"Passion for Prose" Hills Edition, October 2024

A Zine on Books, Reading, Writing and Community Published on the first day of each month Featuring the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges

By Christine Yunn-Yu Sun In This Issue: MY READING PATH Reflections on “Hope is the Thing” LOCAL EVENTS Flowers, music, movies and more...

Acknowledgement of Country: We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which we live, learn and work. We pay respect to all First Nations people of Australia, and recognise their connection to this land.

The Desert Knows Her Hame by Lia Hills NON-FICTION REVIEW

Tell No One by Brendan Watkins NEW TITLE RECOMMENDATION

RecipeTin Eats: Tonight by Nagi Maehashi

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LOCAL FEATURE

Leap into Literacy at Your Library LIZZIE JAMES is the Regional Literacy Officer at Your Library (formerly Eastern Regional Libraries). Here is her introduction to the “Leap into Literacy” program for adults who would like support with reading, writing or numeracy.

In partnership with Ferntree Gullybased Mountain District Learning Centre, the “Leap into Literacy” program trains volunteers in various aspects of adult learning and literacy.

Each volunteer is then matched with an adult learner, and they meet for an hour each week to work on the learner's specific foundational literacy goals.

“We don't have a set curriculum or prescribe to any set literacy educational theories,” says James. “Our whole purpose is to work beside the learner, supporting them to achieve the goal or goals they have as an individual.”

“The program is completely free, and we don't have any requirements for learners (e.g. visa status) other than the desire to improve their foundational literacy.”

As James explains, the 1:1 tutoring program aims to help adult learners reach “functionally literate”, which means “they can read and write to cope with everyday life, including completing forms, understanding train timetables, helping their young children with school reading, etc”.

James cites the OECD's Program for the International Assessment for Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Surveying adults worldwide between the ages of 16 and 65, the study assesses the skills of literacy, numeracy and problem-solving in technology-rich environments.

The 2010 PIAAC study indicated that 44% of Australian adults have low literacy. These people are often highly intelligent and independent. They have jobs and families, and have figured out how to survive and thrive in this literate world.

But James stresses: “I don't think most people really understand how prevalent low-literacy is among Australian adults.” Indeed, the biggest misconception is that most people can read and write – that only those with disabilities, learning difficulties, low IQ or CALD backgrounds struggle with reading and writing. As the statistics show, this is NOT the truth.

“Many adults fell through the cracks at school. They may not have

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been diagnosed with a learning or neurological disorder as a child or they didn't have the right supports to cope.

They may have experienced shame, trauma, illness, or interrupted schooling, especially in those very early years which put them behind from the start.”

“Our students are no different.

When they come to us asking for support, they are being incredibly vulnerable. They often have had poor experiences at school and have low confidence in their own abilities. This can mean they come with their own anxieties about the program.”

As James explains, Your Library offers an encompassing collection of Adult Literacy resource books and readers that are written for adults of different abilities. There's a quarterly network meeting where volunteer tutors share their ideas and how they have worked around various issues.

They also receive training that assists them going forward.

Your Library further collects anecdotal evidence in terms of feedback. James says: “Our students are

consistently providing our program with positive feedback, sharing with us that they have more confidence, they have found pleasure in reading, and they have stepped out of their comfort zone and joined in other community programs like the Men's Shed.”

“Our volunteers take pride in the achievements of their students. They get joy out of watching their confidence grow or hearing about how their tutoring has helped them in areas they didn't even think about.”

“Hopefully, the Leap into Literacy program can encourage those who have literacy gaps to see us as a place that they are just as entitled to utilise as someone with high levels of literacy,” says James.

“I really like to tell people that libraries are more than just books!”

Please note the “Leap into Literacy” program currently has enough volunteers but is always open to students.

For Your Library's other literacy support service, see: https://www.yourlibrary.com.au/ literacy-support-services/

“Libraries are more than just books!” – Lizzie James

PROMOTE YOUR FAVOURITE LOCAL SERVICE OR BUSINESS HERE Contact Passion4Prose@gmail.com for further details

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FICTION REVIEW

The Desert Knows Her Name by Lia Hills

THE DESERT KNOWS HER NAME is the third novel by Upwey author Lia Hills. It is exquisitely lyrical and reads like a piece of nature writing.

