CURATOR UPDATES

A new year, a new set up ... Monday, Feb 9, 7pm start

We are always on the lookout to make the experience more comfortable and easy for our guests, so starting this month because Little Fictions has been so popular, the big table will be moved from the centre of the room and more chairs added, plus we will have two intermissions to allow people to refresh their drinks before another exciting round of readings. The bar and food truck will be open from 6.00pm, come early and eat comfortably in the bar before the show begins.

Monday night is a perfect night for a brief outing. Sets a good mood for the rest of the week.  Little Fictions is a short night of entertainment, in keeping with the spirit of short fiction. You can listen to stories read by professional actors, eat, drink, be happy, win stuff and support Australian micro-literature all at the same time, in one and a half hours. Seriously productive.


MC Adam Norris

Your MC for the evening is smooth operator, Brag Magazine’s Adam Norris who will fill you in on all you need to know about our terrific line-up. Plus Adam will kindly allow his trademark trilby to be used for the draw the two door prizes: a free spin on the cocktail wheel and your pick of a Spineless Wonders book or CD. 


Drinks & food available at the bar
Knox St Bar food truck

From 5.30 pm, Bjorn Godwin and the Knox St Bar team will be serving boutique beers, ciders and cocktails plus a pasta & wine special deal with veg/gluten-free options as well as the usual blackboard menu.

What Happens?
Little Fictions is born out an ardent desire to bring people who love literature together, giving voice to contemporary short Australian fiction and to bring short, quality stories and entertainment to Sydney audiences.

Eleni Schumacher
Little Fictions is a platform for Australian writers to have their work read by professional actors.



Little Fictions - ACTORS
Patrick Lenton
The readers are professional Sydney actors with performance experience. Our regulars Lauren Hamilton, Caitlin Harris, Tim McGarry Eleni Schumacher and Alex Williams are all here. We are delighted to be joined by talented short fiction author, Patrick Lenton, reading his own work.








Little Fictions – WRITERS
Artwork by Daniel Lethlean Higson
A Man Made Entirely of Bats
Patrick Lenton is reading 'MoonCat' from A Man made entirely of Bats, the latest release from Spineless Wonders. His book will be on sale on the night and he'll write something funny in it for you if you buy a copy.

Other Spineless Wonders pieces will include:

Chris Flynn’s 'Sealer’s Cove'
Julie Chevalier’s 'the man who walks after work'
Alec Patric 'I wanna be Murakami'
Viv Plumb’s 'Cinematic Experience'
Paddy O’Reilly’s 'Reality TV'
Phil Hammial’s 'Traps'
Kate Walter’s 'Mutants and Missionaries'
Mark O’Flynn’s 'Red Shoes'
Ali Jane Smith’s 'San Relache'
Jon Steiner's 'Tooth'



Little Fictions audio
Don’t live in Sydney or can’t make it on the night? Don’t fret. Little Fiction recordings will soon be available as mp3s from the website so you will be able to enjoy the readings anytime, anywhere you like.

 
Cait Harris
See you there!
 ***

Monday night, 8th December, cnr Knox & Shepherd St Chippendale


Little Fictions 7.00pm to 9.00pm
Bar opens from 6pm


Monday night is a perfect night for a brief outing. Sets a good mood for the rest of the week.  Little Fictions is a short night of entertainment, in keeping with the spirit of short fiction. You can listen to stories read by professional actors, eat, drink, be happy, win stuff and support Australian micro-literature all at the same time, in one and a half hours. Seriously productive.
Entry $5.00. All proceeds go to the artists.

MC Adam Norris
Your MC for the evening will be smooth operator, Brag Magazine’s Adam Norris who will fill you in on all you need to know about our terrific line-up. Plus Adam will kindly allow his trademark trilby to be used for the draw the two door prizes: a free spin on the cocktail wheel and your pick of a Spineless Wonders book or CD. 


Drinks & food available at the bar
Bjorn Godwin and the Knox St Bar team will be serving boutique beers, ciders and cocktails plus a pasta & wine special deal (veg/gluten-free options) as well as the usual blackboard menu. 

What Happens?
Little Fictions indulges the audience in the simple pleasure of being read to. Little Fictions is an evening of live readings by professional actors of short and longer stories from Spineless Wonders authors.


Little Fictions is a platform for Australian writers to have their work read by professional actors.
Little Fictions is born out an ardent desire to bring people who love literature together, giving voice to contemporary short Australian fiction and to bring short, quality stories and entertainment to Sydney audiences.

