Library gift memberships are a great idea for a literary buff, and there’s still time to buy one as a Christmas gift.

If you would like to buy a gift membership, please speak to the library staff.

A busy schedule of events is being organised for members in 2023, and there is much to look forward to. Highlights will include:

• The debut library performance of the Partridge String Quartet
• An artist residency with renowned Australian tapestry artist Joy Smith
• Two performances by the Inventi Ensemble
• Contemporary favourites Steve Lucas, Tanya-Lee Davies, and Sally Ford & the Idiomatics
• Swing/jazz band Ultrafox.

The best way to keep up to date with event dates and details is by checking the monthly eNews.

We have been fortunate enough to be one of 57 organisations to receive a 2022 Community Heritage Grant from the National Library of Australia.

Community-led and people-focused organisations from around Australia are receiving small grants to support the work of preserving significant local collections.

Our $5,500 grant is being used to carry out an archive preservation and significance survey. We look forward to updating members about the survey in 2023.

Congratulations to our current writer-in-residence, Declan Furber Gillick (pictured), and our inaugural writer-in-residence, Patricia Cornelius, whose works are both featuring in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2023 program.

Declan’s play, Jacky, is described as a sharp and witty play about family, community and culture, and examines the personal cost of navigating it all in contemporary Australia. It will open on 27th May 2023.

Patricia’s work, My Sister Jill, is set against the backdrop of 1950s and ‘60s suburban Melbourne and is a family drama that captures the spirit and struggle of a generation of Australians post-world war. It will open on 28th September 2023. My Sister Jill will be directed by Susie Dee, who has directed play readings at the Melbourne Athenaeum Library.