Hear This 3rd October 2025

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:18):
Take a look. Take a look inside the book. Take
a look.

S2 (00:33):
Hello and welcome to hear this. I'm Francis Kelland and
you're listening to the Vision Australia Library radio show, where
we talk about all sorts of things, library related, especially
on days when we have Maureen O'Reilly, community engagement coordinator,
as our guest. Uh, all things library. Let's start the
show and welcome Maureen. With our monthly catch up, we

(01:00):
have Maureen O'Reilly here in the studio talking about all
things library and the amazing events that the library holds. Hi, Maureen.

S3 (01:08):
How are you, Francis?

S2 (01:10):
Very good. Now, last month, you had a a little
bit of a suspenseful announcement about a book.

S3 (01:16):
That you.

S2 (01:17):
Were reading. Can you talk about that?

S3 (01:19):
I can indeed. So I'm very, very, very excited to
announce that our final author reading for the year is
Barbara Hannay. So Barbara is one of Australia's highest regarded rural.
That's a very hard word to say. I might say
regional romance writers. And she has just put out a

(01:41):
new book called Second Chance Family. She's a favourite of
our Vision Australia Library members. We have 21 books of
Barbara's in the Vision Australia catalogue, and we're currently putting
up Second Chance Family as well, so that that will
be up before our author reading.

S2 (01:59):
I struggle with rural romance when I have to announce
that rural. Yeah, I've.

S3 (02:04):
Decided it's regional romance. Now I can say that word
much easier.

S2 (02:10):
So that's lovely. When is that on?

S3 (02:12):
That is on December 4th at 1 p.m.. So that's
a lovely way to spend your lunch break. Sit down
with a sandwich and a cup of tea and listen
to Barbara talk about her career. Talk about her latest book,
and then do a 20 minute reading from the book
as well. And then we'll have all the questions that
our members have posed during the registration process. So you'll

(02:35):
get to ask Barbara all those burning questions you want
to know about romance fiction. It's really exciting because I'm
always so honored by the fact that these really famous
and successful authors who really could do anything they want,
will volunteer their time. Oh well, it's not all volunteer,
but to come and spend time with the Vision Australia library.

(02:57):
So we are very fortunate.

S2 (02:58):
And a lot of authors get imagine such a surprise
when they find out that we've got a large collection
of their books in audio, because they might not have
any idea.

S3 (03:07):
Well, that's exactly right. A lot of them don't even
know about Vision Australia library. or they assume that it's
just full of Braille books. So they don't even realize
that there's a whole audio library. They don't realize that
we have over 60,000 books and magazines and newspapers, and
that so many of their books are in there as well.

S2 (03:27):
So if people do send through their questions, it's lovely
because that further amplifies the fact that the library exists.
When the library gets good feedback and good engagement.

S3 (03:40):
Well, it also means that the author reading is very
much shaped by what our members want to hear. So
instead of the questions that I want to ask, it's
really what our membership wants to hear, wants to discuss,
and they get to shape the event, which is really lovely.
But people need to remember that us pesky Victorians will
be on daylight saving time. So if you're on the

(04:02):
West Coast or not under daylight saving, you need to
log in an hour earlier than you normally would.

S2 (04:08):
Okay, but that sounds lovely. A nice way to end
off the year before the library takes its break and
people start to have to scurry around for Christmas.

S3 (04:16):
I think so. We tend to really quieten down over
December and January, but we'd love to just put one
last one in in December because, you know, it doesn't
start to get insanely frantic until, um, a week or
so in. So we always like to squeeze one in
as a farewell.

S2 (04:34):
Yeah. So that's a big thing. But what else is
happening with the library?

