Booksandwordsgroup

28/04/2025

Congratulations to all the winners of the inaugural Fleurieu Writers competition. Lot 50 has copies of all winning entries. Head to Lot 50 and have a coffee and a read.

27/04/2025

Books and Words Group, in conjunction with Festival Fleurieu 2025, are pleased to announce the winners of the inaugural Fleurieu Writers Competition 2025.

Poetry
• First Prize David Cookson for "Trolleyman"
• Second Prize Phillipa Cordwell for "Sitting in the Bush"
• Third Prize David Cookson for "Overture for Winter"
• Highly Commended Manuela Barry for "Fleurieu Drift"
• Highly Commended Phillipa Cordwell for "Tiger"
• Highly Commended Susan Oliver for "The Swimmer"

Prose
• First Prize John Scholz for "Weightless"
• Second Prize Rebecca Hill for "Secret Men's Business"
• Third Prize Emily Chadwick for "Donna"
• Highly Commended John Fraser for "Rare Birds"
• Highly Commended John Scholz for "An Insignificant Inconvenience"
• Highly Commended Linnett Turner for "The Prickly Seahorse"

The judges were so impressed with the entries that they added 3 highly commended prizes for each section. These prizes were sponsored by Coriole Vineyards. Well done to the winners, and a big thank you to all who entered. We had eligible entries from 81 people who ranged in age from 16 to 90. A total of 177 entries (107 poems and 70 prose) so the judges were kept very busy.

18/01/2025

To all the budding writers out there this could be for you. If you’re aged 16+ and live on the Fleurieu, we would love to hear from you. Happy writing ✍️

12/04/2024

Our next Be Connected online presentation in the Yankalilla Library is on Tuesday 16 April - 2:30 - 3:30pm. Can you spot a scam?

Join us to find out some very important information and tips to keep you safe on the internet.

No bookings required - all welcome!

11/04/2024

Book and words making some exciting changes

09/04/2024

09/04/2024

I have just finished reading ‘put your feet in the dirt, girl’ by Sonia Henry. It’s the compelling story of the many and varied (or maybe not so varied) experiences of working as a GP in very remote areas in Australia. Her evocative descriptions of the breadth, beauty and harshness of the places in which she has worked were inspiring, and made me want to be there to see and feel the hugeness and remoteness of it all. While the beauty, colour and vastness of remote Australia, left this author feeling humbled, the challenges she faced as a GP working in remote towns and indigenous communities opened her eyes to the reality of the absolute paucity of medical treatment options for the people living in those communities and introduced her to truths she cannot unknow or unsee. I found this to be a compellingly beautiful and interesting read, as well as a disturbingly enlightening read. The author pulls no punches and below is an excerpt which I found incredibly powerful …
‘I am afraid because I am in a place most Australians will never see, and for them it may as well not exist. Except it does exist, this giant crack inside this giant landmass containing a parallel universe with wire fences on either side of it …
There shouldn’t be places built solely for the purposes of housing displaced people, the original owners of the land, because they have been taken from where their homes really are. There shouldn’t be a place ruled by a government act, controlled and determined by white people. …
There shouldn’t be a place where one doctor rolls up every few months, and the nurses beg them to stay, because there hasn’t been another one out there for so long. Where near teenagers have mechanical heart valves, and the nearest place they can be operated on is an entirely different state. Where the quality of living is so appalling that people become desperate and violence ensues. Where women are beaten to death, and the people who come to manage that are big, burly white policemen, who put the people in prison where they can die in custody and nothing happens, aside from a few headlines and royal commissions that appear to affect minimal or no change.
In the supposedly developed country called Australia, there shouldn’t be a place where you are told it’s not safe to walk outside and, if you are to spend a day there, you must stay locked inside a cage, staring at the wall, while the bureaucrats sit inside their air conditioned offices in Canberra and pretend this is normal. NOTHING HERE TO SEE.’

28/11/2023

A reminder that the Books and Words Christmas event is on this Friday 1 December at 6pm in the supper room. Please bring a plate to share and this year, help us to grow our group by bringing a friend to introduce to Books and words. As usual our Christmas event promises to be a fun and friendly evening for all.

15/09/2023

SAVE THE DATE: 28 October, all welcome to join us …
Another wonderful author from the Fleurieu and check out the title of Margot Ogilvie’s book ‘when age comes …’
I’m looking forward to lunch followed by the conversations that this topic might inspire!
Everybody welcome, would love to see you there, we’re a friendly bunch 😊

26/08/2023

This was posted by a beautiful friend in response to our post for our Margot Ogilvie. I thought it was beautiful and relevant given the title of Margot’s book.

No one told me
it would be like this—
how growing older
is another passage
of discovery
and that aging is one
grand transformation,
and if some things become torn apart
lost along the way,
many other means show up
to bring me closer
to the center of my heart.

No one ever told me
if whatever wonder
waits ahead
is in another realm
and outside of time.
But the amazement, I found,
is that the disconcerting things
within the here and now
that I stumble
and trip my way
through, also
lead me
gracefully
home.

And no one told me
that I would ever see
an earth so strong
and fragile, or
a world so sad
and beautiful.
And I surely
didn't know
I'd have
all this life
yet in me
or such fire
inside my
bones.
~Susan Frybort~ With gratitude for this Soul Deep Poem

Archaeology for the Woman's Soul

25/08/2023

I love the title of this book - ‘when age comes …’ by local Fleurieu author Margot Ogilvie. I have not yet read this book but am looking forward to the day because I’m thinking this topic could spark some interesting conversations (being that it’s quite a relevant topic for some of us 😉).
Why not come and join us, listen to Margot, ask questions, join the conversation, share your thoughts, plans, ideas, hopes and dreams (and yes I think we are still allowed to dream even ‘when age comes …’)
What have you got to lose? We’re a friendly group.

13/06/2023

Don't miss
Bill 'Swampy Marsh'
​Tell Us a Story
Saturday 17th June 2023

Sit back, relax, and enjoy Bill's stories and songs. Presented with a touch of magic, a dollop of dry Australian humour, and a splash of fun.