30 Aug 2023
A portrait image of a person with short hair, wearing glasses and a dark blue striped blazer. They are standing in front of a bookshelf.
Professor Chris Wallace

Spring into the National Library this September and see new ideas blossom when you attend our events! Highlights include a debate on whether sport unites or divides us, the final instalment of our annual Seymour Biography Lecture, a Shakespeare event that is a mix of lecture and performance, and a discussion on the most memorable AFL and NRL grand finals.

Program

  • The Great Debate: Does sport unite or divide us?
    Tuesday 5 September | 6pm to 8.30pm | Tickets $30
    Join us for a lively evening of discussion and debate as we explore the power of sport to bring us together or push us apart. Our speakers for the evening will be the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP and Emeritus Professor David Rowe, who will take the stage to explore this fascinating theme alongside podcast host and journalist Ginger Gorman, our moderator for the debate.

    The ticket price includes entry to the event, after-hours entry to the Grit & Gold: Tales from a Sporting Nation exhibition on the evening, and drinks and canapes on arrival from 6pm, before the debate starts at 7pm.
     

  • 2023 Seymour Biography Lecture: Professor Chris Wallace
    Thursday 7 September | 6pm to 8pm | Free
    The Seymour Biography Lecture provides eminent 'life writers', living in Australia and elsewhere, with an opportunity to explore the business and craft of biography, autobiography or memoir. In 2023, the final Seymour Biography Lecture will be delivered by Professor Chris Wallace.

    Wallace’s books include Political Lives: Australian Prime Ministers and Their Biographers (UNSW Press, 2023), How To Win An Election (NewSouth, 2020), The Private Don (Allen & Unwin, 2004), Greer: Untamed Shrew (Pan Macmillan, 1997) and Hewson, A Portrait (Pan Macmillan, 1993).

    A reception with complimentary drinks and canapes will take place in the National Library Foyer following the event.
     

  • Overgrowing Canberra with Dr Julian Raxworthy
    Thursday 14 September | 5.30pm to 7.30pm | Members $20; Non-members $25
    In this lecture, Dr Julian Raxworthy will explore the intersection between landscape design and garden maintenance, the subject of his book Overgrown: practices between landscape architecture and gardening.

    This is a Friends of the National Library of Australia event in association with the Australian Garden History Society.
     

  • Shakespeare the reader: An illustrated lecture with ANU and Bell Shakespeare
    Friday 22 September | 6pm to 8pm | Free
    Dr Kate Flaherty, senior Lecturer in English and Drama at the Australian National University (ANU), is joined by Bell Shakespeare actors to examine Shakespeare’s influences and explore the link between the books that inspired Shakespeare and Shakespeare’s own work.

    This event is a mix of lecture and performance, presented in partnership with ANU and Bell Shakespeare. 
     

  • Panel discussion: The greatest grand final ever?
    Thursday 28 September | 6pm to 7pm | Free
    Join Dr Guy Hansen, National Library Director of Exhibitions, as he discusses memorable AFL and NRL finals, and what makes a great grand final, with special guests Nick Richardson and Melanie Dinjaski.

See the full list of what’s currently on at the Library: https://www.nla.gov.au/whats-on.

For more information about each event and to book, please visit the relevant event webpages.

To arrange an interview with a spokesperson about any event, please contact 0401 226 697 or media@nla.gov.au

Contact 

Mirelle O’Mara, Media Liaison, National Library of Australia  

M: 0401 226 697

E: media@nla.gov.au 

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