Set in the fictional town of Gatyekarr in Wimmera, the desert-like region in western Victoria, the story begins with a girl walking barefoot out of the desert and finding sanctuary with Beth, a regenerative farmer and seed collector.

As the girl can't or won't speak, Beth enlists the help of local pub owner Nate in trying to decipher the mysteries surrounding her arrival.

But the emergence of the “desert girl” unsettles the community, right on the eve of a festival celebrating the town's 150 years of history.

Old tensions erupt, revealing dark secrets. Through the eyes of Beth and Nate, we see the town struggling to remember and reconcile with its violent past.

Meanwhile, there are gossips,

speculations and wild rumours, not to mention those outsiders hoping to benefit from the situation.

With that said, this is not an ordinary novel relying on the “small town with a dark secret” trope.

Instead of the thrill of actionpacked investigation and ultimate revelation, readers are invited to engage with the characters and observe their connections with the land, where all answers are hidden.

True, the third and omnipresent narrator of the story may well be the land itself, which offers a reverse chronology tracking the girl's journey out of the desert. Its voice mixed with the mesmerising sounds and movements of local flora and fauna, the land gently and consistently asks us to listen: “The wind calms and the land speaks. What came before. What will follow. Listen deeply, ever deeper. You remember how and why.”

The wildlife and plants indigenous to the Wimmera region are meticulously researched and vividly presented in the story, especially throughout Beth's narration.

The character's devotion to reviving the farm has helped instil a sense of responsibility and urgency to protect the nameless and silent girl – a symbol of the land.

But whether or not the girl is identified is beyond the point, as it is how those around her respond to her presence that is the story's focus.

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NON-FICTION REVIEW

Tell No One by Brendan Watkins

TELL NO ONE, by Brendan Watkins, is praised to have achieved something that few memoirs can, “laying bare a disturbing history with compassion and humanity”.

It details the author's search for his birth parents, which uncovered “an astonishing global scandal at the heart of the Catholic Church”.

Here are the deep emotions of a man desperately searching for answers to some of the most fundamental questions about his existence. “Who were my parents? Where were they?

Why did they give me away?”

The author's voice is distinct and almost tangible, illustrating the “nagging inkling” that many adopted people feel, “that they're mismatched, don't quite fit, or are outsiders, a recurring sense that they've lost something”.

Watkins learned about his adoption when he was eight years old. Upon his decision to start a family of his own, he

encountered the practical issue of “what was swimming around in my gene pool” that could affect the health and development of his future offspring.

Worse, after decades of extensive research and a DNA test, Watkins discovered that he is the son of a priest and a nun.

His father, a celebrated outback missionary, had sworn his mother to secrecy about their relationship. This is a form of “spiritual abuse” that “says so much about the misogyny of the Catholic Church, the institution”.

“It's a male-centric institution that doesn't recognise the rights of women. I found that my mother had met my father when she was 14 or 15, and he was 30 years older... so he had enormous influence over her.”

There are approximately 450,000 Catholic priests around the world. It is estimated that they have fathered over 20,000 children. Research has shown that many mothers were pressured to have abortions. Others were coerced into hiding, tormented by shame and guilt as they gave birth to babies who were immediately and forcibly removed for adoption, their records falsified or conveniently lost.

How many women endured this fate? And how many children of priests have suffered from secrecy and lies like Watkins did? Tell No One is a powerful reminder of the sort of cruelty that institutionalised religious power can impose on women and children.

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MY READING PATH

Reflections on “Hope is the Thing”

A WHILE AGO, when this reviewer was admiring how the local school kids dressed up for the Children's Book Week (August 17-23), one famous quote came to mind: “Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden.”

While it may or may not come from American author Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel The Road, the quote itself is about hope. Many of us learned about the idea(l) of hope from the mythical tale of Pandora's Box. The “box”, as lauded by ancient Greek poet Hesiod, was actually a large jar or urn. There're also alternative accounts regarding who opened the container, as well as its actual content.

According to one Renaissance engraving by Italian artist Giulio Bonasone, the real culprit is Epinetheus, husband of Pandora. As he opens the jar, various virtues rise up, including security, harmony, fairness, mercy, freedom, happiness, peace, worth, and joy. Only hope remains.

So, if the jar releases evils that set out to torment humanity, as the story is

commonly told, then why was hope among them at the start? Alternatively, if the jar holds blessings, as depicted by Bonasone, then why did hope stay back when the other virtues descended upon our world?

