Since 2020, hundreds of schools and thousands of students across Australia have enjoyed these free My Place webinars, hosted by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation in partnership with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. In them, Nadia talks about the inspiration for the classic picture book, and passes on writing tips.

In 2023, 22,400 children attended!

In 2024, the event will be on the Friday of Children’s Book Week — a great way to end this culturally important week with a BUZZ. There will be more info closer to the time, but you can already Register at:

https://actf.com.au/education/resources/id/10512

The positive feedback we received following the 2023 virtual workshop highlights how much students and teachers alike valued the session: 

 “We were able to integrate the watching of 'My Place' into our reading planner and reflected on the workshop with the follow up activity in our writing planner.”

-       Michelle Craig (Langwarrin Primary School, VIC)

“It is wonderful for the students to have a chance to interact with an author. With the interaction they are able to make strong connections to the writing process and become more effective writers themselves.”

-       Sherydne Sawyer (Inglewood Primary School, WA)

“We are currently reading and watching the tv series as part of our inquiry unit. Students understood how the book came about and how the characters were created and why. Students loved seeing Nadia in real life and could make connections with currently reading the text.”

-       Lissa Lathwell (Koroit and District Primary School, VIC)

‘The end of the morning was always marked by the quarry whistle blowing the noon knock-off…’

 When Charmian Clift died in 1969 she was working on an autobiographical novel titled The End of the Morning, describing the childhood of her alter ego, Cressida Morley. Although the author did not live to complete the work, the typescript left among her papers was fully revised and stands alone as a novella. Edited by Clift’s biographer, Nadia Wheatley, this will be published for the first time in April 2024.

 In this talk, Nadia Wheatley will discuss the significance of The End of the Morning, both as a work of literature and as a source for her award-winning biography, The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift. A power-point presentation will evoke the landscape of the novel, and of Clift’s early life.

 Refreshments 5.45 pm. Talk starts 6.00 pm

      FREE. Bookings to:   https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/author-talk-nadia-wheatley-on-the-end-of-the-morning-by-charmain-clift-tickets-856660894797       

 Five Dock Library, Level 1, 4-12 Garfield St, Five Dock 2046

Jessie Street Natipnal Women’s Library

Venue: Customs House Library, Circular Quay 

Cost: $20 members, $25 Non Members, which includes a light lunch, pay at the door.

When Charmian Clift died in 1969 she was working on an autobiographical novel titled The End of the Morning, which recounts the childhood of her alter ego Cressida Morley, who appeared in the trilogy written by Clift’s husband George Johnston. Although the author did not live to complete the work, the typescript left among her papers was fully revised and stands alone as a novella. Now published for the first time, it allows Clift to have the last word about this character who was so dear to her.   

In this talk, Clift’s biographer and the editor of this posthumous work will discuss its significance both as a work of literature and as a biographical source.   

11:30 sandwiches and coffee; talk starts 12:15

Please book by noon  Tuesday 18 June by phone 95715359 or emailing the JSNWL info@nationalwomenslibrary.org.au

When Charmian Clift died in 1969 she was working on an autobiographical novel titled The End of the Morning, set in her childhood home of North Kiama and describing the childhood of her alter ego, Cressida Morley. Described by the author as ‘the owl on my shoulder’, Clift had been working on this all her life. The people and place of Kiama had also inspired the novels High Valley and Walk to the Paradise Gardens, and featured in a number of the author’s essays.

            In this talk, Nadia Wheatley will discuss the significance of The End of the Morning as a source for her award-winning biography, The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift. A power-point presentation will evoke the landscape of the novel, and of Clift’s early life.

            Local Kiama people will be invited to join the discussion of Charmian Clift’s place.

This is a Friends of Kiama Library and Kiama & District Historical Society joint event. Please join us for afternoon tea after the talk.

