Events

Books at the Brewery 2020

A series of literary events held in partnership with the Shedshaker Brewing Company.

Join us for a beer, wine or cider (or two) and pizza while listening to some of Australia's finest writers for both adults and children.

Jacqueline and Doug, Graham and I are delighted to invite you back to The Taproom for all things Books, Beer, Wine and Pizza.

PLEASE SAVE THE FOLLOWING DATES* :

SEPTEMBER 15 2020
Kate Mildenall in Conversation with Cate Kennedy

We are very pleased to welcome Melbourne author, Kate Mildenhall to kick off our second-half of 2020 Books at the Brewery series.

Kate was longlisted for Best Debut Fiction in The Indie Book Awards 2017 and the 2017 Voss Literary Prize. Kate teaches creative writing to young writers and co-hosts The First Time, a podcast about the first time you publish a book. The Mother Fault is her second novel. Kate lives with her partner and two daughters in Hurstbridge, Victoria.

The Mother Fault

You will not recognise me, she thinks, when I find you . . .

Mim’s husband is missing. No one knows where Ben is, but everyone wants to find him – especially The Department. And they should know, the all-seeing government body has fitted the entire population with a universal tracking chip to keep them ‘safe’.

But suddenly Ben can’t be tracked. And Mim is questioned, made to surrender her passport and threatened with the unthinkable – her two children being taken into care at the notorious BestLife.

Cornered, Mim risks everything to go on the run to find her husband – and a part of herself, long gone, that is brave enough to tackle the journey ahead.

From the stark backroads of the Australian outback to a terrifying sea voyage, Mim is forced to shuck off who she was – mother, daughter, wife, sister – and become the woman she needs to be to save her family and herself.

‘A shattering lightning bolt of a book.’ Karen Viggers, author of The Lightkeeper’s Wife

‘A clarion call, wrapped in vivid prose, inside a truly thrilling read’ Angela Savage, author of Mother of Pearl and Behind the Night Bazaar

‘Shook me to my core. I could not put it down’ Alice Robinson, author of Anchor Point and The Glad Shout

Kate will be in conversation with literary award-winning author, Cate Kennedy who is best known for her short stories but has also written a novel, The World Beneath.

OCTOBER 1 2020
Alex Miller in Conversation with Tom Griffiths

It is an absolute thrill to have multi-award winning author Alex Miller back to The Taproom, this time, in conversation with Tom Griffiths.

Alex has been twice winner of the Miles Franklin Literary award though all his novels are published to much critical acclaim. In 2017, his novel, A Passage of Love, was his most autobiographical yet and in Max, he has written …’An astonishing, moving tribute to Alex's friend, Max Blatt, that is at once a meditation on memory itself, on friendship and a reminder to the reader that history belongs to humanity.’

From Raimond Gaita:

‘…Max is perhaps his most moving book, a poignant expression of piety, true to his mentor's injunction to write with love.' Raimond Gaita, award-winning author of Romulus, My Father’

Tom Griffiths is a historian and writer of creative non-fiction who has worked in universities, museums, libraries and with many community groups. His books and essays have won prizes in literature, history, science, politics and journalism, including the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction (twice), the Ernest Scott Prize for History (twice), the Eureka Science Book Prize, the Prime Minister’s Prize for History and the NSW Book of the Year. He will be our conversationalist at the invitation of Alex himself.

This will be a ‘not-to-be-missed’ literary evening.

NOVEMBER 5 2020
Garry Linnell

We are so pleased to welcome Garry to both The Taproom and to Castlemaine. We had wanted to have Garry to our 2019 Books at the Brewery series, but alas, dates did not work. Garry Linnell is one of Australia’s most experienced journalists. Born and raised in Geelong, he has won several awards for his writing, including a Walkley for best feature writing. He has been editor-in-chief of The Bulletin, editor of The Daily Telegraph, director of news and current affairs for the Nine Network and editorial director of Fairfax.

In 2019, Buckley’s Chance was published - the true story of William Buckley - the story of a man who refused to be held down. A man prepared to defy all odds and take a chance. And the man who gave us the ‘saying’, Buckley’s chance.

But in 2020, Garry will be chatting to us about his new book.

Moonlite:

The story of Captain Moonlite is largely unknown in Australia. Yet it is one of the most incredible tales to emerge out of the 19th century when a young and largely lawless nation was held to ransom by hundreds of outlaws. The execution of Moonlite and, later that year, Ned Kelly, marked the end of their reign; an era as colourful and dangerous as the American Wild West was coming to an end.

Andrew Scott was an Irishman who, in just 38 years, had lived a full life; a soldier during the Maori wars in New Zealand, a lay preacher, a fraudster, a public figure who lectured on the evils of crime and, in all probability, the first openly gay bushranger.

Moonlight is a fast-paced narrative tracing the rise and fall of Captain Moonlite and, in doing so, telling the story of Australia’s era of bushrangers, a half century where settlers and farmers eking out a meagre existence on the land came to fear the sound of an approaching band of men on horseback.

Join us for an amazing night of storytelling with Garry Linnell on November 5th at The Taproom