Month: May 2013

The Guardian Australian edition launched

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    This morning, an exciting event took place on Australia’s somewhat barren media landscape: The Guardian news organisation launched its digital Australian edition. Headed by editor-in-chief Katherine Viner (currently also The Guardian‘s deputy editor), the Guardian Australia team includes some impressive home-grown talents such as Lenore Taylor, David Marr and Katharine Murphy. Click here to read Viner’s welcome article in today’s Guardian. With around 70% of the Australia’s newspapers controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited and most of the rest owned by Fairfax, Australia’s media desperately needs to diversify. The more voices Australians can access, the better. So this Melbourne local welcomes you to Australia, Guardian. Please make yourself thoroughly at home.  

Emerging Writers’ Festival 2013

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    Tomorrow the 10th annual Emerging Writers’ Festival begins, bringing together writers, editors, publishers and performers for 50 events across Melbourne. Many of the events are free, and the ticketed events are generally affordable. For a full run down of the EWF 2013 programme, click here. You can also find a full list of participating writers here. Many events have already booked out, so get in early if you want to secure tickets. If you love writing, this one’s for you.   Emerging Writers’ Festival 2013 Date: 23 May — 2 June 2013 Festival Hub: Thousand Pound Bend, 631 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne  

Melbourne: a beach city?

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    Most people don’t associate Melbourne with the beach. Culture, coffee, fashion, art — yes. Golden tans and bikinis? No. The north–south cultural divide in Melbourne is strong — so strong, in fact, that many Melburnians who live north of the Yarra River very rarely clamp eyes on the sea. But Melbourne is a beach city; Port Melbourne and St Kilda lie just 20–30 minutes south of the CBD by tram or bicycle. And while these may not match up to Sydney’s Bondi, or the glorious beaches of the Great Ocean Road, they are beautiful in their own right. As the weather cools, you can still take advantage of Melbourne’s beaches by cycling the great bike paths that follow the coastline. You can find maps of these paths, and others, at bikemap.net and Bike Paths and Rail Trails.