After school Christmas craft

Fun Christmas craft for school aged children 5+

Christmas cards - Monday 30th November 4pm

Bon bons - Tuesday 8th December 4pm

Jigsaw mini wreaths - Monday 14th December 4pm

$3 per session

Bookings required ph: 9754 7266

Sue

Michael Cathcart for November Literary Lunch

When: Thursday 26th November 12:30pm
Cost: $10
Bookings phone 9754 7266 by Tuesday 24th November

Broadcaster, author and academic Michael
Cathcart will be known to many from his ABC
series Rewind and Rogue Nation. Currently he
can be heard on Radio National as the presenter
of Bush Telegraph. A sought after speaker, he
has appeared at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival
and the Sydney Ideas Lectures. The Water
Dreamers was published in August 2009.

Share lunch with Michael at Belgrave Library!

Tarzanna

Melbourne Cup Day - Library closed

Belgrave Library will be closed on Tuesday, 3rd November for Melbourne Cup Day. Items can still be returned through our bookchute. Don't forget that if you know your PIN you can renew items and place holds online through the library website. We will re-open at 10 am on Wednesday, 4th November.
regards,

Minerva

Belgrave Heritage Walk

Further to History Week, here's a great way to spend a Saturday morning.
On 14th November Dianne Kueffer of the Dandenong Ranges National Trust will lead an historical walk through the streets of Belgrave. Starting and ending at Earthly Pleasures Café, in the historic former Jorgensen home next to the library, the informative walk will last two hours.

When: Saturday 14th November. Walks start 11am and 1pm
Cost: $5
Bookings: phone 9755 2731

Regards, Tarzanna

Monthly booksale cancelled

Our September sale was the last of our monthly Belgrave library book sales. Keen bargain-hunters should watch this space for an update on your next opportunity to buy some of our wonderful pre-loved library books.

regards,

Minerva

The Dandenongs: hotbed of literary talent

Local news: We are delighted to hear of a major literary prize awarded to local poet and friend of the library, Marian Spires.

Through a series of performance heats, Marian hung on to the top spot to win the 2009 Melbourne Writers Festival Poetry Idol.
Her prize is a publishing contract and $2000, which she plans to put towards a trip to Europe to research a writing project on Vincent Van Gogh.

Marian is a key literary figure in the Dandenongs. A member of Lazy River Writers who meet at Belgrave Library, she has also fostered spoken word gigs as founder of The Word Tree (Burrinja, 1st Saturday of the month: 3-5).
We're thrilled for her win and proud of her connection with the library.

Belgrave Library is still home to a public writing group, Equal Writes, meeting on the 1st, 3rd (and 5th) Thursday of the month at 7pm. It is open to all and operates on a co-operative theme-based format. No bookings are necessary. Try it!

Regards, Tarzanna

Staff Pick - The Pages

The Pages by Murray Bail is a book of ideas. Erica, a philosopher is travelling with her friend Sophie, a psychoanalyst. She is going to assess the work of Wesley Antill at the family farm still occupied by his brother and sister. The book follows the diary of Wesley interspersed with the events on the farm. Having fought with his father, Wesley travels to Sydney, England and Europe to discover and create his philosophy of emotions.

It is irrelevant whether we think Wesley is a genius or floundering in his attempts to make his philosophical breakthrough. What is clear are the oppositions that drive the novel along: between rural and urban, restraint and emotion, light and dark. I found this unusual book oddly compelling. The spell is most powerfully cast in the brilliant skill of the writing which makes the world and characters come alive on the page.

reviewed by Arwen

History Week

October 25 to November 1 has been declared History Week by Australia's state historical societies. The Dandenong Ranges with its rich culture of historical research and societies is host to many events. To celebrate, why not spend the week travelling back in time, discovering the Ranges' wide and wonderful past.

Amongst local events is an antiques and collectables appraisals afternoon at Montrose Town Centre on Saturday31st October, 12 - 4pm. For a gold coin solve the mystery behind your great aunt's curios. Members of Coonara Community House in Upper Ferntree Gully, who are currently compiling oral history accounts of post-war immigration to the foothills, will mount a photographic display in Ferntree Gully Library.

Here at Belgrave Library, Monbulk Historical society will be offer a photographic exhibition of the Monbulk area. A member of the society will be present to hear any relevant stories you may have or to guide you in research.

See the combined libraries flyer for more information on these and other local history events in the Dandenong Ranges.

Regards, Tarzanna