Eleni Schumacher

Little Fictions - ACTORS
The readers are professional Sydney actors with performance experience. This month we welcome back Caitlin Harris, Eleni Schumacher and Alex Williams. We are delighted to be joined by Monkey Baa Theatre’s Tim McGarry as well as talented all-rounder, short fiction author, Jon Steiner.



Little Fictions - WRITERS
The readings for the December 8 performance are:
Adam Ford’s Sequel
Peter Boyle’s The Tree’s Ambition
Mary Manning’s Black Opal
Dael Allison’s On the wrong side
Mark O’Flynn’s Iago
Jon Steiner’s Poioumenon
Sean Wilson’s Silver Fox
Katelin Farnsworth’s Seagull
Cassandra Atherton’s Rubbish
Jude Bridge’s Cake Mistake
Angie Holst’s Addicted
Little Fictions audio
Don’t live in Sydney or can’t make it on the night? Don’t fret. Little Fiction recordings will soon be available as mp3s from the website so you will be able to enjoy the readings anytime, anywhere you like.



 

Nov 3 2014 Readings - 
Little Fictions @ The Knox St Bar, Chippendale


What’s On?

Monday night, 3rd November, cnr Knox & Shepherd St Chippendale

7.00pm to 9.00pm.
Entry $5.00. All proceeds go to the artists. Drinks & food available at the bar.
Little Fictions is a brief night of entertainment, in keeping with the spirit of short fiction, perfect for a Monday night outing.

What Happens?

Little Fictions presents an evening of live readings by professional actors of short and longer stories from Spineless Wonders authors. Little Fictions is a platform for Australian writers to have their work read by professional actors, and for the public to indulge in the simple pleasure of being read to.

It was born out an ardent desire to bring people who love literature together, giving voice to contemporary short Australian fiction and to bring short, quality stories and entertainment to Sydney audiences.

History

Spineless Wonders presents... was run in Adelaide for four years, curated by the talented Caroline Reid, writer and director. The event was devised and run successfully on Caroline’s vision and energy. Her support of the indie publishing company Spineless Wonders has been amazing. Her input and generosity is invaluable to the successful presentation of the events in Sydney. We are riding high on her pioneering work.
Little Fictions - ACTORS
The readers are professional Sydney actors with performance experience, they include Luke Carsons, Caitlin Harris, Eleni Schumacher and Alex Williams.


Little Fictions - WRITERS
The readings for the November 3 performance are:
Shady Cosgrove’s Call an Ambulance
Kate Andrew-Day’s Rue La Grange
Kathy Charles’ Baby’s First Words
Caroline Reid’s One Blue Eye
Erin Gough’s William Shatner tries to save the Great Pocket Mouse.
Angela Meyer’s To and from your house
Michelle Wright’s Taken
Joshua Maule’s Given
Vivienne Plumb’s Dangerous and Deep Undertow
Zoe Annabel Davies’ Friday Night Fries and Saturday Sundaes
Vivienne Plumb’s Alternative Plan
Little Fictions audio
Don’t live in Sydney or can’t make it on the night? Don’t fret. Little Fiction recordings will be available as mp3s from the website so you will be able to enjoy the readings anytime, anywhere you like.


May 2014 Readings

 "What a spectacular end to Spineless Wonders Presents. Thanks to all the performers, writers and musicians. And most of all, thanks to the wonderful Caroline Reid for making it all happen. I will miss SWP!" Lynette Washington
Photo by Helen Lewis (c)

 It was a spectacular turnout for our final event. Although a touch sad it was mostly celebratory - of the actors, the writers and storytelling as an artform. If we've done anything then I hope we have raised the profile of some of Australia's excellent short story writers and got Adelaidians excited at the wealth of acting talent they have in their town. I also hope it's got people motivated to get out and about to see more of the performing arts scene in Adelaide. You could start here:

  • EMMA BEECH: I Met Marion, Free Gig on Saturday May 24th at 3pm - details here 
  • TAMARA LEE in Eye Music, 22 - 31 May - details here
  • HEW PARHAM in Giovanni's Buono Voyago Fiesta! 28 & 29 June - details here
  • HOLLY MYERS in Man in a Bag, 18 July - 2 August (Contributing $25 to the Pozible campaign will buy you a ticket ) Details here

And because so many people were asking, here is  a copy of the program that was our final night:

Happy Reading!

