I had a fantastic time last night at the first public event staged by Melbourne's new Wheeler Centre for Books and Ideas, "A Gala Night Of Storytelling" in aid of the Indigenous Literacy Project.
I was one of a dozen assorted stroytellers and writers invited to tell a short personal story about our familiies. When we arrived, we found 2000 people packed into the Town Hall and a queue streching around the corner and up Collins Street.
The line-up included David Malouf, Christos Tsiolkas, Chloe Hooper, John Marsden, Alex Miller, John Safran, Judith Lucy, Tara Jane Winch, Alexis Wright and Cate Kennedy. The audience was brilliantly warm and responsive and made a very big auditorium feel remarkably intimate. The stories were funny and moving and scurrilous and Paul Kelly finished the show by telling the story behind one of his songs, then singing it - a capella.
So the Wheeler Centre is lauched - bless her and all who sail in her.