Friday 26 May
Title: System Breakdown
Location: Philharmonia Studio, Pier 4/5, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
Time: 1.30-2.30pm
In The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men Robert Jensen asks, ‘How do we create and maintain stable, decent human communities that can remain in a sustainable relationship with the larger living world?’ Robert helps plot the societal changes needed in our changing world with Tim Flannery (leading writer on climate change), Penny Griffin (Popular Culture, Political Economy and the Death of Feminism: Why Women are in Refrigerators and Other Stories), Professor Mark Moran (author of Serious Whitefella Stuff). Moderated by Melanie Joosten.
Supported by UNSW Arts & Social Sciences.
Title: Gravity Well
Location: Manly Library, 1 Market Place, Manly
Time: 6.00-7.00pm
Gravity Well is the long-awaited second novel from award-winning writer Melanie Joosten. Lotte is an astronomer who spends her nights peering into deep space rather than looking too closely at herself. If families are like solar systems — bodies that orbit in time with one another, sometimes close and sometimes far away — what is the force that drives them? And what are the consequences when the weight of one planet tugs others off course? Join Melanie Joosten for a conversation about the family we are born to, and the family we choose.
Saturday 27 May
Title: People of Letters
Location: Pier 2/3 Club Stage
Time: 7.30-8.30pm
In this rare People of Letters show, writers, performers and well-known Australians are paired off and invited to write ‘a letter to my other half’. The stage will be awash with warmth and curious tales of affection, bringing together the heady combination of sentiment and sauvignon blanc that audiences have grown to know and love. Featuring Lee Lin Chin and Chris Leben, Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist, Jodi Phillis and Trish Young, Melanie Joosten and Rajith Savanadasa, and Melina Marchetta and Pia Miranda. With Angie Hart.
Sunday 28 May
Title: Melanie Joosten: On Big Sisters
Location: Pier 2/3 Curiosity Stage
Time: 3.45 - 4.25pm
Writer Melanie Joosten (A Long Time Coming: Essays on Old Age) believes it’s time for younger feminists to fight for the rights of older women. Two-thirds of people aged over 85 are women, and most of the poorly paid aged care workforce are women. Many women have spent their lives doing unpaid work, leaving them less financially secure in retirement. Ageing can be difficult, but it can also be a time of liberation. Melanie examines old age as a feminist cause.
