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Snowblind

Chris Flynn June 20

The popularity of live storytelling events has ballooned in recent years, the evidence for which can be found in the audiences that quickly pack out the small venues these events traditionally take place in. I recently arrived at the Wheeler Centre’s nifty subterranean bar/café/restaurant The Moat forty-five minutes prior to the commencement of the first installment of A Winter’s Tale, the new monthly storytelling night I am presenting there during Melbourne’s chillier months, to find all the seats already taken.

By the time 6:15 rolled around and I was ready to introduce the evening’s three guests, there were so many people crowded into the narrow space a passerby might easily have presumed they were giving away free booze, or that Prince was playing a secret gig. (He did play one later that night in fact, at Bennett’s Lane.)

Those who did manage to squeeze in were rewarded with three very different stories read aloud by Meg Mundell, George Dunford and Paddy O’Reilly. The theme for the evening was Snowblind— travel stories from a cold climate. I asked Meg Mundell to participate because I knew that outside her excellent dystopian novel Black Glass, she had travelled widely and written many journalistic pieces. I had also heard she was working on a non-fiction book about Australian trucking culture, so figured we might hear a story from that realm. Instead, she surprised everyone by reading a freshly written episode from her new novel in progress, a seafaring adventure based on a true story. She set the wintry scene beautifully with the story of a boy freezing to death on the deck of a container ship somewhere in the Southern Ocean. As is often the way with these things, I could have listened to her all night, but the novel is still in its infancy and Mundell was only spurred to write the scene after I asked her to participate. It may take a while for the novel to be completed but on this evidence alone, I’m champing at the bit to read it.

The second guest for the evening was George Dunford, making his first public appearance in almost a year after the birth of daughter Iris. A seasoned travel writer, I knew Dunford had written extensively for the Lonely Planet guides, in particular the Scottish and Finnish ones, so would certainly have a story to fit the theme. His very funny tale of crossing the Russian/Chinese border by train whilst being subjected to a thousand requests from smugglers that he assist their black market operations by carrying blankets, jeans and, strangely, salami across the frontier gave a tantalizing glimpse into the life of someone who has been to some of the world’s stranger out of the way spots.

Despite the large numbers of people packed into The Moat, a silent reverence was observed throughout the forty-five minute event, people’s heads bowed, eyes often closed as they listened to the stories. I’d observed this before when I spent a year with Josephine Rowe running Dog’s Tales in St Kilda, and the past three years presenting The Morning Read at Melbourne Writer’s Festival. Almost every time I would find myself watching the crowd as they absorbed the words being spoken, the stories playing out across their faces. For those of us fortunate enough to have been read to as children, hearing a talented writer read their story aloud evokes old, familiar memories.

The final reader for the evening was Paddy O’Reilly, who stunned everyone with a funny, moving tale of the blind Japanese landlord she had in Sapporo. O’Reilly lived in Japan for some time and speaks the language fluently. I had heard her talk before about onomatopoeia in Japanese, and how they employ it in a much more expansive way than we do in English, so I knew she was a great storyteller. Still, this was special. She held the audience’s eye throughout, only occasionally glancing down at her notes, the timbre of her voice conveying an emotional power that made everyone sit up and listen.

One advantage of the event being hosted by the Wheeler Centre is that they are recorded, so if you didn’t make it down on the night or were defeated by the crowd, there’s a podcast here on the Wheeler Centre site, along with details of the next two events. On Monday June 25th, Carrie Tiffany, Chris Womersley and Deborah Robertson will read stories of winter sex and love, and on Monday July 23rd, Wayne Macauley, Josephine Rowe and David Astle will regale us with spooky stories. The evenings are free to attend but get there early if you’d really like a seat.


 

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Comments

by phill
20 Jun 12 at 12:45

Here’s hoping ‘The Moat’ becomes the Australian version of ‘The Moth’. Great to hear that more stories are being performed in public places, it’s a terrific way to experience them.

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by Oliver Mol
20 Jun 12 at 14:12

The Moat is a great venue and I can’t wait to check out the next one.

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by George Dunford
20 Jun 12 at 16:33

It was great to be gently told tales after work and I’ll be along on Monday for the next one.

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