$8 FOKL/KDHS members/ $10 guests (includes afternoon tea). Everyone welcome.Tickets go on sale 1 May and will be available at the library, online, https://library.kiama.nsw.gov.au/Events/Adults-events/Nadia-Wheatley-The-End-of-the-Morning-by-Charmian-Clift  or call 02 4233 1133.

Kiama Library, 7 Railway Parade, Kiama NSW 2533

Explore the literary histories of Charmian Clift, Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower.

Following her biography The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift, Nadia Wheatley contributed the afterword to The End of the Morning, Clift’s final manuscript, which was recently published more than 50 years after her death. Literary scholar Brigitta Olubas (Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life) joined forces with journalist Susan Wyndham to edit Hazzard and Harrower: The Letters, which reveals the deep and vexed friendship between two of Australia’s greatest writers. 

Learn more about these fabled authors’ work and writing lives with the scholars who are salvaging their stories from the archives, in conversation with Caroline Baum.

Tickets $20.00. Book online at SWF website https://www.swf.org.au/program/season-2024/literary-legends

Or call the box office on 02 9256 4200

State Library of New South Wales, The Library Auditorium LG1.

Macquarie Building, 1 Shakespeare Place, Sydney 2000

Launch of program for Charmian Clift’s Kalymnos: A Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop, which Nadia Wheatley will lead on the island in April 2025.

In the winter of 1954, Australian author Charmian Clift arrived on the remote and poverty-stricken Greek island of Kalymnos with her author-husband, George Johnston, and their two young children. Clift described herself as ‘looking for a mermaid’— for something magical or mystical that would change her life.

            What she found was her own unique literary voice, expressed in her first solo book, Mermaid Singing. In this memoir she recorded her observations of the island’s society of sponge divers and matriarchs, and her own adaptation to the rhythms of Kalymnian life. This authentic Greece was the change Clift was seeking.

            Clift’s biographer, Nadia Wheatley, will share these discoveries in a talk illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs.

            Following this presentation, Limelight Arts Travel will launch the program for Charmian Clift’s Kalymnos: A Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop (to take place on Kalymnos in April 2025).

Free. RSVP essential. Book online at Gleebooks Events https://www.gleebooks.com.au/event/nadia-wheatley-charmian-clifts-kalymnos/

Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd Gebe, 02 9660 2333

Sydney Lyceum Club Lunch, Members and their guests

Charmian Clift published three novels and two travel books, but it was her journalism that made her a household name in Austraia. These ‘sneaky little revolutions’, as the author once called the pieces she wrote for her weekly newspaper column, had a transformative effect on their readers. This talk will look at Clift’s column in the context of the secondary status assigned to woman’s journalism in the 1960s.

For more information about the author, visit: www.charmianclift.com.au

Lunch open to Lyceum Club members and their guests.

Sunday 22 October or Sunday 29 October (depending on weather; exact time tbc)

Join writer and podcaster Caroline Baum and biographer Nadia Wheatley for this guided walk around Charmian’s heartland of North Kiama and Bombo. Bring a picnic lunch to share. For more information and to register send an email via the Contacts page

Jessie Street Library, The Meeting Room, Customs House Library, 31 Alfred Street, Sydney 2000

Entry :  $20 JSNWL members; $25 non-members

Phone the library on (02) 9571 5359 or email info@nationalwomenslibrary.org

This lunch-hour talk by Clift’s biographer, Nadia Wheatley, will explore Charmian Clift’s feminism through her life, her essays and her memoir of her time of Kalymnos, Mermaid Singing.

Attendees are welcome to turn up from 11.30 for a sandwich and hot drink.

