A woman with long brown hair, wearing a brown shirt and holding a guitar and smiling.
Australian musician Kasey Chambers

Broaden your horizons with this month’s events. Learn about astrophysics (and Dungeons & Dragons!) with Karlie Noon, discover artists’ books in our collection, get great advice from Kasey Chambers and immerse your kids in nature journalling at our school holiday workshops.

Program

  • Hopes and Fears: Australian Migration Stories panel discussion
    Tuesday 1 October | 6.00pm to 8.00pm | Free
    A panel of special guests will be in conversation about their own personal and professional stories around migration, and how our country can best recognise the extraordinary contribution that migrants make to contemporary Australia. The panel will include Mariam Veiszadeh, Om Dhungel, Nyadol Nyuon OAM and Professor Brian Schmidt AC FAA FRS, and will be facilitated by Claudia Chan Shaw.
     
  • School holiday activities: Nature journalling
    Tuesday 1 October Session 1: 10:00am to 11:00am; Session 2: 1:00pm to 2:00pm | Wednesday 2 October Session 1: 10:00am to 11:00am; Session 2: 1:00pm to 2:00pm | $5 per participant
    Join us these school holidays for a nature journalling workshop. Celebrating the release of our new NLA Publishing title, Flora: Australia's Most Curious Plants, learn amazing facts about Australia’s native flora and explore botanical drawing from the National Library’s collection. This workshop is targeted at children aged 4 to 16 years of age.
     
  • Deadly Dialogues: Karlie Noon and Celeste Carnegie
    Wednesday 2 October | 6.00pm to 7.00pm | Free
    Come and listen to astrophysicist and author Karlie Noon in conversation with Celeste Carnegie as they discuss the astronomic heritage of Noon's Kamilaroi Peoples and her journey as an ambassador for youth and astronomy.
     
  • Book launch: Townsend of the Ranges by Peter Crowley
    Tuesday 8 October | 6.00pm to 7.30pm | Free
    Join Peter Crowley in conversation with ABC National Affairs Correspondent Melissa Clarke as they discuss Crowley's debut book, Townsend of the Ranges. The book reveals the life of an elusive, solitary but hugely influential surveyor, Thomas Scott Townsend, whose name is given to Australia’s second highest mountain.
  • Kasey Chambers book launch
    Friday 11 October | 6.00pm to 8.00pm | Free
    Come join musician Kasey Chambers to celebrate the release of her book Just Don't Be a D**khead and Other Profound Things I've Learnt. Kasey will be joined by Dr Barbara Lemon, Director of Curatorial and Collection Research at the National Library, for a chat about the book, the stories that have inspired her and a few songs inspired by her unique life stories.
     
  • Strange Pages: Investigating artists’ books with Dr Caren Florance
    Thursday 24 October | 5.30pm to 6.30pm | Free
    Dr Caren Florance will present a lecture on her 2024 National Library Fellowship research into artists' books (books made by artists as art), how the National Library came to collect them, the cataloguing challenges that arose, and how they inspired a broad, vibrant collection of Australian artists' books that continues to grow.
     
  • Turkish-Australian transnational life writing with Dr Burcu Cevik-Compiegne
    Thursday 31 October | 12.30pm to 1.30pm | Free
    Dr Burcu Cevik-Compiegne will present a lecture on her 2024 National Library Fellowship research into uncovering different forms of life writing produced in Australia following the Labour Migration Scheme between Turkey and Australia in 1967.
     

For more information about each event and bookings please visit the relevant event webpages.

To arrange an interview with a spokesperson about any event, please contact 0401 226 697 or media@nla.gov.au

Contact 

Mirelle O’Mara, Media Liaison, National Library of Australia  

M: 0401 226 697

E: media@nla.gov.au