Tom Ballard to launch Queenscliffe Literary Festival program

AUSTRALIAN comedian and author Tom Ballard will help launch the program for this year’s Queenscliffe Literary Festival (QLF) next month.

To be held over three weekends in May, the festival brings the best of established and emerging Australian literary talent to the borough and the wider Bellarine community.

The March 21 launch will be the first chance for festivalgoers to see the planned schedule of events for 2023.

The event, to be held at the Queenscliff Town Hall, will feature special guest author Tom Ballard in conversation about his book I, Millennial: One Snowflake’s Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires & Everything Else with The Age culture editor, Osman Faruqi.

Describing himself as “an Australian comedian doing his best”, Ballard is an “award-winning comedian, broadcaster, philanthropist and virtue-signaller” who “pretended to be cool on the triple j breakfast show for years”, then went on to perform stand-up all over the world and front his own late-night show on the ABC, Tonightly with Tom Ballard.

I, Millenial is Ballard’s literary debut and was released in November – “It’s in most airports, as far as I can tell,” he quipped.

“It’s a comprehensive, funny and angry summary of how my generation, the Millenials, have been screwed over by the political economic status quo.

“It’s not your imagination, young people – we’re getting screwed! Screwed on work, on housing, on education, on privatisation, on economic inequality and the fact that the Earth is on fire and Australia is either constantly being either flooded or burnt to a crisp.

“There are reasons why that is the case – our parents had it better than us – and in this book I explain why, just how angry you should be about all that, and what to do about it.”

QLF organisers say the festival’s purpose is to curate a lively and intelligent season of events that stimulates discussion and to provide opportunities for engagement and participation.The program aims to be inclusive, accessible, thought-provoking and diverse.It celebrates Australian literature across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, music and art delivering an exciting and diverse range of authors, artists, musicians and artisans to the Borough of Queenscliffe and the wider community.

The QLF is run by a committee of local volunteers and is made possible by sponsorship from the Borough of Queenscliffe.

The 2023 Queenscliffe Literary Festival launch will be held at the Queenscliff Town Hall, 50 Learmonth Street, Queenscliff, on March 21 from 5pm.

Drinks will be available for purchase on the lawn beside the Town Hall from 5pm before the launch begins at 6pm.

Tickets are available for purchase at trybooking.com/CFYIT