Wheeler Centre
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| Established | 2010 |
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| Chairman | Eric Beecher |
| Director | Michael Williams |
| Location | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Address | 176 Little Lonsdale Street Melbourne 3000 |
| Website | http://wheelercentre.com/ |
The Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to become a UNESCO City of Literature. Opened in 2010, the centre is housed in the southern wing of the State Library of Victoria. As well as programming literary events, debates and awards, the centre hosts literary organisations including the Australian Poetry, Emerging Writers' Festival, Express Media, Melbourne Writers Festival, Small Press Network and Writers Victoria.
In October 2008 the centre's board of directors was appointed including Eric Beecher (chair), Peter Biggs, Joanna Murray-Smith, Reading's owner Mark Rubbo, Penguin Australia managing director Gabrielle Coyne and Andrew Hagger. Initially Caro Llewellyn was appointed director of the centre, but she soon left the position citing personal reasons. In February 2009, Chrissy Sharp became the centre's new director. In April 2009, Michael Williams was appointed head of programming. When Sharp left in 2011, Williams became director of the organisation.
On 26 November the centre was renamed the Wheeler Centre after a donation by Lonely Planet founders, Tony Wheeler and Maureen Wheeler.
The Wheeler Centre officially opened on 12 February 2010 with a gala night of storytelling featuring several of Australia's most significant writers and performers including Paul Kelly, David Malouf, Cate Kennedy, John Safran and Shane Maloney.
The centre presents several one-off events with speakers including Irvine Welsh, Peter Carey and Naomi Wolf in co-operation with resident organisations and external partners including Sydney Writers' Festival and the ABC. The Meanland series of talks is a partnership with literary journals Overland and Meanjin that look at how books will be affected by technological change.
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