After the success of our first public event in Melbourne in September, Kill Your Darlings decided to spread the literary love across the nation and ran another trivia night in Adelaide on Wednesday the 28th of October. Held at the delightful ‘Wheaty‘, nine tables battled it out through five rounds of literary trivia (and many more rounds of beer).

The competition was fierce, and when the final tally was added up, two tables were still neck-and-neck. The Kill Your Darlings editors decided that a tiebreaker was called for, and both tables were asked to each send a delegate up to the stage for a final sudden-death question. After a few tense moments of silence a winner was declared, and after a brief victory dance upon the stage, the successful delegate retired to his table amidst much cheering.

A huge thanks to all the Radelaideans who came along to support us on the 28th. We had a ball – we hope you did too! Thank you, also, to the ABC Shop, Dymocks, Paroxysm Press, The Body Shop and Unibooks for kindly donating prizes.

Check out some snaps from the night below. For more, visit our photo page on Facebook.

The winning table with their fab prizes!

The runners-up. Brave effort guys!

Our lucky raffle winner.

Some lovely Radelaidean supporters!

As a dog lover, I was moved to read about the death of Nova, an army dog who was killed in a car-crash in Afghanistan. She was a bomb detection dog who died during a training exercise. She was so special that her body is being sent home in its own coffin, in the hold of an RAAF cargo plane. How many dogs, I wonder, have had the privilege of being treated as well as their humans? The fact that Nova was working to save human lives in a war zone made her death newsworthy, but what about all the dogs back here in Australia that are being put down every day, simply because no-one wants them?

Sadly there are many beautiful dogs in our communities that are neglected and abandoned by people who either don’t know how to care for a dog, or are too selfish to be bothered with the responsibility once the novelty of dog ownership wears off. There are also many other situations where people, for whatever reason, can no longer continue to look after their pet and, with good intentions, leave the animal with a shelter thinking that it will be rehoused. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of these animals are rehoused and the rest are euthanised – and not just dogs with temperament problems or terminal illnesses. Many healthy, happy, well-behaved dogs are destroyed each week because they fail the assessment test for rehousing. They might be considered too timid, be non-responsive, have flea allergies or skin complaints, or need surgery.

There are organisations, run by volunteers working in their spare time, that save dogs from death row and rehouse them. These people rely on the goodwill of those prepared to foster or adopt these animals. They are also dependent upon the donation of money, food, bedding, leads, collars, food and drink bowls, crates, towels and many other items. Their work involves driving to shelters, collecting the dogs and transporting them to foster homes where they are kept until a suitable home can be found for them to stay permanently.

With better education about the responsibilities of owning a dog, and perhaps even introducing dog ownership licences combined with short courses, people might think a bit more about the long-term responsibilities they face in bringing a dog into their lives. It’s a huge job and unless you’re prepared to spend considerable time and energy with your dog each day, don’t get one. If you do decide to get a dog, consider adopting one. You may just save a life.

www.caninefostercare.org.au
www.victoriandogrescue.org.au

Arguably Australia’s most exciting and influential writers’ festival, Adelaide Writers’ Week is back in February 2010. With the names of the visiting authors announced yesterday, it looks like a doozy.

It’s a stellar line-up. Not only will some of Australia’s finest be there – Christos Tsiolkas, Andrea Goldsmith, Brian Castro, Robert Dessaix, Charlotte Wood, Peter Temple, and Markus Zusak to name a few – but a brief glance at the list of overseas writers is enough to send lowly literary lovers, such as your friendly editors at Kill Your Darlings, into paroxysms of anticipatory pleasure.

Irvine Welsh (of Trainspotting fame) will be there. Jim Crace, serial award-winner (and also, interestingly, a keen amateur birdwatcher), is attending. Richard Dawkins is coming (you can already hear that audience member point out Adelaide’s nickname, ‘The City of Churches’, in question time). Anne Enquist will drop by. Salley Vickers is packing her bags. And a personal favourite, the marvellous Sarah Waters will be gracing Adelaide for the second time.

All in all, more than sixty writers from Australia and overseas will be attending. For more information on the guest authors, have a look at the Writers’ Week website here.

Unlike many other writers’ festivals, Adelaide Writers’ Week costs nothing to attend. While there are two evening events held in a more intimate setting, for which tickets can be purchased, free parallel sessions run daily from the 28 February to 5 March under the plane trees of the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens. Simply pick up a program guide (released in early February next year) from any Adelaide bookstore worth its salt, and drop by the gardens to hear the writers you love, or those you’ve never heard of.

So, prepare yourself to be dazzled (by the speakers, but also by the summer sun if you miss out on a spot in the shade), to buy up big– compulsively, but never regrettably – in the book tent, to wrestle the elderly for the chairs under the marquees, and work out what you’re going to say to Sarah when you discover that you’re standing behind her in the queue to the toilets. One of Australia’s best literary events is not too far away.

I should preface this blog entry with a disclosure: I am first and foremost a scooter rider. I adore my scooter (yes, she has a name) and whizzing around the city. There is nothing more liberating (and thankfully free of physical exertion) than zipping down the street, wind blowing in your face, the occasional obscenity yelled from a frustrated motorist when you cut them off… And while I haven’t relinquished my scooter, recent vocational fate dictated the purchase of a car. And, melodramatic as I am, I have rued the day ever since.