The Curator x



 August 2013 Readings
House Red
Someone contacted me with this to say about our August event:

"Don't know who to congratulate, but attended "spineless" event at The Wheaty here in Adelaide last night and it was brill! Readings, vocal group, mc-ing all top class. The show was a real credit to all who organised."
We were so lucky to have 3 wonderful singers kick the night off. House Red were sublime. Not a single word was spoken while they sang out their clear and soulful brand of acappella. The readers were, as usual, most excellent and the audience -it has to be said- were outstanding. What an attentive bunch, and generous with their donations. We thank you!

For those who would like to go author searching, here is a list of stories and writers, in order of reading:

Tamara Lee read Sean Wilson, ‘Silver Fox’ (from Spineless Wonders Small Wonder)
 Kerry Reid read Jennifer Mills, ‘Going to Burnings’
 Craig Behenna read Jon Steiner, ‘Robber’
Petra Schulenberg read Mary Manning, ‘Black Opal’ (from Damaged in Transit, published by Spineless Wonders)
 Patrick Frost read Tom Cho, ‘The Sound of Music’ (from Look Who's Morphing, published by Giramondo)

See you on November 26th, with plenty more stories and some carols from the wonderful .. oh, but that would be telling. You'll have to wait and see!

Read on,
Caroline x
(the curator)

May 2013 Readings
Nick Garsden reads Ryan O'Neill
'Twas a chilly night in Adelaide and yet the backroom at The Wheaty was full of folk listening to stories being read by some of Adelaide's wonderful actors.
To begin at the beginning, Here was the program:

Music by the chilled out John Oliver Band.
Tamara Lee read Alyson Miller, 'Impossible' (from Spineless Wonders Small Wonder anthology)
Ashton Malcolm read Josephine Rowe, 'Brisbane' (from Tarcutta Wake by Josephine Rowe)
Patrick Zoerner read Tom Cho, 'Suitmation' ( from Look Who's Morphing by Tom Cho)
Craig Behenna read Rachael Mead, 'The Bouncer and the Blood Clot'
Indigo Eli read Omar Musar, 'Fireflies' (from Parang by Omar Musar)
Ashton Malcolm read Kate Walter, 'Mutants and Missionaries' (from Spineless Wonders' Stoned Crows anthology)
Nick Garsden read Ryan O'Neill 'The Chinese Lesson' (from The Weight of a Human Heart by Ryan O'Neill)
Tamara Lee read Jude Bridge, 'Lamingtons' (from Spineless Wonders Stoned Crows anthology)

It continues to be a pleasure to hear the terrific stories written by contemporary Australian writers. Thanks go to the authors, who so generously provide their words for us to read. You are the magic makers. Thanks, too, go out to the performers who make these events something unique in Adelaide and Australia. Special mention to photographers Paula McManus and Helen Lewis, graphic designer Paden Hunter, The Wheatsheaf Hotel, Spineless Wonders publishers, Ben Mylius and, of course, the punters who keep showing up. Happy you. Happy we. Happy listening. See you again in August.

The Curator x

Feb 2013 Readings
Tamara Lee
Our first night of readings for 2013 went well, like really well. An audience member was heard saying - 'Wow, it's a room full of happy people!' Nice. We like that.

Threasa Meads' story 'Tink Wildy' is like one of those brilliantly coloured autumn leaves you can't help but pick up and put in yr pocket - exquisitely read by Holly Myers, who also came back for the second half to read one of the lust-themed stories, Lynette Washington's 'The Swarm'. Holly took her sweet sexy time to read this little number, which was very much appreciated by the audience. This is Ms Washington's first published and read-in-public story, so we felt good to be able to present it to such a supportive crowd.

How does Emma Beech manage to make story reading look so easy? She read the wildly talented Jen Mills - 'Mint'. It can be tempting to upstage a story when reading instead let of letting the story do the telling. Emma lets the story tell itself - with her brilliant sense of timing and pace she engages the listener and guides them through the story .. if you're in Adelaide for Fringe then I highly recommend you go see her show, Homage to Uncertainty. 

 Craig Behenna, a perennial SWP favourite, read a spooky story by Cameron Raynes, 'Semaphore', one from his collection, The Colour of Kerosene. Craig could entertain you reading the ingredients in Cornflakes so naturally everyone was all ears - this story started off kind of funny but went to a dark place, the humour making it even creepier .. fantastic! (ps stay tuned re Craig - we may have something cooking involving Craig and stories and music and The Wheaty) Then, a little tale about a young man making himself out to be much more interesting than he is had everyone thinking about The Tea Tree Gully library in a whole different light. Read by the gifted Gabe Partington, 'Who likes custard?' was a story written by moi and will be published in the upcoming Spineless Wonders Stoned Crows anthology.