Either way, the real question is: Is hope preserved in the jar for the sake of humanity, or is it withheld from human existence in the first place? It is worth a thought.

In American author Jack Du Brul's 2001 techno-thriller Pandora's Curse, the protagonist Philip Mercer finds himself in mortal danger and reminisces bitterly: “Hasn't anyone ever wondered why hope was in [Pandora's jar] to begin with? Why was it in there with disease and hate and lust? Because hope's as destructive as any of those, maybe worse. It was never meant to be a gift from the gods. It was punishment. Hope gives you strengths when you have a chance. When the situation's impossible, it becomes a torture.”

These words are so impressive that this reviewer often feels cynical when reading American poet Emily Dickinson's famous lyrics: “Hope” is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops - at all Like Pandora's jar, Dickinson's poem has inspired different authors in considerably different ways. For

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example, in English author Max Porter's 2015 novel Grief is the Thing with Feathers, a grieving widower and his young sons are able to become reconciled to death and loss thanks to a visiting crow. In American author Haley Hudson's 2022 novel Hope is the Thing with Features, a Jewish girl manages to find her way in Germany in the darkest of times.

In their 2023 illustrated children's book Hope is the Thing, Australian author Johanna Bell and illustrator Erica Wagner recall the devastation they felt after bushfires ravaged much of Australia's east coast in 2019: “Horrified by the impact the fires had on the wild places we love, we wanted to create a work that speaks to the many ways hope presents in the world.”

As Bell and Wagner elaborate: “For us, hope isn't just an eagle soaring in a cloudless sky. It's also the ibis raiding bins. The girl in this book pays close attention to birds and uses her observations to create an imagined world filled with art and hope. This girl is us and we also hope she is you!”

This is a gorgeous book, full of uplifting words and gentle illustrations of some of Australia's most beautiful and beloved birds. The mixed media collages are a way to reflect and celebrate diversity, comprising bits and pieces of old artwork, painted and coloured paper, monoprints, and even fragments of vintage books.

As the artists point out, hope is the thing “with feathers and wings” and can be found in the most ordinary and unusual places. “Hope is the seed in the palm of your hand. Hope is a footprint found in the sand.” The message of rebirth and renewal is all around us.

Life will always find a way to survive and thrive.

So, while watching the kids in their colourful costumes – as Darth Vader played football with a bunch of dinosaurs, as Harry and Hermione walked their dog, and as Wednesday Addams greeted Batman in the playground – this reviewer was once again full of hope. As long as our younger generations keep reading, that little fire will surely burn bright and brave.

Local Events •

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The Tesselaar Tulip Festival will conclude on Sunday 13 October. On your way, grab a quick coffee and scones, a stylish high tea or a delicious lunch from the renowned Kallista Tearooms.

Celebrating October as History Month, visit Belgrave Library on Friday 25 October to discover how and where to find the answers to all your ancestor's immigration questions.

Two modern classic movies will be showing at Cameo Cinemas: The Shining (1980, MA15+) on Thursday 31st October and Sleepless in Seattle (1993, PG) on Tuesday 29 October.

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NEW TITLE RECOMMENDATION

RecipeTin Eats: Tonight by Nagi Maehashi

NAGI MAEHASHI'S RECIPETIN EATS is Australia's most popular food blog, receiving half a billion hits each year and boasting a social media following of over five million.

Maehashi's first cookbook, RecipeTin Eats: Dinner, is the fastestselling cookbook in Australian publishing history. In 2023, it became

the first cookbook to win the Australian Book Industry Award's Book of the Year.

An equally impressive production, RecipeTin Eats: Tonight features 150 recipes that will solve the perpetual problem of what's for dinner every night.

There are 800 variations on these recipes and 3,000 possible combinations using different ingredients.

As introduced by Belgrave Book Barn: “This is a book for every Australian kitchen, for every level of cooing ability, for every budget, for every set of taste buds, and for every single night of the week.”

This will be a great gift for yourself and your loved ones this Christmas and the coming New Year.

More Local Events Open Gardens Victoria and the Friends of Edna Walling at Bickleigh Vale Village in Mooroolbark will showcase eight gardens on Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 October.

The Royal Australian Navy Big Band will perform at Burrinja Theatre on Saturday 19 October, supported by Dandenong Ranges Big Band.

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

– Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)

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