Events Manager Chris Gordon shares her top five picks from our August event calendar

Dinner with Simon Bryant

I’m such a huge fan of Maggie Beer and her Chef, Simon Bryant and we are so delighted to be able to bring the very first, surely, celebrity chef to our favourite cafe in Hawthorn. It will be such a treat to dine with Simon, to hear his take on where fine dining and cooking are heading, and to settle back enjoying the hospitality, and indeed the wine of Hawthorn’s Crabapple Kitchen.

The Chef is here! Simon Bryant, of ABC TV’s The Cook and the Chef fame, will be in Melbourne for one day only and Readings is delighted to be hosting an evening event with him in partnership with Hawthorn’s Crabapple Kitchen. Please join us for a delicious meal and a chance to meet one of our culinary heroes as he talks about his latest book, Vegetables, Grains & Other Good Stuff. Tickets for this special event are $100 per person which includes a signed first edition of the book and a 2 course meal with matching wine.

When? 6:30pm, Monday 10 August
Where? Crabapple Kitchen, 659 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn
Bookings? Tickers are $100 per person. Please book here.

Andy Griffiths, Terry Denton and The 65-Storey Treehouse

Look, they are pretty cheeky and funny and they have changed the way our young people read but that’s not why I love Andy and Terry. I love them because they hoot at absurd things and they know how to play. That’s a good way to be. We are honoured to have an event with them on the very same day that their latest book is released. Be the first to see/hear/read this new release.

Andy and Terry live in an incredible ever-expanding treehouse and create very silly books together. Andy writes the words and Terry draws the pictures – well, when they’re not too distracted by all the amazing things going on in their incredible ever-expanding treehouse! Join us, on the day of release, for their next adventures with The 65-Storey Treehouse. There will be balloons, there will be jokes and there will be nonsense. Tickets are $20 each (one ticket required per person so adults and children each need a ticket) and include: a signed first edition of The 65-Storey Treehouse, an exclusive 65-Storey Treehouse gift and one hour of complete madness.

When? 5:15pm, Wednesday 12 August
Where? The Athenaeum, Collins Street, Melbourne
Bookings? Tickets are $20 per person. Please book here.

Joel Deane and George Megalogenis in conversation

It is a relief to hear from Joel Deane and George Megalogenis about the state of play in Victorian politics. It’s a relief because they are not taking sides and they are not playing with opinion. Rather, they are zooming in on how it all works and how it all affects us, every single day.

Joel Deane’s Catch and Kill: The Politics of Power is a sweeping tour-de-force written from the inside. Join Joel Deane and George Megalogenis for a discussion about how four friends – Steve Bracks, John Brumby, John Thwaites and Rob Hulls – beat the factions, won office in Victoria, achieved progressive reforms, tried to hijack Canberra, and what they did with power.

When? 6:30pm, Thursday 27 August
Where? Readings Hawthorn
Bookings? Free, but please book here.

Jan Bauer’s graphic novel launch

One of my favourite parts of my role here at Readings, is supporting the small publishing houses that exist in our fair town. Twelve Panels Books is the latest little gem that will be publishing truly beautiful graphic novels – exactly like the one they are launching right here. I’m so delighted to be able to attend and toast brave creative people.

Join us for the launch of the gorgeous new graphic novel by Jan Bauer, The Salty River, and of the new imprint of Twelve Panels Press.

When? 6:30pm, Thursday 27 August
Where? Readings Carlton
Bookings? Free, no booking required.

Breaking Waves: Feminist writing now

I’m a huge fan of the work The Lifted Brow does, and so am pleased as punch that we are joining forces to bring you our first event together, although it certainly will not be our last. We want this panel discussion to continue long after the event finishes. We are planning on it being like a torch parade, we will start here and then pass it on to you.

Together with The Lifted Brow, Readings is delighted to bring you a panel of commentators, authors and editors discussing the importance of breaking barriers in writing. Ellena Savage, editor of The Lifted Brow, C.S. Pacat, author of the Captive Prince trilogy, and Sarai Walker, author of the novel Dietland, discuss the raunchy, the marginalised and the disaffected with Readings’ own Amy Vuleta.

When? 6:30pm, Monday 31 August
Where? Readings St Kilda
Bookings? Free, but please book here.

See our full events program here.