Patrick Zoerner delighted the audience with his wide-eyed interpretation of Shady Cosgrove's 'After School' whose first line "I was having sex for the first time in my life", got everyone reminiscing. Tamara Lee's comic timing and well placed terse smile was a joy to behold in her reading of Maree Dawes 'I am so sweet and truthful and once I was betrayed.' Terrific story. Terrific reader.

Patrick Frost brought years of performance experience to the stage in his delivery of Peter Boyle's 'Night Poems 14/10 - 16/10, 2010' Another reader who makes standing up in front of a crowd to read a story look at easy as breathing, Patrick is the kind of reader you want telling you bedtime stories, no matter how old you are. Boyle's story is strange and surreal and full of pathos and Mr Frost was fine indeed in capturing all of that.

Tom Cho's 'Today on Dr Phil' marks it the fourth Cho story we've read at these reading (or is it 5?). Anyway, I love this man's work and can't wait for him to finish his second collection so we have more of his stories to read! Entertaining as always, Hew Parham is a brilliant reader to finish off the night, though he does have to pause a lot - otherwise he wouldn't be heard above the laughter. Another one whose Fringe show is worth checking out. (The Giovanni Experiment)

And finally, we had a real treat in the young singer/songwriter, Sasha Louise. I think I said it before, but I'll say it again - she has a rare musicality and stage  presence - but if you missed it, don't worry, I reckon she'll be back .. may be involved in that thing we got cooking with Craig .. but don't tell anyone, it's  a secret ... see you in May, if not before.

The Curator x

 Feb 2013 Preparation
I was super organised this year and had the stories chosen early, and because Festival Season is about to descend on Adelaide I knew I had to contact actors early too, as many of them are Xtra busy this time of year.

I'm pleased to say that all those I contacted were available, yay! SWP audiences have seen some of the actors before - Holly Myers, Tamara Lee, Emma Beech, Patrick Zoerner and Hew Parham. We also welcome the return of a very popular reader, Craig Behenna, who was busy last year filming and acting in his feature, One Eyed Girl. There's two special treats - two new readers: Gabe Partington, a young actor who we're catching on the hop between him packing up his life in Melbourne and taking off for an o/s exploration; and  verteran actor Patrick Frost. It's very exciting to have Patrick on board, he brings years of performing experience to The Wheaty's backroom. And is reading a delightful and moving piece by poet, Peter Boyle.

And the writers? Oh, I'm glad you asked! The writers! *she swoons* Yeah, super excited to announce that there are 5 South Australian writers on the bill (well, they live in SA anyway even if they're not native to the state) - Threasa Meads, Jen Mills, Lynette Washington, Cameron Raynes and myself (ha!), Caroline Reid. Two of the stories are from Spineless Wonders forthcoming collection, Stoned Crows. We've also got work by Tom Cho and Shady Cosgrove, Peter Boyle and Maree Dawes. , whose wonderful work has been broadcast on Radio National's Poetica. We are very fortunate to be able to read Maree's story 'I am so sweet and truthful and once I was betrayed' because she's sold the film rights and there are restrictions on this story being performed - lucky for us we're allowed to read it, as long as we don't record .. phew!

So things are all set. Music is going to be performed by the enchanting Sasha Louise. (I first spied Sasha performing at Cafe Troppo as part of  The Jam Room series, which, if you haven't done so already, is so worth checking out.) She writes short songs, in keeping with the spirit of a night of short story readings, and has a musicality in her voice and performance that you don't come across every day.

I'm looking forward to it! And I'm looking fwd to seeing you at The Wheaty on the 12th! Happy reading! (that's a lot of exclamation marks. Can you tell I'm excited?)

The Curator x

 Nov 2012 Reading:

The final event for 2012 was another relaxed and happy occasion. The goodwill and good cheer at these readings continues to impress, and cement my suspicion that Adelaide is a town that truly treasures its artists.

The night kicked off with the sweet sounds of a choir, Choral Grief, who have the perfect balance of wit, melancholy and interest in obscure songs. It's just so lovely hearing a choir of young voices, especially singing under fairy lights!

Then it was on with the stories. Young actor Lizzy Hay gave a beautiful reading of Dael Allison's 'dreaming poets dreaming', which is a favourite of mine, not just because of the wonderful surreal quality of the prose-poem but because I know all the Darwin landmarks mentioned in it. Then Urban Myth Theatre actor Patrick Zoerner melted hearts (including mine) with his wonderfully paced delivery of Jo Langdon's story 'Pause'. It's a story full of rich imagery and Zoerner gave each image the weight it deserved; he seemed to make the spaces between words breathe.