S3 (04:38):
Oh, well, there's a lot of lasts, which is kind
of sad, really. But that's what happens when you get
towards the end of the year. We have our second
in a new series this year as well, which is
also our last for 2025 of Meet the Vision Australia
library narrators. So we have the lovely Richard Bly that's

(04:59):
going to join us on October 8th, and we will
have a chat to Richard about his background, what led
him to volunteering at Vision Australia Radio, what he enjoys about, um,
narrating our library books. And then we've given Richard the
opportunity to choose a book, which often our narrators don't

(05:19):
get to do, uh, that he would like to narrate.
So he is going to do a 20 minute reading
of Salman Rushdie's Victory City. So that will be very,
very interesting. And I have heard Richard's audiobooks. He has
a beautiful voice, so I'm really looking forward to it.
And I haven't read Victory City, so it'll be good.

S2 (05:40):
Yeah. Oh, that sounds great. What date is that again?

S3 (05:43):
That is on October 8th.

S2 (05:44):
Oh coming up quickly.

S3 (05:46):
It is. That is our next event that's coming up.
So we'll squeeze that one in.

S2 (05:50):
And what else is happening.

S3 (05:52):
Well then we have our final writing program for the year.
And that is crime fiction writing. So all of our
library members who keep thinking, oh, I must do one
of those writing programs. They sound really good. This is
your last chance for the year, which would be great.
Get some skills and some knowledge and some motivation, and
then you can spend your summer doing some crime writing

(06:13):
about horrific murderers and thieves and vagabonds. Yes.

S2 (06:20):
So you can go from cosy to cruel.

S3 (06:23):
That would be it. And that's going to be wonderful.
So I know that crime fiction is one of our
most popular genres in the Vision Australia library. So my
theory is that if people like reading it, then perhaps
they'd like to write it as well.

S2 (06:38):
Yeah. So if you've got fiendish plots, get them out.

S3 (06:41):
That is the one. Some get your macabre imagination to work. Yeah.

S2 (06:46):
And what else is coming up? I know it's winding down,
but there still seems to be quite a bit happening.

S3 (06:51):
Well it does. We have our final in conversation, which
is with Dave Steele, the blind poet. So we are very,
very fortunate to have secured Dave. Dave lives in the UK.
He's just had a series out on the BBC. He
is a best selling author That are both in England,
but also in Australia and in America. And he's in

(07:14):
addition to him talking about his poetry and his children's books,
he's just released two in a series, and it's going
to be really interesting listening to him talk about his
advocacy work as well, because he really has done amazing
things for the blind and low vision community.

S2 (07:34):
And when is he appearing?

S3 (07:36):
David's on November 10th, and that is a later one
for us. That's at 6 p.m.. So for any of
our members that work, or perhaps they're relying on family
members to be home from work to support them with connecting.
That is a really lovely way for you to join
us online. So we'd like to try to mix up
our events on different days of the week and different

(07:57):
times of the day, and having it at 6 p.m.
also means that, uh, not only is it a bit
easier for those of us on the East Coast to
be able to attend, if normally you're at work or
you don't have support. It also means it's not too
early for those on the West Coast, given the fact
that we now have daylight saving throwing things out.

S2 (08:16):
Yeah, I suppose it's a bit early because often the
library breaks up towards the end of the year, from
just before Christmas to often after the New Year. So
I suppose next time we speak, which will be early November,
it will. Yeah, maybe those dates will be in place.

S3 (08:36):
Definitely. So we do have a shutdown period, which is
essentially the week prior to Christmas and then the week
after the new year. But then of course we do
need to process Braille orders. So there is a lead
time prior to that shutdown as well, because we want
to make sure that everybody has enough books to see
them through that Christmas holiday period.

S2 (08:58):
Yeah. That's great. So if you're a Braille reader out there,
you keep that in mind that you can be supplied
every year. I always remember the shutdown period was always like,
you know, send out the Braille. And yeah, it was
a lovely time of year because you're so finishing up and,
you know, making sure everyone gets their books and, you know,
getting lots of phone calls about people wanting particular books

(09:19):
to cover the Christmas time. So, yeah.

S3 (09:21):
And we also increase the limits that we have so
that people can actually have additional books to see them
through that period.

S2 (09:28):
Anything else? Maureen?