 Mosman Library, Library Walk, 605 Military Road | Mosman NSW 2088

Free, but bookings are essential: https://events.mosman.nsw.gov.au/events/making-sneaky-little-revolutions

After returning with her family to Australia in 1964, Charmian Clift made her home in the Mosman area of Sydney. This was the time when the author was writing the radical weekly newspaper column that made her a household name. The author’s life during these years will be illustrated by a series of informal family photographs taken in April 1969 at the invitation of Clift’s elder son, Martin Johnston, by his university friend, Andrew Jakubowicz. Professor Jakubowicz will co-present the session with Nadia Wheatley

State Library NSW

Free, but bookings are essential: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/home-charmian-clift

In 1960s Australia, Charmian Clift invited readers into her home by way of her weekly newspaper column. Her many readers in turn often said that when they read Clift’s essays, they felt as if the writer was having a chat with them in their own home. Nadia Wheatley will present the author’s life and writing through a series of picture-windows into five places where Clift made her home. There will be a display of photographs of Clift from the SLNSW collection, with additional photographs by  Andrew Jakubowicz, who in April 1969 took a series of informal family photographs at the Clift-Johnston home, at the invitation of his university friend Martin Johnston.    

GREEK AUSTRALIAN WRITERS’ FESTIVAL, Beta Bar, 238 Castlereagh St Sydney, NSW 2000.

Click here for full program and booking (Tickets free but you should reserve a spot): https://greekfestivalofsydney.com.au/event/the-greek-australian-writers-festival/

In 1955, while living on Kalymnos, Australian author Charmian Clift ‘translated’ the island’s culture for English-speaking readers in Mermaid Singing. In 2022, the story came back to Greece in the translation To Tragoudi tis Gorgonas. In this panel discussion, the book’s translator, Fotini Pipi, will describe her process and the Australian Ambassador to Greece, Arthur Spyrou will discuss the book’s significance for Greek and Australian readers. Clift’s biographer, Nadia Wheatley, will put Clift’s experience on Kalymnos and the writing of Mermaid Singing into the context of the author’s life. The panel will be chaired by academic and journalist, Helen Vatsikopoulos.

I began writing my memoir of my mother in school exercise books when I was ten years old — putting down my memories of her stories before I could forget them.  In this talk for FRIENDS OF BALMAIN LIBRARY, I will focus on the writing process. I will also show photographs and some key memorabilia.

In this informal lunchtime session for the JESSIE STREET LIBRARY, I will use the memoir as a way of discussing how we can value and write about the lives of so-called ‘ordinary’ women. I will show photographs and some key memorabilia from my mother’s life.

Author Nadia Wheatley and artist Ken Searle will guide you through the exhibition of original artwork showcasing the journey behind six award-winning books inspired by the idea of Learning from Country.

Rare Books Library, Level 2, Fisher Library, University of Sydney

Free public event, but please click on the link to make a booking, to ensure entry to the library.

Guided Walk 4: Thursday 22 June | 5–6pm

Children and families are welcome.

For information about the exhibition, go to

http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/learning-from-country 

Author Nadia Wheatley and artist Ken Searle will guide you through the exhibition of original artwork showcasing the journey behind six award-winning books inspired by the idea of Learning from Country.

Rare Books Library, Level 2, Fisher Library, University of Sydney

Free public event, but please click on the link to make a booking, to ensure entry to the library.

Guided Walk 3: Thursday 15 June | 5–6pm

Children and families are welcome.

For information about the exhibition, go to

http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/learning-from-country 

Wednesday 7 June | 6–7:30pm

Rare Books Library, Level 2, Fisher Library, University of Sydney

Free public event, but click on the link to book, to ensure entry to the library.

From The Papunya School Book of Country and History (produced in collaboration with students and staff at the Aboriginal community of Papunya) to their award-winning history, Australians All, author Nadia Wheatley and artist Ken Searle have produced six books that all begin with the idea of Learning from Country.

In this Conversation, Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle will discuss how these books were made in conversation with Erica Wagner, Children’s Publisher at Allen & Unwin.

This is also an opportunity to visit the exhibition of original artwork showcasing the journey behind the books.

http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/learning-from-country 

Author Nadia Wheatley and artist Ken Searle will guide you through the exhibition of original artwork showcasing the journey behind six award-winning books inspired by the idea of Learning from Country.

Rare Books Library, Level 2, Fisher Library, University of Sydney

Free public event, but please click on the link to make a booking, to ensure entry to the library.

