Zoom Review: Literary Soiree with Elsie & Graeme Johnstone - 7.30pm, Saturday, 19 September 2020
A Zoom Review:
Literary Online Soiree
with
REVIEW PART ONE:
by
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| https://www.facebook.com/daviesnathanielj EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! REPORTER'S SCOOP Background Notes: Graeme worked for The Sun News Pictorial writing the daily column “A Place in the Sun” entertaining 1.3 million readers. He and Elsie started The Wordsmith's Shop writing material for a variety of clients. Solo, Graeme has a number of projects under his belt including: •
The Playmakers, a novel based on the premise that Shakespeare didn’t write any of
the plays attributed to him.  • Musical works including Fugly, a contemporary take on the Cyrano de Bergerac tale and another musical Normie, based on the 1960s experience of Australia’s “King of Pop” Normie Rowe which premiered in 2012. • In 2015 he published Joan , a biography about Joan Child (the Australian Labor Party’s first woman Member of the Federal House of Representatives and the first woman
Speaker of the House). REPORTER'S REVIEW:  Graeme Johnstone on air (c) 2019 Southern FM 88.3 Graeme presents a poem each Friday morning on Southern FM 88.3’s “Friday Magazine,” a news, views and interviews show which many of the poems from the ‘OK boomer’ and other radio poems were written for. During the author talk he presented poems from the collection published this year. Being of the Baby Boomer generation, he covers some key events they would remember fondly.  Introducing the talk by explaining the term “OK Boomer”, he said, “it's the resentment amongst the younger generations that us old geezers born after World War II have everything and we want to point out that we are determined to hold onto it until we reluctantly go to the grave. Whether it be riding the waves, driving a convertible or as in most of our cases, offering an opinion.” It is a poem delivered with tongue-in-cheek poetic fun appropriate for the boomer generation and those who know them. It is a good laugh at the attitudes a baby boomer might be expected to have in this day and age and the injustices they face. Other topics covered in Graeme's book include: - Cruising Into Hellish Waters: a lockdown poem from the early days of Covid-19 in Australia, such as being stuck on a cruise ship - The Helicopter Parent: Laughing along at modern day (over-protective?) parenting; - Perce, the Punk Possum: Ode to a problematic possum. - Madness at the Top of the World: A funny reflection on how the summit experience has changed since the May 29, 1953 first conquering of Mount Everest. The poems are quite fun and that there is a semblance of underlying truth to them that you might identify with. There’s even a poem about going to Bunnings: - Just One More Thing Before I Pay Graeme even threw in one to pay homage to Mentone Public Library's 95th anniversary at the request of a member of our 95th Anniversary Steering Committee: They were a pleasure to hear and see.  Thanks, Graeme.
REPORTER'S NOTE: Nathaniel
would like to point out that he has painstakingly added in an extra space
between sentences where permitted for this review, so that people born earlier than the 1970’s can read it. 😜 REVIEW PART TWO: Elsie Johnstone by  EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! REPORTER'S SCOOP Background Notes: Elsie Johnstone- a
talented author and poet- gave a thoroughly enjoyable performance of a
selection of poems from her latest collection -  Elsie grew up in the East Gippsland town of Lakes Entrance. It was known as the largest fishing town on the east coast of Victoria in the 1950s. She had a happy childhood there and always felt like it was a safe place to live; she has many happy memories, as evidenced by her poems. Elsie wrote her first book in 2009- Our Little Town - which is a history of her hometown.  REPORTER'S REVIEW: Elsie performed a number of her poems, including My Hometown, Jemmy’s Point, A Tin Full of Photos, and The Local Football Team; all of which had a nostalgic, reminiscent feel to them. There were two others that stood out for me, however, as she sensitively explores important themes. The first one is Nowa Nowa- the East Gippsland town where she worked as a teacher. She speaks of the local Gunaikurnai people and how the white people came to take over their land with no regard for the original inhabitants. It is a plea for reconciliation between Aborigines and white people. The other poem is about Arthur Moffatt, an Aboriginal man who originally lived in Lake Tyers before moving to Warragul, and got detained for alleged public drunkenness; he subsequently died while in custody.  NOTE: Commissioner Johnston incorrectly spelt the Victorian town name Warragul at the time of submitting his report As this is not something white people would have been jailed for at the time, it was alerting everyone to the injustices that our First Nations people have suffered and continue to. Partners in print, life and community engagement, you can indulge further in the works and histories of this dynamic literary duo by visiting their websites:   Elsie and Graeme, The soiree platter you served up was prepared to literary perfection.  Thank-you as well for bringing to the Mentone Public Library Soiree Zoom Room such a delightful audience to share the evening with. 😃  |
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