BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH 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:20250405T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20251004T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20260404T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20261003T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20270403T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20271002T160000 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260422T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260422T160000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260413T033307Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260413T062449Z UID:72085-1776866400-1776873600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:SHARC Roadshow 2026 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/sharc-roadshow-2026/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:SHARC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/sq-promo-events-sharc.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260422T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260422T183000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260316T055851Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260415T032833Z UID:71323-1776879000-1776882600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Twilight Talks: Focus on Ballarat - Ballarat Avenue of Honour DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/twilight-talks-focus-on-ballarat-ballarat-avenue-of-honour/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Australian Heritage Festival,Twilight Talks ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/square-promo-2025-ballarat-avenue-of-honour.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260422T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260422T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260302T012427Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T044616Z UID:71025-1776884400-1776888000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Love Changes Everything: How to Transform Yourself & the World Around You 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-22-apr/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/3-Love-Changes-BMI-Square.png ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260423T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260423T210000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260129T035010Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T044530Z UID:70398-1776972600-1776978000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Film Society | Only The Animals 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/ballarat-film-society-only-the-animals/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Ballarat Film Society,Film ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/only-the-animals-sq-promo-v4.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260424T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260424T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260310T000249Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T044311Z UID:71128-1777057200-1777060800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Minerva's Secrets | Night Tour 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/minervas-secrets-night-tour-24-apr-26/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Australian Heritage Festival,Important Dates,Night Tours,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/received_908662326866361-e1708918930337.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260424T210000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260424T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20250923T052206Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T044330Z UID:67565-1777064400-1777068000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Minerva's Secrets | Night Tour 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/minervas-secrets-night-tours-24-apr-26-2/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Australian Heritage Festival,Important Dates,Night Tours,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/received_265285705882698-e1708919200874.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260428T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20261124T150000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20250527T054132Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260423T235805Z UID:65238-1777384800-1795532400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Day Tours of the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute - Each Tuesday 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-26/ LOCATION:Library Ground Floor\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Heritage Festival,Ballarat Winter Festival,Festival,Fundraiser,Important Dates,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/building-tours-sq-promo.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260429T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260429T183000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260313T041015Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T044107Z UID:71275-1777483800-1777487400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Twilight Talks: Focus on Ballarat - Nostalgic memories of Stawell & Ballarat - 1950s and 1960s DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/twilight-talks-focus-on-ballarat-3/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Australian Heritage Festival,Author Talk,Twilight Talks ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/square-promo-2025-nostalgia-final-v2.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260429T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260429T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260302T012824Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T043901Z UID:71027-1777489200-1777492800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Love Changes Everything: How to Transform Yourself & the World Around You 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-29-apr/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/3-Love-Changes-BMI-Square.png ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260430T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260430T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260303T233837Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260420T014040Z UID:71100-1777573800-1777579200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Anna Johnston DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-anna-johnston/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sp-promo-talks-anna-johnston-v3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260506T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260506T183000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260323T001805Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T043353Z UID:71453-1778088600-1778092200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Twilight Talks: Focus on Ballarat - What We Watched Before Cinema: ‘Entertainments’ at the Mechanics’ Hall\, 1863–1919 DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/twilight-talks-focus-on-ballarat-4/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Australian Heritage Festival,Twilight Talks ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/square-promo-2025-ellen.