BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Australia/Melbourne BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20240406T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20241005T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20250405T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20251004T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20260404T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20261003T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20270403T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20271002T160000 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250709T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250709T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250527T060905Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T004045Z UID:65240-1752084000-1752089400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Matthew Spencer DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/matthew-spencer/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Ballarat Winter Festival,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sq-promo-matthew-spencer.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250716T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250716T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250604T015536Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250714T011514Z UID:65475-1752688800-1752694200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/irma-gold/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Ballarat Winter Festival,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/irma-sq-promo.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250806T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250806T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250527T025831Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250616T021316Z UID:65197-1754503200-1754508600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In conversation with Chloe Adams & Alli Sinclair DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/chloe-adams-alli-sinclair/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Ballarat Winter Festival,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sq-promo-chloe-and-alli-v2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250820T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250820T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250522T034400Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250813T001437Z UID:65063-1755712800-1755718200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Michael Robotham DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/michael-robotham/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sq-promo-robotham.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250823T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250823T170000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250714T045240Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250715T044101Z UID:66222-1755957600-1755968400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Laura J Fitzwilson\, Book Launch - The Fool DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/laura-j-fitzwilson/ LOCATION:Heritage Reading Room\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/square-promo-laura-l-fitzwilson.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250901T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250901T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250711T023001Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250813T001637Z UID:66163-1756749600-1756755000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Gabriel Bergmoser DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/gabriel-bergmoser/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/gabriel-bergmoser-sq-promo.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250904T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250904T190000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250603T000019Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250826T233613Z UID:64998-1757008800-1757012400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Tracey Lee Holmes: A Life Through Sport DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/bmi-twc-tracey-lee-holmes/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Culture,Fundraiser,Important Dates,Talk ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sq-promo-tracey-holmes-v4.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250917T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250917T183000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250728T041859Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250826T032241Z UID:66377-1758130200-1758133800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Twilight Talks 2025\, Season 3\, Spring Season | Into the Dragon's Den\, The Chinese community in Bendigo DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/twilight-talks-saving-dragons/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Important Dates,Library,Members,Talk,Twilight Talks ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/square-promo-20252.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250918T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250918T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250611T030703Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250813T001953Z UID:65608-1758218400-1758223800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Chrissie Bellbrae DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/chrissie-bellbrae/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sq-promo-chrissie-bellbrae.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250925T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250925T200000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250611T003027Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250813T002121Z UID:65587-1758825000-1758830400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Paula Gleeson DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/paula-gleeson/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sq-promo-paula-gleeson.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251001T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251001T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250708T020553Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250905T043730Z UID:66044-1759341600-1759347000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Rozzi Bazzani DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/rozzi-bazzani/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Library,Victorian Seniors Festival ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/sq-promo-rozzi-final-1.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251021T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251021T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250919T003912Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251020T045545Z UID:67443-1761069600-1761075000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with J Mary Masters *This event has now been CANCELLED* DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/j-mary-masters/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Library,Victorian Seniors Festival ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/sq-promo-judith-final.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251105T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251105T184500 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250812T005546Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251021T040122Z UID:66788-1762365600-1762368300@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Stella Day Out Ballarat | Katia Ariel 'The Swift Dark Tide' in conversation with Kelly Gardiner DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/stella-day-out-katia-ariel/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Important Dates,Library,Stella Day Out ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/square-promo-katia.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251105T191500 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251105T200000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250812T054350Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251021T035952Z UID:66822-1762370100-1762372800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Stella Day Out Ballarat | Samah Sabawi 'Cactus Pear For My Beloved' in conversation with Fatima Measham DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/stella-day-out-samah-sabawi/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Important Dates,Library,Stella Day Out ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/square-promo-samah.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251106T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251106T200000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145433 CREATED:20250711T034827Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250813T003339Z UID:66176-1762453800-1762459200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Rachael Johns DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/rachael-johns/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/sq-promo-rachael-johns.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251118T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251118T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20250917T050616Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250930T062718Z UID:67363-1763488800-1763494200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Margaret Hickey DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/margaret-hickey-25/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Fundraiser,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/margaret-hickey-sq-promo.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251120T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251120T200000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20251110T031233Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251110T031636Z UID:68444-1763663400-1763668800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:An Evening with Peter FitzSimons AM DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/an-evening-with-peter-fitzsimons-am/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cover-peter-fitzsimonos-book-e1762145093105.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251202T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251202T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20251113T001614Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251113T003410Z UID:68682-1764698400-1764703800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with William McInnes DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/william-mcinnes/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/william-sq-promo.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251206T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20251206T140000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20251110T024632Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251128T005707Z UID:68436-1765015200-1765029600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:BMI Christmas Book Sale DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/bmi-christmas-book-sale/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Fundraiser,Important Dates,Library,Market ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/book-sale-square-promo-christmas-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260128T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260128T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20251120T065224Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251215T040410Z UID:68764-1769623200-1769628600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Geoff Parkes and Susi Fox DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-geoff-parks-susi-fox/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/sq-promo-geoff.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260214T120000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260214T140000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20260112T012814Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260112T060448Z UID:69779-1771070400-1771077600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In conversation with Tori Baxter | Book Launch DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-tori-baxter/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Author Talk ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Untitled-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260225T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260225T200000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20251008T011020Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T030310Z UID:67900-1772044200-1772049600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Paula McLean DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/paula-mclean/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/sp-promo-paula-mclean.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260310T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260310T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20251110T032113Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T233337Z UID:68454-1773165600-1773171000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Kate Mildenhall & Josh Pomare DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-christian-white-josh-pomare/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/square-promo-kate-josh.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260324T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260324T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20260201T232719Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260202T030026Z UID:70486-1774375200-1774380600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Chrissie Bellbrae DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-chrissie-bellbrae/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/sp-promo-chrissie-bellbrae.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260414T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260414T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20260303T223948Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T045131Z UID:71084-1776189600-1776195000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Gerardine Christou: The story of Peg Rankin DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-gerardine-christou/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sp-promo-talks-v4.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260421T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260421T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20260225T002934Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T044657Z UID:70896-1776794400-1776799800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Fiona Lowe DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/fiona-lowe/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/sp-promo-talks-fiona-lowe.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260429T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260429T183000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20260313T041015Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T044107Z UID:71275-1777483800-1777487400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Twilight Talks: Focus on Ballarat - Nostalgic memories of Stawell & Ballarat - 1950s and 1960s DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/twilight-talks-focus-on-ballarat-3/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Australian Heritage Festival,Author Talk,Twilight Talks ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/square-promo-2025-nostalgia-final-v2.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260430T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260430T200000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20260303T233837Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T043820Z UID:71100-1777573800-1777579200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Anna Johnston DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-anna-johnston/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/sp-promo-talks-anna-johnston-v2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260511T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260511T193000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20260316T013945Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T043011Z UID:71295-1778522400-1778527800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Victoria Purman DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/victoria-purman/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sp-promo-talks-victoria-purman.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260513T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260513T200000 DTSTAMP:20260419T145434 CREATED:20260303T011741Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T041831Z UID:71063-1778697000-1778702400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Kerri Rogan DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-kerri-rogan/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sp-promo-talks-v3.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR