Reading Like a Critic
Schedule
Sat Sep 27 2025 at 12:00 am to 06:00 am
UTC+10:00Location
Harry Hartog ANU Canberra | Narrabundah, CT
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Workshop Date: 27 September 2025Time: 10am - 4pm (6hrs)
Location: Harry Hartog ANU
MARION is celebrating 30 years with a Spring/Summer season of writerly adventures — and next up is the extraordinary Beejay Silcox, one of Australia’s most acclaimed literary critics.
Reading like a critic:
A critic is more than an incisive reader; they are a bridge-builder, connecting text, history, author, and audience. In this day-long workshop, you’ll step inside a new Australian novel with a trusted critic as your guide. Together, you’ll uncover how a work reflects its moment, speaks across time, and reveals the author’s practice – the choices and risks that shape their storytelling. You’ll also learn to move beyond taste into the language of craft, to balance subjectivity with objectivity, and to unlock a text for other readers. Whether you want to begin your own critical practice, or deepen your reading, this immersive day of book-talk will connect you to the larger conversation that literature makes possible.
About Beejay Silcox:
Beejay Silcox is a book critic. Her work appears in high-profile publications across three continents, and is celebrated for its resolute – some might say foolhardy – honesty. She has been described as “the most significant new Australian critic in decades". Beyond the page, she is a literary polymath: interviewer, prize judge, manuscript doctor, festival programmer, and award-winning creative writing educator. Beejay has stories to tell; she eloped to Las Vegas, escaped quicksand, and was once rescued from a picnic at Hanging Rock.
Note: This workshop is best suited to intermediate and advanced writers.
IMPORTANT NOTE: For this program, participants will be asked to read Arborescence by Rhett Davis (Hachette) in advance of the workshop. The book is currently available to purchase through Harry Hartog ANU. You can also hear Rhett discuss his work on ABC Radio National’s The Bookshelf (7 August) — listen here
COST OF PROGRAM
MEMBER TICKETS:
$90 for members of MARION, the First Nations Australian Writers Network (FNAWN), or Canberra Society of Editors (CSE)
GENERAL TICKETS: $110
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Where is it happening?
Harry Hartog ANU Canberra, 5 Hartog St, Griffith ACT 2603, Australia, NarrabundahEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
