May Highlights: Stories, Volunteers, and Exhibitions at Libraries Tasmania

Stories and storytelling take centre stage this May.

Here is a round-up of the many ways to get involved:

What do stories mean to you? Create a Story Stone for Dark Mofo

Libraries Tasmania is asking members of the community to share what ‘story’ means to you. Visit the following libraries to write your thoughts on a stone: Bothwell, Bridgewater, Geeveston, Glenorchy, Hobart, Huonville, Kingston, New Norfolk, Oatlands and Rosny Library. Yours will join the hundreds of Story Stones placed around storyteller campfires at this year’s Stories After Dark event – part of the Dark Mofo festival.

The Story Stones project includes responses from people at Risdon Prison, Hobart Women’s Shelter, Mathers Place, Dark Lab, ABC Hobart, City of Hobart’s Youth ARC, Libraries Tasmania literacy program, 26Ten, and all the public libraries in Southern Tasmania.

Is volunteering part of your story?

Volunteers are an integral part of Libraries Tasmania. National Volunteer Week from 15 to 21 May 2023 is a great chance to celebrate and thank volunteers for sharing their time, skills and knowledge.

Have you considered volunteering? Read more about volunteering in our libraries across Lutruwita/Tasmania.

Hear the story of Beattie Jordan’s brilliant career

Don’t miss the talk ‘Fancy Dress: The Brilliant Career of Beattie Jordan – Curator Penny C Wells’ on 23 May from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm at the Allport. Co-curator Penny Wells will share lavish images from the Tasmanian Archives of Beatrice ‘Beattie’ Jordan (1897–1988), a dancer, choreographer, and owner of the Beattie Jordan Dance School in Hobart.

Book your free spot on Eventbrite.

National Simultaneous Storytime for everyone

On Wednesday 24 May 2023 at 11:00 am, National Simultaneous Storytime brings together people of all ages to read the same book at the same time, all over Australia.

Save the date and spread the word about Storygig!

‘Storygig’ is TasWriters’ first storytelling festival for young people, celebrating readers, writers, visual artists and media, dance and music. Held over two days, Storygig is on at Franklin Square, Hadley’s Orient Hotel and live online across Tasmania, 27 – 28 May.

Be a voice for reconciliation

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023 (27 May to 3 June) is ‘Be a Voice for Generations’, encouraging all Australians to be a voice in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work, and socialise. Read more about National Reconciliation Week 2023.

OverDrive’s Big Library Read for May

The next Big Library Read from OverDrive runs from 3 to 17 May. Library members will have unlimited access to the eBook or eAudiobook format of Tastes Like War by Grace M. Cho – no waitlists or holds!

The award-winning book is Winner of the 2022 Asian/Pacific American Award in Literature and Finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Part food memoir, part sociological investigation, Tastes Like War is a story about a daughter’s search through intimate and global history for the roots of her mother’s schizophrenia.

Tastes Like War will be available to borrow from 3 to 17 May from OverDrive’s website or the Libby app.

Exhibitions

Tights and top hats. Bows and bonnets. Masks and manga.

Visit the exhibition Fancy Dress: From tutus to cosplay, showing until 29 July 2023 at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, 91 Murray Street Hobart. Fancy Dress gives centre stage to over 130 years of dress ups, from the downright bizarre to the truly magnificent.

Can’t make it in person? View the online exhibition and a behind-the-scenes video.

Uncover the threads of Tasmania’s clothing history

Visit the new exhibition Duck Trousers, Straw Bonnets, and Bluey: Stories of fabrics and clothing in Tasmania now showing at the State Library of Tasmania and Tasmanian Archives Reading Room. Learn how clothing was a treasured possession in the past; about evolving styles and fashions; and the work and creativity involved in producing Tasmanian fabrics, such as wool and leather.

Can’t make it in person? View the online image gallery instead.