S3 (09:29):
Well, we have our final semi-finals. Really? Uh, sunny spring
book chat with the Vision Australia librarians. And we have
Siobhan Dennis joining us this quarter. So it's been really lovely.
We've had a, a parade of librarians that have come through,
and Siobhan and I are going to be running through

(09:49):
our latest reads. So I will give people a little
bit of a sneak preview on Barbara Hans, uh, book.
And I might have a chat also about Chloe Adams book,
because we did a, um, in conversation with Chloe recently,
and that's only just been Released. And then Siobhan is
going to talk probably about a bit of sci fi,

(10:11):
because she's very much into her supernatural fiction, though she
may say it's not fiction, I'm not sure. So it's
going to be really interesting. And then we have all
of our attendees who give a review of one of
the books that they've been reading, and then the theory
is by the end of the hour, everyone can walk
away with a list of new release books that they'd

(10:34):
like to read, or similarly, ones they know that they
don't want to read. Because I think that's also equally important.
You don't want to invest however many hours of your
life into a book and then say, actually, I really
don't like this. It's not what I expected. Yeah, and
even if people don't want to actually, uh, contribute and
talk about a book they've been reading, we welcome everyone

(10:56):
along to listen. And everyone needs an audience when they're
reviewing their books, so they can still come and get
that list of ideas for books they may like to
read over Christmas.

S2 (11:06):
Yeah. And there's also inspiration with the reading lists.

S3 (11:09):
Oh, there are the reading lists are really fun. So
we've had, um, recently the Miles Franklin reading list went up,
but we have a new one that's just up at
the moment, which is our Halloween horror stories. So they're
not Halloween. They're not for the faint hearted, I must say.
But it's a lovely mix of, uh, ones that have got,

(11:33):
I suppose, legendary, legendary characters like Hannibal Lecter and then
ones that have got, um, well, definitely legendary authors like, um,
Mary Shelley. And then just epic, um, series like, um,
Stephen King. And so there's some really great recommendations. And

(11:54):
they also range from classics through to really modern new
releases as well.

S2 (11:59):
Mhm. Oh, fantastic. I'm amazed at how often I check
that catalogue and there are amazing new releases. And there's
one I'll send through a. Halloween recommendation to you.

S3 (12:10):
Oh, that would be lovely. We could. Oh, we're a
bit late for this year. You could do a Halloween special.

S2 (12:16):
Over the past years, I've done a Halloween special, which
is fantastic fun because I love supernatural fiction. Not so
much the blood and guts, but, yeah, the atmospheric ones. Yeah.

S3 (12:27):
Oh, well, you can always plagiarize some ideas from the
news article.

S2 (12:30):
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

S3 (12:33):
Now, the other thing we have coming up, which is, uh,
being run from our children's library, is we have well,
we're not running Dyslexia Awareness Week, but that is coming
up in October. And as part of that, we have
our final event that we're running with Sally Rippon who
is the Australian Children's laureate, and that's, um, dyslexia centred.

(12:55):
So Sally's theme or mantra for um, her period as
Children's laureate is all children can be readers. So we're
hosting a, um, a panel discussion on dyslexia, and that
will have both, um, Sally rippin there. Who's the laureate?

(13:18):
She's the author of Wild Things and also a parent
of a child with dyslexia. We'll have Sarah Bloedorn, who's
the manager of the Vision Australia library. And then we
also have a third guest who has lived experience with dyslexia.
And it's talking about all the resources that are actually
available to people nationally, talking about the challenges and the

(13:40):
triumphs that are experienced by children and families living with
dyslexia and really discussing the support that is available to them.
So I would encourage all families that are living with
a person with dyslexia, particularly a child, which is often
more so when it's identified, or teachers or Keras or

(14:04):
educators to actually join us online for this free event.

S2 (14:08):
And also individuals with dyslexia comes under, um, reading disability.

S3 (14:14):
It does indeed.

S2 (14:15):
And conjoin the library and use all of the free
services that the library offers in books and newspapers and everything.

