Lili Wilkinson

Last week, Melbourne became a UNESCO International City of Literature.

It’s been a long time coming – Melbourne has always been a very literary place. I’m writing this post in a pretty literary building – the State Library of Victoria. Marcus Clarke used to work here, as well as a host of other awesomely literary luminaries. The Library will also be home, next year, to the Centre for Books and Ideas, being the Melbourne Writers Festival, the Victorian Writers Centre, the National Poetry Centre, the Emerging Writers Festival and Express Media.

I love Melbourne. I love its cafes and bookshops and bars and libraries and laneways and did I mention bars? And I love the way, in the middle of winter, hoardes of Melburnians brave the cold and the rain and line up for hours to see some obscure German film at the Film Festival, or see a motley bunch of writers talk about themselves at the Writers Festival.

I love this. I love the way Melburnians get out there. I love the way we think about things and talk about ideas and sure, a lot of us are total wankers, but I kind of love that too (from a distance).

I’ve been involved in the Writers Festival for the past three years, but this is the first time I’ve really felt like I belonged. It’s like I’ve hit critical mass – last year I had one non-fiction book out, and a forthcoming novel – now I have two novels and anthology with my name on the cover. I can say I’m an author and not feel like I need to justify it. I know people, this time. YA people, publishing people, Express Media people, and many others.

It’s my town. My City of Literature. And at the risk of sounding like a greeting card – it’s yours too.

I’m kind of in the process of writing something longer and more profound about this whole City of Literature thing, but suffice to say – ftw!

Anyway. Participate in the City of Literature by coming to see me at the Melbourne Writers Festival!

Featuring me:

DIY Culture: blogging isn’t writing is it? 26 August 2008

Learn from Lili Wilkinson and Margo Lanagan, two experts from the blogosphere!

Writers who read, readers who write 27 August 2008

Join John Marsden, Margo Lanagan and Lili Wilkinson as they speak about the books they’ve loved over the years. 

Chaired by me:

Invisible Cities: writing about home 25 August 2008

Rachel Cohn and Simmone Howell discuss how they made their cities and suburbs come alive in their writing.

Bringing the past to life 26 August 2008

The books of both David Metzenthen and Elizabeth Fensham have mixed the past with the present to best tell their story. Find out how they do this and why in this engaging session.

Here’s my attempt at Penni’s Things to do in Melbourne for (almost) Free Meme.

1. Kirsty already mentioned the State Library of Victoria, but I’m going to get specific and mention the SLV’s Mirror of the World exhibition. It’s in the gallery above the Domed Reading Room, and is all about the history of books and ideas. It’s got some very old things (the oldest is a 4000 year old cuniform tablet, plus lots of illuminated manuscripts), some very beautiful things, and some very interesting things. As an added bonus, you can go upstairs to the Changing Face of Victoria, an exhibition on the history of our state, including Ned Kelly’s armour, some hair from Bourke and Wills’ camel, and Hoddle’s chain.

2. The Nicholas building (cnr Swanston and Flinders Lane) is one of my favourite buildings in the city. It was built for Alfred Nicholas in 1926. Nicholas was the guy who reinvented Aspirin after the Nazis “lost” the recipe. The Nicholas building is one of the last buildings in Melbourne to have a real “lift lady” who pulls the lever and makes the lift go up and down*. The Nicholas building is home to many crazy, eccentric artists and workshops, as well as the Victorian Writers Centre, and (my favourite) Buttonmania, home to the best button sale around.

3. The Alfred Nicholas Memorial Garden. Yep, same guy. Very nice fancypants gardens in the Dandenongs. I think there is actually an entry fee, but it’s an honour system, so if you are so stumped for cash you can’t pony up the $6, I’m sure Alfred won’t mind.

4. The Farmer’s Market at the Collingwood Children’s Farm in Abbotsford. It’s $2 for adults and free for kids, which includes a whole day’s access to the farm. The market is lovely, and the farm is full of cows and pigs and chickens and horses and other things to pat and smell. It’s on the second Saturday of each month.

5. The Abbotsford Convent. Absolutely one of my favourite places in Melbourne. It’s right next door to the Children’s Farm, so you can absolutely make a day of it. There’s a great Sunday Arts Market on the first Sunday of each month, as well as a Shirt and Skirt fashion market at the same time. But mostly it’s just lovely to walk around the beautiful gardens, look at the buildings, wander down to the river…

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*Eagle-eyed readers will recognise this lift, and the Nicholas Building, in The (Not Quite) Perfect Boyfriend.

If you live in Melbourne, and haven’t been to Buttonmania, now is the time. They’re having a sale. Even if you’re not into buttons, you should go anyway. It’s in the Nicholas Building on the corner of Swanston and Flinders Lane, which is one of my favourite buildings in Melbourne. It’s full of twisty corridors and strange little shops and studios, and has a creaky old attendant lift. And a man on the top floor who makes cyber-fairies.

This is my haul – under $20 – think of all the creatures I can make!