Sunday Night In #2

Literary, theatre and other word-based delights in and around September

Hello friends and welcome to issue #2 of Sunday Night In, a collation of the literary, theatre and other word-based happenings happening in and around South Australia. When I hit publish on the first issue, mine was the only inbox it landed in, but there’s been a stack of sign-ups since then, so welcome! It’s good to have your company.

I am writing today from Ngadjuri Country, where I have spent the day out in the garden; checking in nervously to the footy as my team worked towards an indecisive victory; and preparing this newsletter by sitting on the deck, laptop open, listening to the kookaburras and white-winged choughs against a background of ride-on mowers and whipper-snippers as we all try to stay on top of the weeds mindful of the warnings of the hot, dry summer to come.

The wordy highlight of my August was undoubtedly being part of the excellent-sized crowd at the inaugural Dog-Eared Readings in the Howling Owl (in the space where the Urban Cow Studio can no longer be found). Rachael Mead and Heather Taylor-Johnson created a welcoming atmosphere (complete with complementary drink-on-arrival); a pay-what-you-can entry fee and a brilliant format. It was a night of readings, but I especially loved the Q and A which was Dominic Guerrara in conversation with Natalie Harkin. I have seen and heard and each of them speak or read at many different events, but I loved this opportunity to hear this conversation—which was partly about their friendship and partly about Natalie Harkin’s work as an activist poet where she brings the hard truths of the archives and this colony into the light. When she was reading, you could have heard a pin drop.

Dog-Eared Readings promises to be an excellent addition to our literary lives. Be ready for the next one in October.

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Before we get into things, some shameless self-promotion, my SALA exhibition Pearls: Unstitched Threads is in the Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery until 10 September, and I’ve got a performance of my show An Evening with the Vegetarian Librarian at the Tea Tree Gully Library (bookings here).

And one final thing, I’d love to include as many wordy events as I can, so if you know of something that could be included in future newsletters, please let me know by sending an email to sundaynightnewsletter@gmail.com

Read lots of books, see lots of theatre, feed your brain, nourish your spirit.

With love, Tracy

Readings and In-Conversation

Early in September, Our Words will run as a complementary series to earlier events Our Mob and Our Stories. Our Words “showcases some of Australia's most exciting and innovative First Nations writers, creatives and poets for a series of panels and conversations.” I got to one of the sessions last year and it was excellent, so I’ve got this one in my diary.

Writers SA has just released the program for the Context Writers Festival which is held in partnership with the City of Adelaide. It’s a great event which is programmed each year by an emerging curator and includes a mix of established and emerging writers. I have been to at least a few sessions of every festival since it started, and I think it is developing into a really important opportunity for sharing conversations. I still think about Karen Wyld’s closing address to the 2021 Context Festival which you can read in Meanjin.

The Independent Arts Foundation has a fundraising event the first weekend in October, Pip Williams in conversation with Sany Verschoor bookings here.

Local books and books by locals

Kate Larsen-Keys launched a new collection of poetry, Public. Open. Space at the beautiful Goodwood Books. I haven’t read it yet, but it will bubble its way to the top of my reading pile in the next couple of weeks.

Libby Trainor Parker’s cabaret show, Endo Days has had several sell-out seasons across the Adelaide Fringe, and I loved it for its funniness, its compassion, and for shining a light on endometriosis and on women’s health more generally. And now, her book by the same name, and with the same approach, but with the greater depth that a book allows is on the shelves. I’m only a few chapters in to the book, but I highly recommend it. The invitation to the launch is here—it is bound to be fun, because she always brings the laughs.

The next Saddleworth market will be run alongside the Reading Between the Vines author event.

Regular gigs: readings, storytelling, poetry

There’s an overview of regular nights in the first issue of this Sunday Night In newsletter. This month, No Wave poetry, held monthly at The Wheaty is curated by Jill Jones, and features Jennifer Liston, JV Birch, Jelena Dinić and Caroline Reid. You can read about No Wave on Dom Symes’ website, including details about enquiring to read your own poetry (if that’s your jam).

I had an excellent time at the August night of tenx9 storytelling telling my uphill story of olive harvests, and I’ll be along to the September one where the theme is show and tell (I won’t be telling a story, but part of the warm and always welcoming audience).

100 Barossa Artists is hosting its latest speak event, with the theme of busted.

A bit of theatre a bit of cabaret

Another fundraiser by the Independent Arts Foundation in support of its grants program for emerging artists, Life is a Cabaret, hosted by Helga Handfull and tickets here.

Rumpus Theatre is back! I don’t think they’ve found a permanent home (see elsewhere conversations about lack of venues, don’t get me started), but their new production All the Things I Couldn’t Say is on at the Flinders Drama Centre.

Did you know that there is a French-speaking theatre company in Kaurna Yerta (Adelaide)? I did not, but I was looking through the program for the Auburn Frenchfest and there they were. I very much hope that I can get along to their performance of Panache-Moliere. As someone who loves a good application of salty language, I also think this Talk Dirty Stay Classy show sounds like fun.

Learn to write or perform (or get a little bit better)

Expressions of interest for the 2024 InSpace program at the Adelaide Festival Centre are now open. There’s a bunch of different residencies with one-, two- and three-week residencies as well as some collaborative opportunities.

The City of Burnside hosts a writing group once per month which encourages the use of the pomodoro technique (a technique which I often use across many domains of my life because I am good at starting things, less so at finishing).

Writing competitions

The Campbelltown Writer’s Competition closes at the end of the month. The competition is part of the writers festival which is run as a collaboration between the City of Campbelltown and Writers SA. Nothing like a deadline for helping you to finish a project.

Finding out what’s on

Sunday Night In is obviously the premiere stop for all your ‘what’s on in Adelaide’ needs, but where can you go to find out more? InDaily’s InReview has the most comprehensive wrap of arts and culture news in our state. It operates as its own subsite of InDaily, but if you’re signed up to InDaily emails you’ll get all of the InReview pieces landing in your inbox.

The Adelaide Show podcast has been in production for many years and is a great supporter of local artists. The latest episode features Rainer Jozeps, whose great InDaily piece ‘South Australia has become like a house with no books’ tells it like it is.

Sign up to The Wheaty’s Wheaty Mail to get the goods on their goodly number of readings and poetry nights.

Wakefield Press has a comprehensive weekly newsletter. It’s focus is on Wakefield authors, but it gives a good wrap of everything their authors do from book launches to performances to readings.

Jobs!

Brink Productions is looking for a new Artistic Director. The vacancy comes up because Chris Drummond is stepping down after his ‘career-defining tenure’, so you’ll have big shoes to fill, but it’s a rare and brilliant opportunity.

Theatre techs make the theatre world go round, and The City of Marion has a vacancy for a senior theatre technician.

Share and subscribe

That’s all I’ve got for now, but remember to share this newsletter with other people you know who might like it.

And if someone has forwarded it to you and you’d like more, you can subscribe here

And if you know of things you think might be good to include, send me an email to sundaynightnewsletter@gmail.com