An abundance of authors at Goldfields Libraries this autumn!

Authors are aplenty at Goldfields Libraries this autumn, with over a dozen authors set to visit branches across the region.

Special guest speakers throughout autumn include former Victoria Police Force member Carolyn Pethick, music contributor for Vogue Jeff Apter and children’s author Neil Werrett. Award winning historian Ross McMullin returns to Castlemaine and Bendigo to talk about Britain’s gravest crisis of World War One, and local author Brian Carty joins Bendigo Library’s Vivien Newton to recount his late father’s memoirs of growing up in the Mallee region.

Maura the Clairvoyant Cruise Chip Librarian will deliver laugh after laugh as she visits Inglewood and Bendigo. Join her in a hilarious comedy show chock-full of characters, stories and observations about ageing, caring for elderly relatives and friends and doing what we can not to get ‘old’!

The Zinda Festival (formerly the Festival of Cultures) will celebrate cultural diversity in Bendigo during March, and local writers, commentators and legal practitioners will help answer your legal queries during Law Week in May. Topics include Wills, Powers of Attorney and Family law.

‘Find yourself in a library’ and discover all the good things we have to offer during Library & Information Week, and enjoy a screening of the short Australian comic film BabaKiueria in celebration of National Reconciliation Week in May and June.

History enthusiasts can expect new Discovering History seminars, presented in partnership with LaTrobe University, and will also enjoy the Butchers, Bakers and Candle Makers talks and workshops celebrating the Australian Heritage Festival.

Goldfields Libraries will farewell Michele Matthews in March. After 10 years at the Bendigo Regional Archive Centre, Michele is hanging up her dustcoat and will share some of the stories she has uncovered delving into the history of the goldfields area.

Online Learning Workshops will run in small groups across the region. Learn about Ancestry.com, employment skills with Lynda.com, Microsoft Word or what tools there are online to help promote small businesses.

Learn how to use the internet and social media, or how to send email with Tech Savvy Seniors sessions aimed at developing confidence and skills in technology for the over 55s.

As part of Victorian Youth Week, young adults can hone their artistic skills with the artists from Drawing With Us and learn to draw manga style characters with a creepy edge or join in the very popular ‘Library Lock In’ at Castlemaine Library where the library is theirs for the night.

The Little Bang Discovery Club is back, this time in Woodend and Bendigo, giving pre-schoolers a fun introduction to science, technology, engineering and maths. The ever-popular Baby Rhyme Time, Toddler Time and Storytime sessions have begun again for the year and run during school terms. And don’t forget our special Storytime sessions during autumn, including Cultural Diversity Week Storytimes, Star Wars Storytime and of course, National Simultaneous Storytime!

For more information on these events and more, pick up a copy of the autumn program at your local Goldfields Library, or download it from www.ncgrl.vic.gov.au/seasonalprogram