Guided Walk 2: Saturday 3 June | 3–4pm

Children and families are welcome.

For information about the exhibition, go to

http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/learning-from-country 

Rare Books Library, Level 2, Fisher Library, University of Sydney

Free public event, but click on the link to book, to ensure entry to the library.

Thursday 25 May | 6–7:30pm 

Have you ever thought about learning from Country — from the very land on which you walk? Can this sort of learning be done in the city? And can it be done by all of us, whatever our cultural background? 

Author Nadia Wheatley and artist Ken Searle will discuss this inspirational way of learning in conversation with Professor Robyn Ewing AM, Sydney School of Education and Social Work.

This is also an opportunity to visit the exhibition of original artwork showcasing the journey behind six award-winning books produced by Nadia Wheatley and Ken Searle — from The Papunya School Book of Country and History to Australians All.

http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/learning-from-country 

Author Nadia Wheatley and artist Ken Searle will guide you through the exhibition of original artwork showcasing the journey behind six award-winning books inspired by the idea of Learning from Country.

Rare Books Library, Level 2, Fisher Library, University of Sydney

Free public event, but please click on the link to make a booking, to ensure entry to the library. 

Guided Walk 1: Tuesday 23 May | 5–6pm 

Children and families are welcome.

For information about the exhibition, go to

http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/learning-from-country

Whether I am writing fact or fiction, I always begin by walking the country and letting my characters and plot grow from my understanding of place.This session will show how a place-based approach can be used to introduce students to the fundamental skills of exploring history and geography, and simultaneously to incorporate skills of literacy, art, science, and mathematics. We will be doing a number of practical activities, using place as a way of brainstorming stories and poems. These can be used with students at primary or secondary level. 

I have accepted an invitation from St Peters Public School to be their Writer in Residence for three years. This tiny school is located right in the heart of the map from My Place, and the local community is particularly engaged with the school. Over four weeks I will be running a series of Circle Story Workshops with students from K-6. Developed from the Papunya Model of Education, this is a way of mapping our place in our ngurra — our neighbourhood/home.

I have accepted an invitation from St Peters Public School to be their Writer in Residence for three years. This tiny school is located right in the heart of the map from My Place, and the local community is particularly engaged with the school. Over four weeks I will be running a series of Circle Story Workshops with students from K-6. Developed from the Papunya Model of Education, this is a way of mapping our place in our ngurra — our neighbourhood/home

I have accepted an invitation from St Peters Public School to be their Writer in Residence for three years. This tiny school is located right in the heart of the map from My Place, and the local community is particularly engaged with the school. Over four weeks I will be running a series of Circle Story Workshops with students from K-6. Developed from the Papunya Model of Education, this is a way of mapping our place in our ngurra — our neighbourhood/home.

I look forward to meeting members and friends of the West Australian School Librarians' Association. This session will showcase Flight as an example of the picture book genre, using it to explore visual and written literacy. I will talk about my inspiration for the story, and the process of collaboration with internationally renowned illustrator, Armin Greder. As well, the session will show how this picture book could be used to encourage students to explore the broader theme of refugee stories, using a number of historical stories in my history, Australians All.

I have accepted an invitation from St Peters Public School to be their Writer in Residence for three years. This tiny school is located right in the heart of the map from My Place, and the local community is particularly engaged with the school. Over four weeks I will be running a series of Circle Story Workshops with students from K-6. Developed from the Papunya Model of Education, this is a way of mapping our place in our ngurra — our neighbourhood/home.

I look forward to discussing this important topic with Sarah Ayoub and Dub Leffler. My own focus will be on my picture book Flight (illustrated by Armin Greder). I will talk about the inspiration for the story, and how this picture book could be used as a springboard to encourage students to explore real life stories of refugees, including some of the stories in my history book, Australians All.

This year Frenchs Forest Public School is celebrating its centenary. Since 2015 I have been working with staff to develop an engaging cross-curriculum history project involving the whole school and its broader community.