WISH YOU WEREN’T HERE
‘Those faraway places with strange-sounding names/Far away over the sea’ says the old song, but does travel indeed broaden the mind? Is there really glamour in the unknown? Why do we take vicarious pleasure in reading about others’ overseas misfortunes? Patrick Holland, author of Riding the Trains in Japan: Travels in the Sacred and Supermodern East, and Aaron Smith, author of Shanti Bloody Shanti: An Indian Odyssey, know plenty about the unexpectedness of travel and its ability to exasperate, enhance and entertain. In India Aaron encountered a murder mystery, witnessed a friend’s death, dodged terrorist attacks and a revolution, and made some colourful friends. Arriving late in Kyoto, Patrick could not find accommodation so ended up riding the trains. That trip became a thread in a book that journeys on rivers in Saigon, mountains in the Chinese Himalaya, lost cities of the Silk Road, cemeteries in Japan and the flat plains of Australia.
Aaron Smith is an ex-punk rocker and one-time Blue Heelers cast member, and a theatre and script writer. He works as a freelance journalist for a number of Australian and international publications and appears regularly on ABC Radio 936 to talk about travel. He is completing a Masters in Journalism at the University of Tasmania.
Patrick Holland has travelled widely throughout Asia, where he has studied languages at Qingdao University and Beijing Foreign Studies University, and at Ho Chi Minh Social Sciences University. His novel, The Long Road of the Junkmailer, won the Queensland Premier’s Award for Best Emerging Author. His new novel is The Mary Smokes Boys.
Chair: Award-winning columnist Joe Bennett is the author of four travel books: Land of Two Halves, Mustn’t Grumble, Where Underpants Come From, which was the 2009 Travcom Travel Book of the Year and Hello Dubai.
Book Now
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Date/Time
1 Sep 2012 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Cost:$16/14
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