For I have had – of course! – much trouble with my car since I bought it two months ago. It has visited two separate garages in my area; it has not started a total of six times. I have been bombarded with warnings about ECUs, thermostats and fuel lines. This mechanical jargon both bewilders and frightens me.

A few weeks ago, I went down the coast for the weekend. Late on Sunday afternoon, ready to return to Melbourne, the car wouldn’t start. After much shouting and slamming of palms on the steering wheel, the RACV came out to have a look. Fuel-pump problems, apparently – the car needed to be towed. A couple of days later, I had a call from the mechanic. It wasn’t the fuel pump at all, he said with resentful cheerfulness, but the head-gasket, radiator, battery – you name it, it needed to be replaced. ‘Better check your warranty,’ the mechanic advised. A warranty from a used-car yard, I hear you titter. That covers nigh-on nothing. ‘Try to look on the bright side,’ I told myself through clenched teeth. ‘It’s just money.’

When I finally collected the car early one Saturday morning and began making my way back to the city, I had not been driving for more than half an hour when the motor cut out and left me stranded beside the Geelong Highway. Fate, it seemed, had once again intervened!

In those first moments, I tried to be calm, rational. Impartial. ‘You’ll be laughing about this,’ I told myself, ‘tomorrow or the day after.’ I imagined scenarios of a young woman stranded in a car, and convinced myself it could almost be glamorous. (But really, there’s nothing suave about hauling yourself out of a 1995 Holden Barina, hunched beneath your umbrella as rain and wind rages, shouting to the chubby tow-truck driver over the roar of passing trucks and cars pulling caravans.)

As the car was wrenched onto the truck, I had (a bit too much) time to reflect, perched high beside the driver, on the Car Question. What do cars really represent? Notions of industry, modernism, capitalism and change flittered into my worried head. But then, what of the broken car – what does that signify? Are these constant breakdowns symbolic of deeper fissures in my life? The mind began to reel…

But Rebecca, I reassured myself, you’re a writely-type. You actually don’t know much about cars – and this symbolic speculation is counter-productive. Instead, I began (as you do) considering all the stories I knew that involved cars. And I formulated a brief list:

The Great Gatsby: Myrtle Wilson is struck and killed by a car

Wind in the Willows: Toad steals a car

The Turning: the opening story, ‘Big World’, two young guys in a dead-end town dream of escaping in a garishly customised Holden Sandman

Crash: JG Ballard’s requiem to auto-fetishism (bless)

Christine (a sentimental favourite): Stephen King’s novel involving a red 1958 Fury named Christine, which transforms into a murderous automaton – and sends owner, the nerdy Arnie, demented

Grapes of Wrath: the car and a little old Industrial Revolution

Noddy: and his little red and yellow car

I supposed Australians have a slightly different relationship to cars as our British or, particularly, American counterparts – and you can see this in our literature. And remember what Delia Falconer, editor of The Penguin Book of the Road anthology, said about roads: ‘In our literature, the road appears as something haunted and hyper-alert. Things shimmer, sensations are heightened; relationships become slightly unreal, even characters’ relationships with themselves.’

Indeed. Hungry, dehydrated and feeling sorry for myself, my senses were certainly heightened on that long, lonely service lane.

Oh, and the car? It’s due for collection this weekend. There’ll be another, irate instalment if fate once again intervenes.

Being Wednesday, I’m already dreaming about the weekend. And a weekend, in my mind, isn’t a weekend until you’ve browsed at least one second-hand bookshop. Nothing beats that mustiness of old paper; the certain staleness of a shop full of books and book lovers; the slightly dishevelled elderly lady or gentleman sitting behind the counter – who, while pleasant and attentive when approached – is, in most cases, absorbed in their own quiet reading or conversing with a similarly dishevelled elderly lady or gentleman.

Here are my top five second-hand bookshops:

Barwon Booksellers, 81 Hesse Street, Queenscliff

The Queenscliff branch of this quality seller is located in the heritage listed former Wesleyan Church on the main street of the picturesque Bellarine town. The creaking polished floorboards and tall shelves create a charming atmosphere; they are also well stocked with Classics (you’ll usually be lucky enough to find a nineteenth century first edition for pittance!).

Brown & Buntings, 237 High Street, Northcote

Newly established on High Street, Brown & Buntings has quickly acquired an excellent selection of second-hand books (there is a particularly good crime shelf). A stone’s throw from Northcote’s cafes, it makes a delightful diversion before having a coffee or meeting friends for brunch.

Grub Street Bookshop, 379 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

Something of a stalwart, Grub Street never fails to offer some gems among the rough (and there’ll always be something of interest in the boxes out the front). The Aus-Lit shelves are always groaning with tantalising offerings, and there is also a decent selection of poetry and theatre.

Paradise Bookshop, 46 Vincent Street, Daylesford

The Paradise Bookshop is a multi-level bibliophile’s dream. You can literally spend hours in the various rooms of this quaint building found on Daylesford’s main street. There’s a large room of kids books, too, which is stacked with a vast selection of comics and picture books.

The Searchers Secondhand Shop, 93 Smith Street, Collingwood

Selling both books (including a great selection of art monographs) and old records, The Searchers is a great way to finish a southern stroll up Smith Street.  Even better, if you meander around the corner, you can take your newest (sort of) copy of Borges to the best Spanish tapas place in town: Anada, on Gertrude Street.

What are your favourite second-hand bookshops – in Melbourne and elsewhere?