Now, ‘Open Mic’ is truly what it says By Graeme Johnstone. Our first session of Open Mic, held in May, was missing only one aspect. A microphone! Images from Nathaniel Davies' collection   But now we do have a mic. (not shown) And a speaker. Plus a lectern. Which makes us very professional and gives everyone the option to add texture and volume to their presentation. And at our June presentation, Lindsay Bamfield once again showed her wonderful skills at creating the engaging short story with the surprise ending, while Jan Lawrence outlined her interest in the various styles of set-piece poetry, such as sonnets and Japanese haiku. She displayed her grasp of the approach with a delightful work that included the beautiful description of two birds that suddenly appeared in the narrative. Gabrielle Grieg poetically outlined the heroics of her late partner, running parallel with his love of all things equine, as he battled terminal cancer. Later she read a work in progress, the text for...

Here is the flyer for our next Open Mic day on Saturday.  Bookings: email us at mentonepubliclibrary@gmail.com

Liliane Grace Her name says it all, Liliane Grace is a lady of grace and wisdom, a prodigious author who is not afraid to voice her thoughts about how she views the world and what is happening in it.   We tuned into her An Author For All Seasons Zoom last Saturday thinking we were going to hear about her latest book, “ Power of Light ” but we got much, much more that.   Power of Light  is the story of a young boy who, when his father receives a cancer diagnosis, has to find a way to navigate the trauma that is happening at home. He retreats into a mystical world and becomes an imaginary member of a gang whose messages he believes could help make the best of the situation. The two stories interweave. Liliane took us on a philosophical journey. Interestingly, this was the AFL weekend of Neale Daniher’s  ‘Big Freeze’. Neale, a king of the bloke, matey Aussie football culture, took a shocking diagnosis of MND, a debilitating and incurable disease of the auto-immune syste...

An Author for All Seasons Series 12, 14th May 2022 The Old Girl Celebrates 97 Years After the long, dark winter of COVID, the Mentone Public Library emerged dressed in her brand new spring gown, all spruced up and ready to roll.  She is looking great, exactly as envisioned,  a pleasant and calming place for writers and readers to meet. Fifteen members and friends gathered to celebrate the old girl’s 97 th  birthday in our new meeting place.  We did so by launching an inaugural session of Open Mic. Some participants laughing at one of the short stories.  Digital artwork by Nathaniel Davies Not everybody brought a piece of writing to share, some just brought themselves.  With a little gentle prompting from the president, everybody introduced themselves to the group. We welcomed newbies Denise Meurs, Lindsay Bamfield, Toni Keegan and Lesley Cheatham. The bottle was spun to determine who was to be the brave beginner and that lucky break fell to Denise Shine, ...