Postponed literary festival events rescheduled

Two postponed events from this year’s Queenscliffe Literary Festival (QLF) have been rescheduled to next month.

The annual festival went ahead this May mostly as planned, but two events both featuring playwright Hannie Rayson and ABC broadcaster Michael Cathcart were called off due to COVID-19.

Last week, the QLF committee announced the two events would be held on consecutive days in October.

As most people retained their tickets for these rescheduled events, capacity is limited.

On October 14, Rayson and Cathcart will present “Writing Your Own Story”.

To be held in the theatrette at The Breeze in Point Lonsdale from 11am-1pm, the acclaimed workshop provides an introduction for anyone wanting to write a memoir or tell their family story.

Tickets are $30 and have nearly sold out.

The next day, October 14, Rayson and Cathcart will perform “Queenscliff in Truth and Fiction” at the Queenscliff Town Hall.

Written especially for the QLF, this is a local literary journey from the story of William Buckley, and The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, through to more recent tales of crime and romance.

From her position at the entrance of Phillip Bay, Queenscliffe has seduced generations of writers, poets and myth-makers.

Those stories tell of a delightful watering place, where elegant hotels vied for the patronage of governors, judges, and the new Victorian middle-class; legends of ghosts, crimes, and of buried treasure; and the heroic pilots who have guided ships through the the Rip.

All these stories are seasoned by the salty tang of the sea. As local writer Maggie Stowers puts it: “Every mood of the sea has its echo on shore, and the way of the wind, or the turn of the tide are as vital to the Cliffe people as the rise and fall of the stock market to the dwellers in the cities.”

Perhaps the most famous story-teller of them all is Henry Handel Richard

son, who lived in Queenscliff in the 1870s when she was a child.

“It’s been so mighty to read her classic The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney,” Rayson said.

“The fact that so much of the final volume, Ultima Thule, is set in Queenscliff, made the story so piquant.

“Our biggest challenge was deciding when to stop.”

Tickets are $25/$18 concession.

To book either event, head to the QLF website at queenscliffeliteraryfestival.com.au