Emma Beech gave an exquisite performance of Ryan O'Neill's 'My English Homework', assisted by the ever-subtle Stephen Sheehan. Beech is a wonderful performer, steady and unhurried in her delivery. She makes you listen. Many audience members were enthralled by her performance and also asked about the writer. 'My English Homework' is in Spineless Wonders 'Escape' anthology. Find out more about Ryan O’Neill and his collection, The Weight of a Human Heart. The first set was finished off by a tender and passionate delivery of Michael Farrell’s ‘The story of what’s inside the heart’ by performance poet Indigo Eli.

More songs by Choral Grief, including a Christmas Carol (yay!), were followed by Steve Sheehan’s wry delivery of Viv Plumb’s ‘The alternative plan’. This dead pan reading received attention from a heckler who Steve was more than willing (& able – he does stand-up comedy) to take on. Rapturous applause.

I’ve fallen into the habit of giving the long reads to the exquisitely talented Holly Myers. They’re tough because audience attention spans seem to wane at about 1500 words. Julie Chevalier’s ‘seeing the jane’ is a brilliant story and was delivered just as brilliantly by Myers. I gave up attempting to edit this story in an effort to shorten it, because every line is like a thread; and all the threads join up, weaving a complex tale of a woman’s relationship with her dead husband and father-in-law. Chevalier doesn’t waste a word, I’m not kidding. You can find this story in her collection Permission to Lie, the very first Spineless Wonders publication.

Tamara Lee then took to the stage delivering in her energetic style Pete Boyle’s ‘The tree’s ambition’ and Erin Gough’s hilarious ‘William Shatner vows to save The Great Basin Pocket Mouse’. Tamara Lee has a great rapport with the audience and her reading emphasised all the absurdity and tenderness in the first; while she conveyed a marvellous sex scene in the second.

While I vowed that all the stories in the November reading would be stories published by Spineless Wonders, I just couldn’t help myself: I slipped in a sneaky Tom Cho. And so glad I did! Hew Parham had the audience holding their sides and laughing into their tissues with his very physical rendition, complete with office machinery sound effects, of Cho’s ‘AIYO!!! An Evil Group of Ninjas is Entering and Destroying a Call Centre!!!’ (from his collection Look Who’s Morphing). Sometimes you get a writer you writes a story that entertains everyone; ‘Ninjas’ did exactly that, helped along in no small way by Parham’s outstanding performance. A great story to finish on. One audience member commented that her primary-school aged daughter ‘couldn’t stop laughing about that last story for five minutes in the car, then she was out like a light!’ Tom Cho for bedtime stories. Who knew?

All in all, another successful Tuesday night at The Wheaty, packed with applause and laughter, in the company of wonderful people - actors, writers, singers and audience. And my thanks also to Ian Fisk who took the time to photograph the event.

See you in February.

The Curator x



ps Where not mentioned otherwise, all the stories read at this event are published in Spineless Wonders publication Small Wonder.

Nov 2012 Preparation:


A very special event is being prepared for November 2012 with more readers and writers than before. But don't worry, we're still keeping the evening short because we know there's only so much listening a pair of ears can do!

This evening is a special one because all the stories you will hear have been published by Spineless Wonders. I can't give it all away, but you'll hear work from the likes of Ryan O'Neill, Julie Chevalier, Vivienne Plumb and Michael Farrell. Many of the stories are from the SW publication, Small Wonders, which will also be available to purchase on the night.

The powerhouse behind the wonderful Spineless Wonders is Bronwyn Mehan. She's passionate about new Australian voices being heard, especially those writing in the short fiction form. True to her word, there is digital, audio and print versions of stories available. And for those who fancy it, here's an opportunity for publication with Spineless Wonders through the Taking the Pith Writing Comp

It's really exciting to have some of Adelaide's finest talent available for this November reading. If you live in Adelaide this is your opportunity to check out the wonderful acting talent of Steve Sheehan, Holly Myers, Emma Beech, Tamara Lee, Hew Parham, Ashton Malcolm, Patrick Zoerner and the performance poet Indigo Eli. And not forgetting the musical talent, Choral Grief, a choir made up largely of artists who like downbeat tunes and slightly ridiculous costumes. Yeah, this is going to be the last SWP for 2012. We'd love it if you joined us for stories, song and good cheer.




Happy reading,

The Curator


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