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260506T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260506T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260302T012938Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T043305Z UID:71029-1778094000-1778097600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Love Changes Everything: How to Transform Yourself & the World Around You 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-6-may/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/3-Love-Changes-BMI-Square.png ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260508T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260508T213000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260310T034440Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T043207Z UID:71174-1778268600-1778275800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:One Tease Rules Them All: Fellowship of the G-String - The Burlesque Parody 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/one-tease-rules-them-all/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Theatre Production ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Sq-promo-one.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="Ethereal Realm Events Co.":MAILTO:etherealrealm.eventsco@gmail.com END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260509T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260509T113000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260121T221045Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T033520Z UID:70205-1778320800-1778326200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Teeny Tiny Stevies - Brain Fart Tour 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/teeny-tiny-stevies-brain-fart-tour/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Comedy,Live Music,Theatre Production ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Square-logo-only-1920x1920-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260509T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260509T213000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260310T043604Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T043048Z UID:71186-1778355000-1778362200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:One Tease Rules Them All: Fellowship of the G-String - The Burlesque Parody 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/one-tease-rules-them-all-2/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Theatre Production ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Sq-promo-one.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="Ethereal Realm Events Co.":MAILTO:etherealrealm.eventsco@gmail.com END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260511T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260511T193000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260316T013945Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T043011Z UID:71295-1778522400-1778527800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Victoria Purman DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/victoria-purman/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sp-promo-talks-victoria-purman.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260513T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260513T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260303T011741Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T041831Z UID:71063-1778697000-1778702400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Kerri Rogan DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Irma Gold | This event has now been CANCELLED due to low ticket sales \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n July 16\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n7:30 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$11.78 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Shift \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Irma Gold \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ‘Unforgettable’ – Nigel Featherstone. \n \n ‘Evocative\, propulsive and heartbreaking\, Shift is a novel that can change the way you think.’ – Rochelle Siemienowicz\, Double Happiness \n \n ‘Seductive\, superbly atmospheric and beautifully narrated with a painterly\, cinemascope feel\, Shift will make your heart race.’ – Niq Mhlongo\, The City is Mine \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter – which outlined the principles of democracy and freedom in South Africa – comes a novel set in the township where it was signed. Shift asks us to examine both the world around us…and ourselves. Arlie is a moderately successful thirty-something photographer who can’t seem to get his shit together. He can’t hold onto a girlfriend\, or much else\, and his relationship with his parents is complicated. His agoraphobic mother\, Dellie\, has long drawn silence over her South African upbringing. The more she refuses to illuminate\, the more Arlie wants to know. After another break-up\, Arlie needs to get away\, and there’s only one place he’s drawn to. In Kliptown\, he meets choirmaster Rufaro\, singer Glory and her younger brother Samson. Amidst the poverty\, violence and beauty of this neglected South African township\, Arlie begins exploring ideas for an exhibition\, and courting the possibility of happiness. But then his father unexpectedly turns up\, and a catastrophic event changes everything. Gusty and gripping\, tender and deeply compassionate\, Shift is a compulsively readable story about the messy process of art-making\, and the mess of love and family. It is an unflinching\, insightful and immersive novel that takes the reader inside the inner life of one township\, beyond the hyperbole of newspaper headlines\, to offer bold\, big-hearted hope. \n \n \n Shift | Irma Gold\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the author \n \n Irma Gold is an Australian author\, editor and reader. Her debut novel\, The Breaking\, won the NSW Writers Centre Varuna Fellowship and was awarded development grants by artsACT and CAPO. It won a Canberra Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted (then Highly Commended) in the ACT Notable Awards.Irma’s critically acclaimed debut collection of short fiction\, Two Steps Forward (Affirm Press)\, was shortlisted for or won a number of awards. Irma’s short fiction has been widely published in journals\, including Meanjin\, Westerly\, Island\, Review of Australian Fiction and Going Down Swinging\, and in anthologies like Australian Love Stories edited by Cate Kennedy\, and the tenth anniversary edition of Award Winning Australian Writing 2017.Irma is also the author of five picture books for children\, most recently Where the Heart Is\, featured on Sarah Ferguson’s Storytime channel\, and Seree’s Story.For 24 years Irma has worked as an editor\, and for a decade she was Convener of Editing at the University of Canberra. She is the commissioning editor of a number of anthologies\, including The Sound of Silence\, winner of the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards for Nonfiction\, and The Invisible Thread\, an official publication of the National Year of Reading 2012 and the Centenary of Canberra 2013 which anthologises a century of literature by writers who have called Canberra home\, including Alex Miller\, Marion Halligan\, Roger McDonald\, Kate Grenville\, Omar Musa\, Judith Wright and Les Murray.Irma spent her childhood living in a beautiful old Tudor house in south-east England just down the road from Roald Dahl\, and now lives by the beach in Naarm/Melbourne with two boys and a little black cat.She is just a bit keen on travel\, elephants\, beaches\, good coffee\, jumping castles and sunshiny days. She is not at all keen on extreme heights\, spiders and zoos. She is Co-host with Karen Viggers of the writing podcast\, Secrets from the Green Room. Her name is pronounced Ear-ma. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n $11.78 per person includes booking fee & gst\, also includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event is part of Ballarat Winter Festival \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work\, learn and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/in-conversation-with-kerri-rogan/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sp-promo-talks-v3.