While the Wheeler Centre’s Gala Night was technically the reason for my weekend trip, I did manage to sneak in a few more events – A Writers at the Convent session and a wander through the gritty subways for the Sticky Institute Zine Fair. (More on this later!)

The session I attended was called “Not Waving, Laughing”, with Kathy Charles (author of Hollywood Ending), author and newspaper columnist (Modern Guru) Danny Katz, and Brendan Gullifer author of Sold (you can listen to ABC Radio National’s Book Show Review here).

Danny Katz

Canadian-born Danny Katz is incredibly animated, and talked the most out of everyone. He told us about his geologist father, who was captivated by Australian rocks, leading to the family’s emigration to Australia. He had some insights into the typically self-deprecating nature of Jewish humour…apparently, according to Katz, it’s simply a matter of putting yourself lowest, so that a) you can proceed to make fun of everybody else and, perhaps a little sadder, b) so nobody else can put you lower. He told us how one seemingly innocent question into Modern Guru led to his discovery, and subsequent outing, of the hidden world of fountain pen forums (well, not so hidden, this was at the top of my Google search). An enigmatic handful of enthusiasts, from the sounds of it.

Brendan Gullifer

Brendan Gullifer told us about his soul-draining days working in real estate, the inspiration for his novel Sold and the one-eighty when he joined the community effort to save the very building we were sitting in – the Abbotsford Convent.

The convent was initiated by some French nuns, who ran sections of it as a shelter for single mothers, and other sections as a loony bin; residents of the respective houses never crossed paths. So anyway, in true Movie-of-the-week fashion, the council wanted to knock it down to make way for schmoozy apartments. Locals got wind of this, banded together and saved the convent (Gullifer’s version was much more eloquent). It was hard not to gaze out the window at the charming grounds, or around the room at olden-day photos, the mantelpiece in the far wall, and the high ceilings… it made the victory against the evil corporations all that sweeter.

Kathy Charles

Kathy Charles seemed one of those accidentally funny types of people, though she really has quite a dark sense of humour: Having travelled back and forth between Australia and LA as a teenager, it seems there is a little bit of Kathy in her book’s protagonist, Hilda. She spoke about her own fascination with the underbelly of Hollywood, specifically, celebrity deaths. Celebrity culture is something I’ve never really comprehended, or wanted to. But hearing Kathy talk about her interest in celebrity culture and celebrity death, I couldn’t help being drawn to it all: The gruesome nature of it, loved (or despised) actors and musicians, stripped of dignity at their most vulnerable moments, such as the silent film star of the 1930s, a womaniser who wanted to commit a grand suicide. His self-stabbing failed and he ended up dying slowly and in excruciating pain, alone in his bathroom. Ummm, this wasn’t one of the laugh-out-loud funny moments, just so you know.

Sticky Zine Fair in Degraves St Subway

Social funtimezzz

I walked out of this session with sore mouth muscles – lots of smiling, and a bit of laughing (it was after all, a session about humour). Also got to catch up with Angela from Literary Minded, who went to more sessions than me. We sat under a tree and took photos of ourselves. I asked her a lot of questions about writing and reviewing, and then vocally cursed the fact that I had not thought to bring a recorder, as it could have made for lovely INTERVIEW banter.

The Sticky Zine Fair

You know what? I’ve just written a mega epic account of a one hour session. So you can all stay patiently tuned while I put together a zine-themed vlog for next time…

(btw, if you’re interested, I interviewed Damian Kulash from OK Go a couple of weeks ago over here).