S3 (14:22):
Definitely. So the library is not just for people who
have blindness or low vision. It's for anyone with a
print disability, which essentially means that they struggle to read
a hard copy paper book. So that may be that
they have a processing disorder like dyslexia. It may be
that they are an amputee or they have a severe arthritis,

(14:46):
or it may be that they have a condition like Ms.
or Parkinson's, where it makes it difficult to manipulate a
traditional hard copy book. And they are all eligible to
be members of the Vision Australia library, irrespective of their
vision condition.

S2 (15:03):
Very, very well put. Thank you. Um, and is there
anything else? Maureen? Oh. Oh, I know what you've been reading.
Barbara Hannay. Yes.

S3 (15:11):
I didn't even ask. That is so rude of me.
Why have you been reading?

S2 (15:14):
Oh, well, I am reading a horror book at the moment,
Withered Hill, and it's a fairly new release for the library.
It comes under supernatural, supernatural, horror fiction, but also folk fiction. Folk. Um. Oh.
What's it called when there's horror set in small villages
or in very traditional settings, like scary? It's called scary.

(15:38):
So Withered Hill, and I've just been enjoying it. About
a woman who wakes up in a village in England
doesn't know how she got there, but there are people
about and everything like that. But can she get out? No.
Can she leave? No. But there's no overt violence or
anything like that. So the mystery kind of unfolds is
how did she end up here? How can she get out?

S3 (15:58):
Oh, I like that. That's more sort of suspense. Yeah, not.
Not quite as brutal.

S2 (16:05):
No, no, it's not brutal at all. So I'm enjoying that.

S3 (16:08):
I know that sounds far more enjoyable. That won't keep
you awake at night.

S2 (16:11):
Oh.

S3 (16:13):
Well, the other thing we have, because it's October, is
our Vision Australia Library newsletter just went out. So that
was dispatched on the 1st of October, and that has
all of these upcoming events and programs featured in it.
It also includes details of the reading lists. It includes
a wonderful article on how to curate your bookshelf, so

(16:36):
how to put in your preferences in terms of the
genres and the categories and subcategories you like? Uh, perhaps
whether you are averse to explicit language or sexual content
and ways that you can actually shape what comes through
to your bookshelf automatically by setting your preferences. So that's

(16:57):
a really interesting article. So I would encourage all of
our library members to have a look in that inbox
for the library newsletter. I'm very fond of it because
I do write it.

S2 (17:08):
And you do such a great job. You really do.

S3 (17:10):
Oh gee, I didn't even pay you to say that.
But if anyone doesn't have it there as a library
member to make sure that you ring in to Vision Australia,
because it may be that you have unsubscribed to email
material or marketing material. And technically, the newsletter falls under
the banner of marketing, so you can always have those

(17:31):
preferences changed on your Vision Australia account so that you
can receive a copy of the newsletter.

S2 (17:38):
That's great. Yes. So, um, very informative. And for a
reader it's very inspiring.

S3 (17:44):
Ah.

S2 (17:45):
So yeah, yeah, you get all these ideas and you go, oh,
and that reminds me of a book I read, ages. Oh,
you know, you make all these connections.

S3 (17:52):
Well, I think it's important that people understand everything that's
on offer because there is so much that comes through
the Vision Australia library beyond just audio books. So this
is really designed to make sure that people are aware
of and can take advantage of everything that's on offer
to them as a member of the Vision Australia Library.

S2 (18:15):
That puts me in mind of magazines, because I know
years ago people would ring up and say, oh, have
you got New Scientist? And we'd go, no, and we'd
never had it. But I know that's part of the
magazine collection now that people can borrow from. So maybe
it is even like next month, you know, if you're
happy to talk a little bit about what magazines are available.

S3 (18:35):
Well, we actually and it would have been the August newsletter.
We did a news article on magazines within the Vision
Australia library. So if you go to the news section
of the library website, you can see a whole news
article which is promoting our magazines within the catalogue.

S2 (18:53):
Oh, fantastic.

S3 (18:54):
So you go to Vision Australia. And if you scroll
down a tiny little bit of the way you will
see on the right hand side a box that says
Library News. And if you click on that, you will
get all the news articles that we have had up
in the Vision Australia library. So currently I'm looking at
Halloween horror stories. How to curate your bookshelf. Um, our

(19:19):
accessible reading and Writing tools webinar, the Miles Franklin Award
reading list. And also there's a tile entitled A myriad
of magazines on the Ajax Library catalogue. So I am
more than happy to chat about that next month.

S2 (19:35):
Fantastic.

S3 (19:36):
But in the interim, anyone can go back and look
at that article, which was put together on the 7th
of July, and it talks about how to access the magazines. Uh,
it gives a snapshot of some of our most popular titles, um,
which it wouldn't surprise you include Gardening Australia, Sports Illustrated,
National Geographic, Woman's Day, New Scientist, wheels and the list

(20:02):
goes on.

S2 (20:02):
Yep. Women's day. People used to always. That was another one.
People would popularly ring up and say, do you? You've
got Women's Weekly because we have Women's Weekly. Do you
have Women's Day? And people would be so disappointed that
we weren't so fantastic.

S3 (20:16):
Oh no, definitely they are. And it's funny looking at
what the sort of top ten magazines are, because there's
a few in there you wouldn't expect, but I'm not
going to go sideways talking about those, because then we'll
have nothing to talk about next month.

S2 (20:28):
I know, and we've covered a lot of ground today
as it is. Yeah. Is there anything else?

S3 (20:34):
I think that is everything. Unless I've forgotten something I
should have remembered, and then I'll feel bad. But my
main thing is I would really encourage everyone to regularly
log on to the Vision Australia Library website. All of
the events are on that home page. You just scroll
down a little way under what's on, and that is
regularly updated to keep six of our upcoming events listed there.

(20:58):
And then if you look at the news section, that's
where we'll have things like our reading lists. How to
create your bookshelf. Things about the magazines are just really
fun stuff that's going on in the library.

S2 (21:12):
Good. Thank you so much, Maureen O'Reilly.

S3 (21:14):
Oh, thank you so much, Francis Keelan apples.

S2 (21:18):
Have you, um, next week? Uh oh. Next month. Sorry. Um,
getting closer to Christmas and the end of the year, but, uh,
we'll be lovely to catch up with how some of
those events went.

S3 (21:28):
No, we will be having a bit of a recap
and then a bit of a sneak preview into 2026.

S2 (21:34):
Oh, scary but exciting.

S3 (21:37):
Scary but exciting.

S2 (21:39):
Thanks so much.

S3 (21:40):
Thanks, Francis.

S2 (21:46):
Thank you so much, Maureen, for coming in. It's always
lovely to chat to Maureen and we actually have a
really good chat, usually before the show, and then we
spend a lot of time talking after the show about
all sorts of things, so it's always lovely to catch
up with Maureen. Now, she mentioned Barbara Hannay, who will
be the author last author for this year at the
library 4th of December at 1 p.m.. So I thought

(22:10):
I'd play a sample of one of Barbara Hannay's books.
This is the country wedding. Flora's teenage crush, Mitch, is
standing at the altar when his bride has a sudden
change of heart. Decades earlier, in the same church, a
similar story of heartbreak played out. From the rolling green
hills of the Tablelands to the crowded streets of Shanghai

(22:32):
on the eve of the Second World War, this beautiful
romantic saga asks the question do we ever get over
our first love? And is it ever too late to
make amends? Let's hear a sample of The Country Wedding
by Barbara Hannay. It's narrated by Katherine Hartman.

S4 (22:47):
Barbara Lee, 1958. The day was a stinker. The sun
overhead was blazing and sweat trickled beneath the bridegroom's collar. Unfortunately,
the weather wasn't the only cause of his discomfort as
he waited outside the quaint white church perched on a
rise above Bali. You look like you could do with

(23:09):
a smoke, Joe. His best man. Cliff shook out a
packet of camels. Joe hesitated, remembering the aunts. He would
have to kiss once the ceremony was over. Then he
thought about his bride, who was carrying his child, and
who was about to head down the aisle in a
fancy white wedding dress, specially transported over a thousand miles

(23:31):
from a Brisbane department store. Stuff it. He needed a smoke. Thanks,
he said, taking a slim cigarette and then ducking his
head to meet the flame held between Cliff's cupped hands.
They reckon every bridegroom gets nervous, Cliff suggested. Yeah. Of course.