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260513T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260513T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260302T013053Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T041747Z UID:71031-1778698800-1778702400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Love Changes Everything: How to Transform Yourself & the World Around You 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-13-may/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/3-Love-Changes-BMI-Square.png ORGANIZER;CN="Kadampa Meditation":MAILTO:info@kadampa.org.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260514T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260514T210000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140431 CREATED:20260129T041334Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260409T035403Z UID:70407-1778787000-1778792400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Film Society | Black Dog 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/ballarat-film-society-black-dog/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Ballarat Film Society,Film ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/black-dog-sq-promo.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260516T083000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260516T180000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260128T044603Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T035919Z UID:70338-1778920200-1778954400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Victorian Occult Conference 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/victorian-occult-conference/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Conference ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/sq-promo-vic-occult.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260519T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260519T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260310T001332Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T035527Z UID:71137-1779217200-1779220800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Minerva's Secrets | Night Tour 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/minervas-secrets-night-tour-19-may-26/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Australian Heritage Festival,Important Dates,Night Tours,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/received_908662326866361-e1708918930337.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260519T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260519T203000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260414T044444Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260418T054257Z UID:72157-1779219000-1779222600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Lantern Vaults | Special Preview 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/lantern-vaults-preview/ LOCATION:The Basement\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,Ballarat Heritage Festival,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/sq-promo-events-lantern-vaults.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260519T210000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260519T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260310T002124Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T044437Z UID:71139-1779224400-1779228000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Minerva's Secrets | Night Tour 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/minervas-secrets-night-tour-18-may-26-2/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Australian Heritage Festival,Important Dates,Night Tours,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/received_265285705882698-e1708919200874.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260521T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260524T160000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260418T053218Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260425T062535Z UID:72320-1779357600-1779638400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Lantern Vaults 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/lantern-vaults/ LOCATION:BMI – Multiple Spaces\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,Ballarat Heritage Festival,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/sq-promo-events-lantern-vaults.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260521T113000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260524T121500 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260421T025952Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260421T040605Z UID:72387-1779363000-1779624900@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Heritage Festival - Tours of the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 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/ballarat-heritage-festival-tours/ LOCATION:Meet in the Foyer\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Heritage Festival,Important Dates,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/sq-promo-day-tours.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260522T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260522T203000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260318T041021Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260413T065647Z UID:71379-1779476400-1779481800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Panic from the Sky: A Call of Cthulhu Advenure 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/panic-in-the-sky/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Heritage Festival,Theatre Production ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Ufo-picture-only-for-ATDW-Tales-from-Rat-City-David-Waldron.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260527T183000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260527T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260313T002934Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T035212Z UID:71249-1779906600-1779912000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:In Conversation with Amanda Hampson 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/amanda-hampson/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/sp-promo-talks-amanda-hampson.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260611T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260611T210000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260129T043042Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T035120Z UID:70415-1781206200-1781211600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Film Society | Monster 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/ballarat-film-society-monster/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Ballarat Film Society,Film ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/monster-sq-promo.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260612T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260612T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260310T005733Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T035038Z UID:71141-1781290800-1781294400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Minerva's Secrets | Night Tour 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/minervas-secrets-night-tour-12-jun-26/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Night Tours,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/received_908662326866361-e1708918930337.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260612T210000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260612T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T140432 CREATED:20260310T010115Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260331T035008Z UID:71143-1781298000-1781301600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Minerva's Secrets | Night Tour 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/minervas-secrets-night-tour-12-jun-26-2/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Important Dates,Night Tours,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/received_265285705882698-e1708919200874.jpeg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR