The Wheeler Centre

To celebrate the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling, we asked six beloved Victorian writers to reflect on the theme Above and Beyond: considering what it means to look further, delve deeper, and ask big questions of ourselves and the world around us. The following is an audio recording from award winning writer, speaker and appearance activist, Carly Findlay, reading her original essay for the project....

To celebrate the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling, we asked six beloved Victorian writers to reflect on the theme Above and Beyond: considering what it means to look further, delve deeper, and ask big questions of ourselves and the world around us. The following is an audio recording from award winning writer Alice Pung, reading her original essay for the project. This work was commissioned by the Me...

To open the Wheeler Centre’s 2023 Spring Fling series, six Australian cultural icons took to the stage at Melbourne Town Hall for an intimate evening of storytelling, reflecting on the moments that shaped them and called upon them to–go above and beyond in their careers, personal lives and creative endeavours. Hosted by Patricia Karvelas, the line-up of special guests included writer and disabilit...

To celebrate the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling, we asked six beloved Victorian writers to reflect on the theme Above and Beyond: considering what it means to look further, delve deeper, and ask big questions of ourselves and the world around us. The following is an audio recording from proud Noongar woman and award-winning author Claire G. Coleman, reading her original essay for the project. This...

To celebrate the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling, we asked six beloved Victorian writers to reflect on the theme Above and Beyond: considering what it means to look further, delve deeper, and ask big questions of ourselves and the world around us. The following is an audio recording from Miles Franklin Literary Award winning novelist, Jennifer Down, reading her original essay for the project. This w...

To celebrate the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling, we asked six beloved Victorian writers to reflect on the theme Above and Beyond: considering what it means to look further, delve deeper, and ask big questions of ourselves and the world around us. The following is an audio recording from storyteller and educator on transgender liberation, Nevo Zisin, reading their original essay for the project. Thi...

To celebrate the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling, we asked six beloved Victorian writers to reflect on the theme Above and Beyond: considering what it means to look further, delve deeper, and ask big questions of ourselves and the world around us. The following is an audio recording from Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man and best-selling author, Bruce Pascoe, reading his original essay for the projec...

Kevin Jared Hosein is fast becoming known as one of global literature’s most exciting new talents. His new novel, Hungry Ghosts, explores violence, religion, family and class against the backdrop of 1940s colonial central Trinidad. This extraordinary work has received praise from literary icons such as Bernardine Evaristo and the late, great Hilary Mantel, who called the work ‘deeply impressive’....

The Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling returns for 2023 and this year we’re going Above and Beyond. From October 2 to 14 we’re celebrating the big ideas and the small moments that make us human, and the creative thinking that drives us to be better versions of ourselves. Across 24 captivating events we’re looking further, delving deeper, and asking bigger questions with outstanding thinkers who are res...

In her latest book The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule , award-winning science journalist Angela Saini explores the science and history of male dominance, arguing that patriarchy is neither natural nor inevitable, but rather a fragile system that is constantly remade and reasserted. Saini joined Karen Pickering for a bold conversation interrogating why, how and where patriarchy manifests and pers...

The Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling returns for 2023 and this year we’re going Above and Beyond. From October 2 to 14 we’re celebrating the big ideas and the small moments that make us human, and the creative thinking that drives us to be better versions of ourselves. Across 24 captivating events we’re looking further, delving deeper, and asking bigger questions with outstanding thinkers who are res...

Hear from our Head of Programming, Veronica Sullivan, as she reflects on last year’s successful Spring Fling, and shares what’s in store for audiences this year. In 2023 the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling is going Above and Beyond: looking further, delving deeper, and asking bigger questions with outstanding thinkers who are reshaping our world and envisioning extraordinary futures. Across 24 capti...

One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice, Colson Whitehead is the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of works including The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad, which was also adapted for the small screen, produced and directed by Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins. Whitehead begun his new Harlem Trilogy with Harlem Shuffle, a genre-hopping family...

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is being held Australia, and with more than two billion viewers expected to tune into this year’s tournament, it’s a landmark moment in Australian sporting history.  To celebrate, the Wheeler Centre invited players, media and passionate fans to come together for a special event exploring the significance of the Women’s World Cup in Australian sporting history and in the...

As the owner of Darjeeling Express, British restaurateur Asma Khan astounds diners with sumptuous Indian cuisine and inspires as an advocate for social change. The Darjeeling Express kitchen is proudly run by an all-women team, and has been recognised as one of London’s best restaurants by the Evening Standard. Khan herself has starred in Netflix’s award-winning series Chef’s Table and is the UN W...

In her latest work of non-fiction, renowned journalist and author Kate Legge turns her attention to the oft-taboo topic of infidelity. Drawing from her own experiences, Legge’s Infidelity and Other Affairs critically examines the concept of lifelong monogamy and explores whether the urge to be unfaithful can be considered a hereditary trait. In June, Legge joined radio producer and presenter Eliza...

Dame Graça Machel is one of the world’s leading humanitarians and political activists. She was the first Education Minister of Mozambique, the co-founder and deputy Chair of The Elders, and has spent decades fighting for the rights of marginalised communities, earning international recognition and accolades. In 2010 she established the Graça Machel Trust as a Pan-African advocacy organisation focu...

“Where are the people who are the other in this room? Because actually they have the skills, the capacity, the resilience, the understanding, and also they know where your blind spots are in terms of the way our social structures are set. We need them. They’re actually our experts” - Manisha Amin As part of Melbourne Design Week 2023, a panel of design experts examine the crucial role of design in...

“Coal, oil and gas shouldn’t be vilified. They’ve brought us the civilisation we have – but with side effects. The big one is carbon dioxide leading to global warming, and we have to do something about it” – Alan Finkel. The clean energy transition is one of the world’s largest economic and environmental challenges, with the potential to usher in a new age of electricity and transform the planet....

“Real people are weirder than characters in any story” - Bora Chung.  With its unique blend of horror, speculative fiction and folklore, Bora Chung’s Cursed Bunny explores the cruelties and violence of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society. The chilling short story collection garnered international acclaim, was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize and won the PEN/HEIM Translat...

“Being able to pay a certain type of attention requires time, and it’s obviously helped by having more control over your time or how time feels, but then at the same time, paying a certain type of attention makes time feel different” – Jenny Odell. In this episode, Jenny Odell, the author of How to Do Nothing , explores the cultural forces that shape our understanding of time, challenges the notio...

Content warning : The Wheeler Centre wishes to advise this recording includes occasional coarse language. “I want to be responsible towards the person asking the question to the best of my ability, but the good news is I have no real power over them. And so, when we separate, I don’t feel like, 'Oh man, I might have just ruined someone’s life' or decided whether or not they’re going to have a chil...

“For me it’s just like, I know who I am off stage, I know how we’re perceived within our communities - and I’m proud and I want to make fun of that and talk about the things that I find funny. And that won’t always make people comfortable, but that’s not my job” – Alexandra Hudson. In a special collaboration with Melbourne International Comedy Festival, exciting contemporary comedians Alexandra Hu...

“And he says, yes, the real Uluru Statement. So he pulls it out of this giant cylinder and lays it on my loungeroom floor. And everyone stands up and the most extraordinary thing happened. We felt it’s heart beating. And understood intuitively as Aboriginal people as we looked at that document that our ancestors were in the room with us while we looked at that” - Catherine Liddle. Australia is set...

“And what we’re really talking about is vesting the sovereignty of Australia in the people. But actually, the most extraordinary and beautiful thing is we are going to vest in 65,230 years of history. That’s an amazing step to take and again, I think it’s only going to change us in positive ways” – Craig Foster. With the coronation of King Charles III in 2023, Australia’s relationship with the Cro...