EVENTS
Jaclyn regularly moderates events at writers festivals, literary organisations like The Wheeler Centre and Writers Victoria, as well as bookshops. She gives author talks about gardening and making pasta at libraries, community centres and food stores. Jaclyn also runs gardening workshops for children. She is regularly on ABC Radio reviewing books and making reading recommendations.
Veronica Sullivan, Festival Director,
Melbourne Writers Festival
“Jaclyn Crupi is one of my favourite people to program. Whether speaking with debut local writers or high-profile international guests, the hallmarks of Jaclyn’s interviewing style are her genuine warmth and passion for all things literary and/or culinary. Jaclyn invariably brings impeccable readerly acumen, wise and curious engagement with books, and infectious enthusiasm to every event she hosts.”
Jennifer Down, Miles-Franklin Award winning author of Bodies of Light
“Jaclyn is a shrewd and empathetic reader – traits that make her an excellent interviewer. Whether in conversation with Jaclyn myself, or watching her speak with another writer, I always feel I’m in the safe hands of someone who wants to share her passion and her intellectual curiosity with the reading public. She knows my books better, I suspect, than I do.”
Natalie Paull, Beatrix Bakes
“It’s an immense delight to be interviewed by Jaclyn. As soon as you are ushered through the discussion doorway with her generously flattering and impeccably researched introduction, the chat is like you are sitting with a close friend! Jaclyn makes you feel comfortable being yourself, encourages a giggle (or several) and gives you room to explore deeper emotions. She is a confident and charismatic conduit of conversation. ”
Sarah Krasnostein, multi-award winning author of The Trauma Cleaner and The Believer
“The depth of her reading and the breadth of her thinking make Jaclyn a rare and wonderful interviewer. Our conversation back in 2018 remains, for me, a highlight of my writing career.”
Upcoming Events
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SEPTEMBER EVENTS St Kilda Library, Wednesday 10 September, 6.30pm Yarra Junction Library, Saturday 13 September, 11am Hastings Library, Wednesday 17 September, 2pm Wheelers Hill Library, Thursday 18 September, 6.30pm
SEPTEMBER EVENTS
Talk and Native Plant Propagation Demonstration
Want to help the native wildlife in your area but not sure how to start? Are you keen to grow more native plants but have a small budget? Would you like to attract native birds, bees and butterflies to your outdoor spaces?
Countless Australian species of birds, bees and butterflies are in decline or threatened with extinction, but you can help. Writer and gardener Jaclyn Crupi shows us that protecting and fostering precious native wildlife starts in our own backyards. The first step: start planting! And choose native plants where possible. This alone presents endless opportunities for habitat creation – sometimes it’s the smallest actions that make the biggest difference. Providing a well-placed dish of water on a hot day, building and installing a simple insect hotel or allowing leaf litter to stay where it falls are among the many other super simple ways you can make your garden more attractive to native birds, bees and butterflies, and in turn benefit all species. Loads of practical advice for gardeners and novices alike.
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Fireweather Launch
Thursday 11 September, 6pm
READINGS CARLTONJoin us for the launch of Miranda Darling’s new book Fireweather. Life for Winona Dalloway is not as it should be. Her husband is no longer her husband, her children are not at home with her, and the city in which she lives is besieged by fires. Black ash falls like snow, songbirds screech like dinosaurs, and the doctors are calling her mad ...
In this looking-glass world, Winona is forced to prove she is a sane, rational human being. As the pronouncements of the professionals grow more insistent, so too do the voices crowding inside Winona's head. She seeks solace in the company of plants and animals, and begins to imagine an entirely other way of being - one that might make whole her broken heart.
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Spring in the Productive Garden
Thursday 25 September, 6.30pm
BRUNSWICK LIBRARYSpring is an incredibly busy time in the productive garden. There is so much to plant but not much to harvest so it's often called the hungry season. Find out how to prepare your soil for spring planting and supporting those heavy-feeding and thirsty summer fruits and vegetables. Recipes for how to make homemade fertilisers to keep spring and summer vegetables healthy and strong will be shared. Detailed information will also be provided about tomato crops specifically as Jaclyn, just like her nonnos before her, takes her tomatoes very seriously and has plenty of their tips and tricks to share for getting the most out of these delicious home-grown fruits. So come along and learn how to garden like a nonno at the most productive time of year.
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In Conversation with Helen Goh
Thursday 2 October, 6pm
HILL OF CONTENTJoin us for a far-ranging conversation about baking, why we do it, and what it means. In this, her first solo cookbook, Helen draws on her upbringing in Malaysia and Australia, her acclaimed work with Ottolenghi and her psychology training to share her distinctive approach to baking with 100 delicious sweet and savoury bakes.
