Open House Melbourne and Melbourne Writers Festival
Mark Chew - Interior of State Library of Victoria
Melbourne’s creativity bubbles to the surface this winter with a series of exciting events guaranteed to get the creative juices flowing.
Open House Melbourne (OHM) throws open the doors of more than 100 commercial, residential and green buildings over the weekend of 28 - 29 July, giving the general public a rare insight into Melbourne’s architecture, history and design. Now in its fifth year, OHM is set to be bigger and better than ever with an additional 25 new spaces open for viewing this year.
Designed to celebrate the city’s past, present and future, this free event also incorporates complementary public talks by some of the architects and designers responsible for these buildings.
Philosophy, love, war, science, the environment and unforgettable stories are the calling cards of the 2012 Melbourne Writers Festival. The 11-day program from 24 August to 2 September features over 300 events and in excess of 350 leading international and local writers, thinkers, illustrators and performers in an enlightening program of keynote events, innovative panel discussions, lively in-conversation sessions, film screenings, workshops, debates, master classes, launches, performances, seminars, professional development and schools programs.
Highlights include the opening keynote by British actor, director and writer Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, Phantom of the Opera and Amadeus) and - in a festival first - icon of international publishing The New Yorker Magazine will participate in eight special events over three days featuring art critic, poet, educator Peter Schjeldahl, pop music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, and staff cartoonist Roz Chast.
The full Festival program will be released 20 July.
For more information:
Open House Melbourne - Robert Larocca, 0409 198 350
Melbourne Writers Festival - Prue Bassett, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 0419 559 040