(23:51):
I suppose the trick is to keep your thoughts fixed
on the honeymoon. Joe dragged a little harder on his cigarette.
Grey clouds hunkered on the horizon, but they offered no
relief from the burning sun. You'll have a bonzer time
on Hayman Island, Cliff suggested. He'd been Joe's mainstay during
the past few weeks, ever since the drunken debacle at

(24:13):
Joe's 21st birthday party, the night that had started this
wedding train rolling.

S2 (24:18):
And that was a sample of The Country Wedding by
Barbara Hannay. Barbara is spelt BR br br BR is
h a n a r h double a y. And
that book goes for 12 hours or nearly 12.5 hours.

(24:39):
It comes under the categories of Australian fiction, country life,
fiction and romance fiction. So be in the mix to
meet with Barbara Hannay. 4th of December, 1 p.m., and
you can contact the library or go online and book
your spot. And as we talked about the book that
I've been reading is Withered Hill. This is by David Barnett.

(25:00):
A year ago, Sophie Wickham stumbled into the isolated Lancashire
village of Withered Hill, naked, alone and with no memory
of who she is, surrounded by a thick ring of woodland,
its inhabitants seem to be of another world, drenched in
pagan folklorish traditions. As Sophie struggles to regain the memories
of her life from before, she quickly realizes she is

(25:23):
a prisoner after multiple failed escape attempts. But is it
the locals who keep her trapped with smiles on their
faces or something else lurking in the woods? Let's hear
a sample of Withered Hill by David Barnett. It's narrated
by Ziggy Sobers.

S5 (25:39):
Days in Withered Hill 358. Sophie, says Mr. Oberman warmly
as she walks into the cool shade of Withered Hill
Public Library. He is sitting at the desk, stamping books
with a satisfying clunk of the ancient device. He presses

(26:01):
first into a pad of red ink before bringing it
down on the library insert on the fly leaf. Behind him,
dimly lit aisles of shelves disappear into shadowy vanishing points.
Sophie likes the smell of the library. It is dusty
and old and simultaneously full of new and fresh things

(26:23):
to learn. As though the shimmering motes that dance in
the stained glass sunlight are not just dust, but stardust. Once,
long ago, the library used to be a church, but
they have no use for churches. And Withered Hill haven't
done for a long, long time. In fact, the building

(26:44):
was never really finished before the church gave up on
Withered Hill. It was meant to have a spire. Mr.
Oberman told her once, but the place had been abandoned
long before it was ever completed. There was the start
of one jutting up from the rear of the building,
but it had been capped off and at some point
someone had put railings around it. Now it was a

(27:07):
flat space that Mr. Oberman had turned into a roof garden,
with big potted palms and magnolias and overflowing troughs of
tomatoes and carrots. Things grow well in Withered Hill, giving
that it is in the heart of the Lancashire countryside.
Crops are Bountiful. Livestock is fat. Villagers are healthy and strong. Fecund,

(27:33):
thinks Sophie. That is a good word for it.

S2 (27:36):
And that was a sample of Withered Hill by David Barnett.
Maybe one to get you into the mood for Halloween.
That book goes for 11 hours and 20 minutes. David
is d-a-v-i-d. That's d-a-v-i-d. Barnett is bar n b n

(27:56):
double t. Thank you for joining us on Hear This today.
Thanks once again to Maureen O'Reilly. And if you are
interested in any of the books we've mentioned, you can
call the library. You can email them. You can go

(28:18):
online onto the online catalog and download the book. If
you're a library member, we would love you to be
engaged in our wonderful collection and with our wonderful librarians.
If you would like to call, the number is 130654656.
That's 130654656. Or you can email library at Vision Australia,

(28:43):
library at Vision Australia. Hope you have a lovely week
and we'll be back next week with more. Hear this.