lit in the city

Went along to a talk at the Wheeler Centre last night. This is the literary hub of Melbourne since becoming UNESCO’s second city of literature (go us) – awesome addition to the state library and they hold all sorts of classes and talks etc. Last night was a conversation with Kathy Lette (author) and Richard Gill (Music Director of Vic Opera). Lette’s book, How to Kill Your Husband was commissioned into an opera so I went along to listen how it came about. Richard is an interesting and passionate man, and Kathy's lovely but a bit...um.. typical. She’s in her early 50s and just seems to have this way of talking where she tries to be funny by being just a little bit rude, so the average older woman might think she’s just a little bit naughty and dirty. Whereas I think she’s a bit of a try hard and out of date. Of course I haven't read her books since Puberty Blues and she thinks herself a feminist so doesn’t like that her books are called chicklit, but sorry they are. Not that I have anything against chicklit, I even read it on the odd occasion (mostly on planes if I'm not asleep), but in someways she’s a watered down but version of Germaine Greer (but attractive) – and definitely less politicised.


A newly commissioned Australian opera - get along if you can. I'm planning too.