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Heywire: Autobiography of a flood survivor

Imagine if the town or suburb you live in came under threat due to a natural disaster. How would you react? Shelby Garlick from Kerang, Victoria, was a finalist of the 2012 Heywire storytelling competition for young people. Listen to her inspiring story and explore the lessons she learnt as a result of working with her ...

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Radio National: The original pronunciation of Shakespeare

Have you ever been in a situation where someone is speaking to you in English but you cannot understand them? William Shakespeare wrote in English but sometimes it is difficult to understand his English. In 'Lingua Franca' the linguist David Crystal talks about mounting a production of 'Romeo and Juliet' using Shakespeare's ...

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Radio National: Shakespeare sweated it!

Ben Jonson, a 17th-century playwright and critic, said of Shakespeare that 'a great poet is not just born, but made'. Enjoy this discussion between Phillip Adams and John Bell, Australian actor and director of the Bell Shakespeare company. They explore soliloquies, authorship and why Shakespeare came to be considered the ...

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Heywire: Sporting Volunteers

Sport is a way of life for many Australians. Often all we see are the players on the field, but have you ever thought about what is involved behind the scenes? Jarvis Holt from Kurraca, Victoria, was a finalist of the 2012 Heywire storytelling competition for young people. Listen as he explores the whole army of people ...

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Heywire: Visits from a Christmas Island crab

Discover the lush beauty and extraordinary wildlife of Christmas Island, a tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean more than 1,500 kilometres off the Western Australian coast. In this Heywire audio story, Isabelle Bolland shares some of her experiences of life on Christmas Island and reminds her audience that there is far ...

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Heywire: Hip hop against waste dump

Many hip hop artists have expressed concerns about the world through their music. The Northern Territory's Kylie Sambo is no exception. Listen to her protest against the construction of a nuclear waste dump on her people's lands in Muckaty, near Tennant Creek. Could you write or record a story about yourself and/or your ...

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Radio National: What makes Shakespeare so special anyway?

Few literary figures are as widely revered as William Shakespeare. But just how did this glove-maker's son grow to become the greatest writer of the English language? Explore the extraordinary appeal of Shakespeare with John Bell, Australia's pre-eminent Shakespearean actor and director. If you like this clip, listen to ...

Video

Writing wild places

How do you write about a place that is disobedient?' Four of Britain's prominent writers consider the emotions that wild places evoke. In this clip, Robert Macfarlane, Simon Armitage, Sara Maitland and Owen Sheers consider the qualities of wildness: silence; escape; beauty; threat; and a sense of being both lost and found.

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Thinking about story themes

Noa and Francis are two young writers who've had their stories published. Listen as they talk about the main ideas they chose to explore in their stories. Find and watch the clips of Noa and Francis reading their pieces at the Melbourne Writers Festival (also found on Splash). How did they build their stories around the ...

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George Orwell’s '1984'

1984 is a novel by British author George Orwell, published in 1949. How has that period - the late 1940s - shaped the novel? What world event and its consequences led to Orwell writing such a dystopian novel? Professor Bowen claims the Senate House, formerly Ministry of Information, is the basis for the novel's Ministry ...

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Interviews With 10 Australian Authors, Ch 10: David Williamson's The Removalists

Violence still permeates Australian society, from the actions of sporting figures, to police corruption, to high levels of domestic violence. For these reasons, David Williamson's The Removalists remains as relevant to Australian audiences as when it was first performed. Listen to Williamson speak to Tom Tilley about the ...

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Can We Help?: Shakespeare words: the process of language change

Imagine being responsible for inventing over 1700 words! That is the legacy of William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers in the English language. Most of these words were created through translations of Latin words or by combining words with prefixes and suffixes in original ways. In this clip, you'll discover the ...

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First Tuesday Book Club: The voice of Albert Facey

Albert Facey's 'A Fortunate Life' is one of Australia's best-loved autobiographies. Could it be Facey's 'voice' in his writing that touches the hearts of so many readers? Explore this clip to learn more about how the written word can capture the personality of a writer.

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Radio National: Tragic love triangle in 'The Great Gatsby'

Who will Daisy Buchanan choose when she finds herself torn between the love of two men in F Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 classic novel, 'The Great Gatsby'? Draw on the discussion in this audio clip to improve your skills in developing character in creative writing. The clip from 'Books and arts daily' on Radio National is one ...

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First Tuesday Book Club: The power of one book to captivate Australia

Bryce Courtenay's novel 'The Power of One' has sold millions of copies worldwide. But just how did a debut novel, set in South Africa and written by a South African author, end up on the list of '10 Aussie books to read before you die'? Find out more in this clip.

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First Tuesday Book Club: The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' is a dystopian novel set in the fictional Republic of Gilead. What are some hallmarks of dystopian novels? What are some similarities and differences between this novel and another dystopian novel mentioned in this video, Orwell's '1984'?

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Modernism and Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway'

Mrs Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf is a modernist novel. What makes it so? Think of how it contrasts with Edwardian and even 19th century novels. How does consciousness, or internal reality, as well as multiple perspectives play a part in modernist literature like 'Mrs Dalloway'?

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First Tuesday Book Club: The haunting of Manderley

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.' So begins 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier, the 1938 gothic novel set in the mysterious mansion of Manderley, with all its creepy inhabitants. Learn more about this thrilling novel and the gothic genre in this clip, which is the first in a series of two.

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First Tuesday Book Club: Savouring 'The Magic Pudding'

It's been nearly 100 years since Norman Lindsay's madcap tale of a bad-tempered pudding was published, yet it continues to remain popular with children and adults alike. Over the years it's been a puppet show, cartoon, play, film and even an opera. What are the reasons for its enduring popularity? Explore the real magic ...

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The Book Club: Solving 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' is described by the panellists as part quest and part detective novel. How do they explain this? What are the two 'cases' that the narrator and protagonist 'solves' in the novel, whether deliberately or inadvertently? What is the effect of having the reader know more than ...