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 END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250625T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250625T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250408T033234Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250408T033736Z UID:64345-1750878000-1750881600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Meditations for Relaxation 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/kadampa-meditation-series-25-june/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Relaxation-Ballarat-promo-square.webp ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250629T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250629T163000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250523T002017Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250527T234616Z UID:65094-1751205600-1751214600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Australian Barbra Streisand Show | Featuring Rachael Grace 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/australian-barbra-streisand-show/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Pride,BMI Produced Event,Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/babs-sq-promo.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250702T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250702T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250408T033759Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250408T033918Z UID:64354-1751482800-1751486400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Meditations for Relaxation 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/kadampa-meditation-series-2-july/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Relaxation-Ballarat-promo-square.webp ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250704T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250704T190000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250617T020437Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250617T022343Z UID:65677-1751650200-1751655600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Margaret Schofield OAM | Memorial Grand Piano Unveiling 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/grand-piano-unveiling/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Community Partner,Royal South Street Society,Theatre Production ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/grand-piano-launch-for-post.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250708T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250708T150000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250317T032147Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T005150Z UID:62936-1751983200-1751986800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Day Tours of the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute | Ballarat Winter Festival 8 July 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/day-tours-ballarat-winter-festival-1/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Winter Festival,Festival,Fundraiser,Important Dates,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BMI-woodcut_bags-low-res-1kb-e1703024949185.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250708T150000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250708T163000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250523T031147Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250707T030941Z UID:65105-1751986800-1751992200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Author Talk | J.S. Davidson 'Hunted' & 'Tethered' | Now 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/hunted-tethered-davidson/ 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-promos-davidson-h-t.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250708T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250708T193000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250527T041755Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250707T031118Z UID:65216-1751997600-1752003000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Author Talk | Ella Stone - 'Breakfast With You' | Now 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/ella-stone/ 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-promos-davidson-h-t3.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250709T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250709T193000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 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:20250709T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250709T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250408T033940Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250408T035613Z UID:64356-1752087600-1752091200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Meditations for A Clear Mind 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/kadampa-meditation-series-9-july/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Clear-Mind-Urban-Ballarat-square-promo.webp ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250710T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250710T210000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250212T025248Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T110608Z UID:61983-1752175800-1752181200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Film Society | Sweet As 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/bfs-sweet-as/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Film Society,Externally Produced Event,Film ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sqaure-promo-bfs-update.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250711T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250711T210000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250526T023451Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250616T012211Z UID:65144-1752262200-1752267600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Andrew Hamilton | Jokes about the time I went to Prison 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/andrew-hamilton/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Comedy ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/sq-promo-andrew-hamilton.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250715T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250715T150000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250527T053759Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T005007Z UID:65236-1752588000-1752591600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Day Tours of the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute | Ballarat Winter Festival 15 July 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/day-tours-ballarat-winter-festival-2/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Heritage Festival,Ballarat Winter Festival,Festival,Fundraiser,Important Dates,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BMI-woodcut_bags-low-res-1kb-e1703024949185.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250716T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250716T193000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 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:20250716T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250716T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250408T035652Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250408T035944Z UID:64363-1752692400-1752696000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Meditations for A Clear Mind 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/kadampa-meditation-series-16-july/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Clear-Mind-Urban-Ballarat-square-promo.webp ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250718T123000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250718T153000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250625T032957Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250625T033649Z UID:65910-1752841800-1752852600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Freemasons Vocal Schedule 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/rsss-vocal-schedule-1/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos3.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250718T170000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250718T213000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20240717T012721Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250625T032911Z UID:57382-1752858000-1752874200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Freemasons Vocal Schedule 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/rsss-vocal-schedule/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos3.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250719T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250719T213000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T031631Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063216Z UID:65790-1752919200-1752960600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Freemasons Vocal Schedule 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/rsss-vocal-schedule-2/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos3.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250720T093000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250720T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T050147Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063107Z UID:65830-1753003800-1753041600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Freemasons Vocal Schedule 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/rsss-vocal-schedule-3/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos3.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250721T091500 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250721T213000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T032442Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063213Z UID:65793-1753089300-1753133400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Schimmel Pianoforte Schedule 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/rsss-pianoforte-schedule-1/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250722T091500 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250722T180000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T034613Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063205Z UID:65803-1753175700-1753207200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Schimmel Pianoforte Schedule 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/rsss-pianoforte-schedule-2/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250723T091500 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250723T210000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T035330Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063153Z UID:65806-1753262100-1753304400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Schimmel Pianoforte Schedule 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/rsss-pianoforte-schedule-3/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250723T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250723T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250408T042521Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250408T042633Z UID:64378-1753297200-1753300800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Meditations for A Clear Mind 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/kadampa-meditation-series-23-july/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Clear-Mind-Urban-Ballarat-square-promo.webp ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250724T091500 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250724T163000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T035700Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063134Z UID:65807-1753348500-1753374600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Schimmel Pianoforte Schedule 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/rsss-pianoforte-schedule-4/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250725T110000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250725T163000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T042305Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063123Z UID:65813-1753441200-1753461000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Schimmel Pianoforte Schedule 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/rsss-pianoforte-schedule-5/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250726T091500 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250726T183000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T064136Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T062951Z UID:65868-1753521300-1753554600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Schimmel Pianoforte Schedule 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/rsss-vocal-schedule-9/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250727T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250727T180000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T044813Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250625T050048Z UID:65825-1753624800-1753639200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Schimmel Pianoforte Schedule - Celebrating Chopin 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/rsss-pianoforte-schedule-7/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Live Music,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/chopin.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250728T093000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250728T173000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T052537Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063100Z UID:65835-1753695000-1753723800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Freemasons Vocal Schedule 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/rsss-vocal-schedule-4/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos3.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250729T093000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250729T163000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T054647Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063035Z UID:65841-1753781400-1753806600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Freemasons Vocal Schedule 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/rsss-vocal-schedule-5/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos3.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250730T093000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250730T190000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250624T060939Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250626T063024Z UID:65852-1753867800-1753902000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Royal South Street Society | Freemasons Vocal Schedule 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/rsss-vocal-schedule-6/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Royal South Street Society ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/sq-promos3.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250730T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250730T193000 DTSTAMP:20260501T151704 CREATED:20250715T014238Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250730T001534Z UID:66248-1753900200-1753903800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Rare Book Week Melbourne | Rare Books in Mechanics' Institutes: Uncover Hidden Treasures 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/rare-books-mechanics-institutes/ LOCATION:Prahran Mechanics’ Institute Victorian History Library\, 39 Saint Edmonds Road\, Prahran\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:About us,Important Dates,Rare Book Week,The Collection ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG39-BMI-crop.webp END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR