Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute

Kadampa Meditation Series | Embracing Change & Finding Purpose
2024-09-11 19:00 - 20:30, 2024-09-18 19:00 - 20:30 (Australia/Melbourne) | Lending Library, Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, Victoria, 3350, Australia
Stella Day Out Ballarat | Katia Ariel ‘The Swift Dark Tide’ in conversation with Kelly Gardiner

November 5

@

6:00 pm

-

6:45 pm

Free

Minerva Space

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Stella Day Out is a free one-day literary festival that celebrates and promotes the outstanding contributions of women and non-binary writers to Australian literature.

The Swift Dark Tide by Katia Ariel

In conversation

Join Katia Ariel for an intimate conversation about her 2024 Stella shortlisted debut The Swift Dark Tide and her second novel Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch. Moving between love and loss, memory and myth, Ariel’s work navigates the deep waters of human connection with lyricism and courage.

The Swift Dark Tide

What happens when, in the middle of a happy heterosexual marriage, a woman falls in love with another woman? The Swift Dark Tide is a story of selfhood and desire, of careful listening to an ungovernable heart. Part memoir, part love letter, The Swift Dark Tide is also a chronicle of life by the sea, journeying between Melbourne’s St Kilda and the Black Sea town of Odessa. Katia Ariel introduces us to a lineage of soulful, strident women and beautifully nuanced men. She invites us into home and heart to witness love, loss and joy, motherhood, daughterhood and the urgent wildness of the body.

Ferryman: the life and death of Ephraim Finch | Katia Ariel

The Swift Dark Tide | Katia Ariel

Ferryman: The life and deathwork of Ephraim Finch

Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch is a profoundly moving exploration of life, loss, and legacy. Blending biography, memoir, and cultural history, Katia Ariel brings to life the remarkable story of Ephraim Finch OAM—a deathworker, community builder, and guardian of cultural memory.

Author Katia Ariel

Katia (she/her) is an award-winning author, book editor and educator from Melbourne/Naarm. She was born in Odessa, Ukraine. Her memoir, The Swift Dark Tide, shortlisted for the Stella Prize in 2024 and won the 2024 Society of Women Writers NSW Non-fiction Prize. Katia’s work has appeared in journals such as Womankind, Antithesis and Archer. Katia teaches creative writing and editing, and lives with her family by the sea. Her second book, Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch, was published by Wild Dingo Press in June 2025.

Katia Ariel, Author

Katia will be in conversation with Kelly Gardiner

Kelly Gardiner, Author

Author Kelly Gardiner

Kelly Gardiner writes historical fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction for all ages. Her new crime novel, Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective, is inspired by Jane Austen and co-authored with Sharmini Kumar. Kelly’s recent series is The Firewatcher Chronicles and her other books include 1917, shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Young People’s History Prize; Act of Faith and The Sultan’s Eyes, both shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards; and The Swashbuckler Triology. Goddess, her novel based on the life of the seventeenth-century sword-fighting, cross-dressing opera star, Mademoiselle de Maupin, is being adapted for the screen. Kelly is a former journalist and community worker, taught creative writing at La Trobe University for many years, and is now writing full-time and running writing retreats and masterclasses.

We are proud to be hosting this series at the BMI.

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This event will be supported by Collins Booksellers on Lydiard

Cost Free – Tickets can also be reserved at the Library Box Office.

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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.

Ballarat Film Society | Stop Making Sense
2024-09-12 19:30 - 21:00 | The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Innovation; rethinking museums
2024-09-18 11:00 - 12:30 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: (un)Common Ground
2024-09-18 11:00 - 12:30 | BMI – Minerva Space, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Challenging inequity from within
2024-09-18 15:30 - 17:00 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Coexistence through touring
2024-09-18 15:30 - 17:00 | BMI – Minerva Space, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Gatekeeping
2024-09-19 11:00 - 12:30 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Caring for collections
2024-09-19 11:00 - 12:30 | BMI – Minerva Space, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Activism and climate
2024-09-19 15:30 - 17:00 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Education and Public Programs
2024-09-19 15:30 - 17:00 | BMI – Minerva Space, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350

In Conversation with T.L.W. Robb | From The Top: From Ballarat to Baghdad
2024-09-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Hugh Williamson Foyer, Level 1

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Education & Exhibitions National Networks
2024-09-20 12:30 - 15:30 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

AMaGA National Conference | Concurrent Session: Emerging Professionals National Network
2024-09-20 12:30 - 15:30 | BMI – Minerva Space, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350

Kadampa Meditation Series | Living Meaningfully, Dying Joyfully
2024-09-25 19:00 - 20:30, 2024-10-02 19:00 - 20:30, 2024-10-09 19:00 - 20:30, 2024-10-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Lending Library, Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, Victoria, 3350, Australia

Author Talk with Fiona McIntosh | More tickets released for this event.
2024-10-02 18:00 - 20:00 | BMI – Minerva Space, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350

Ballarat Chess Club
2024-10-03 17:30 - 2024-10-31 22:30 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

Day Tour of the BMI | Victorian Seniors Festival | Tour 1
2024-10-04 10:30 - 11:30 | Lending Library, Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, Victoria, 3350, Australia

Day Tour of the BMI | Victorian Seniors Festival | Tour 2
2024-10-04 12:30 - 13:30 | Lending Library, Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, Victoria, 3350, Australia

Day Tour of the BMI | Victorian Seniors Festival | Tour 3
2024-10-04 14:30 - 15:30 | Lending Library, Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, Victoria, 3350, Australia

Calum Graham: Phoenix Rising
2024-10-05 19:00 - 20:15 | The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

Twilight Talks 2024, Season 3 | Discovering the lost men of Fromelles & Ballarat Connections
2024-10-09 17:30 - 18:30 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

Ballarat Film Society | L’Ombra di Caravaggio (Caravaggio’s Shadow)
2024-10-10 19:30 - 21:00 | The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

Classical & French Duo-Recital | Susan Pierotti & Brian Chapman
2024-10-13 14:30 - 16:15 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

Twilight Talks 2024, Season 3 | Lights Everlasting: Australia's commemorative stained glass, Boer War to Vietnam
2024-10-16 17:30 - 18:30 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

In Conversation with Chris Hammer
2024-10-21 13:00 - 15:00 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia

Twilight Talks 2024, Season 3 | Life So Full of Promise: vivid, compelling stories about Australia's lost generation.
2024-10-23 17:30 - 18:30 | BMI – Humffray Room, 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, 3350, Australia
