience with trained volunteers and their accredited dogs. 

Media enquiries

Lauren Conron, Media Liaison, National Library of Australia

Phone: 0401 226 697

Email: media@nla.gov.au