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Pasta-Making Demonstration
Sunday 12 October, 2pm
BALLARAT LIBRARYSemola Pasta Demonstration
According to Jaclyn Crupi – a proud Italian-Australian pasta maker and devotee – pasta is love, pasta is life. Pasta can be a quick and simple meal or a culinary masterpiece, but in essence it is about generosity, comfort and the beauty to be found in simplicity. Her book Pasta Love is a celebration of pasta and the people who make it.
Join Jaclyn to learn how to make fresh pasta at home and how to improve your dried pasta dishes (unlock the secrets of starchy salty pasta cooking water). Hear stories of the incredible pasta nonne (Italian grandmothers) Jaclyn has been making pasta with and learn their pasta-making ways. Jaclyn will demonstrate how to make a traditional semola rimacinata flour and water pasta dough and then shape it into cavatelli, orecchiette, fusilli al ferretto, lorighittas and many more pasta shapes. She'll also demonstrate some simple seasonal sauces to suit the pasta shapes made. So if you’re keen to give pasta making a go, or you just love all things pasta, this is the event for you.
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OCTOBER EVENTS Phoenix Park Library, Saturday 4 October, 11am The Pines Library, Wednesday 8 October, 2.30pm Belgrave Library, Thursday 6 November, 2pm Niddrie Library, Tuesday 14 October, 6pm Hoppers Crossing Library, Wednesday 29 Oct, 6.30pm
OCTOBER EVENTS
Talk and Native Plant Propagation Demonstration
Want to help the native wildlife in your area but not sure how to start? Are you keen to grow more native plants but have a small budget? Would you like to attract native birds, bees and butterflies to your outdoor spaces?
Countless Australian species of birds, bees and butterflies are in decline or threatened with extinction, but you can help. Writer and gardener Jaclyn Crupi shows us that protecting and fostering precious native wildlife starts in our own backyards. The first step: start planting! And choose native plants where possible. This alone presents endless opportunities for habitat creation – sometimes it’s the smallest actions that make the biggest difference. Providing a well-placed dish of water on a hot day, building and installing a simple insect hotel or allowing leaf litter to stay where it falls are among the many other super simple ways you can make your garden more attractive to native birds, bees and butterflies, and in turn benefit all species. Loads of practical advice for gardeners and novices alike.
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NOVEMBER EVENTS Belgrave Library, Thursday 6 November, 2pm Bunjil Place Library, Saturday 8 November, 11am Keilor Library, Tuesday 11 November, 11am Pakenham Library, Friday 28 November, 6.30pm
NOVEMBER EVENTS
Talk and Native Plant Propagation Demonstration
Want to help the native wildlife in your area but not sure how to start? Are you keen to grow more native plants but have a small budget? Would you like to attract native birds, bees and butterflies to your outdoor spaces?
Countless Australian species of birds, bees and butterflies are in decline or threatened with extinction, but you can help. Writer and gardener Jaclyn Crupi shows us that protecting and fostering precious native wildlife starts in our own backyards. The first step: start planting! And choose native plants where possible. This alone presents endless opportunities for habitat creation – sometimes it’s the smallest actions that make the biggest difference. Providing a well-placed dish of water on a hot day, building and installing a simple insect hotel or allowing leaf litter to stay where it falls are among the many other super simple ways you can make your garden more attractive to native birds, bees and butterflies, and in turn benefit all species. Loads of practical advice for gardeners and novices alike.
PAST EVENT
New York Times-bestselling author Sloane Crosley was live in conversation with Jaclyn Crupi exploring the sharp comic edges of reality, writing the surreal and the fear of running into your ex.
Jaclyn in conversation with Sloane Crosley
Jaclyn has four author talks based on her book Garden Like a Nonno: Soil and Seeds, The Winter Productive Garden, The Autumn Productive Garden and The Spring Productive Garden. In each talk she shares wisdom and gardening knowledge taught to her by her grandfathers.
PAST EVENT
Jaclyn in conversation with Stephanie Alexander
Hear Stephanie Alexander reflect on her unparalleled five-decade career as a cook, writer and restaurateur, and the legacy she has built for generations of professionals and amateurs in kitchens around the country.
PAST EVENT
Jaclyn moderated several panels at the inaugural Sorrento Writers Festival and interviewed Chris Hammer, Sofie Laguna, Megan Rogers, Andre Dao, Saman Shad, Pirooz Jafari, Armando Lucas Correa, Joelle Gergis, Sam Vincent and Simon Holmes a Court.
Sorrento Writers Festival
PAST EVENT
Over a seasonal lunch prepared with Indigenous Australian ingredients, a panel of culinary superstars met at Big Esso to discuss their approaches to cooking and sharing food, and the intersections and impact of multiculturalism, immigration and First Nations cuisine on Australian food culture. Inspired by Griffith Review: A Matter of Taste, the event featured Mabu Mabu owner and head chef Nornie Bero and author and broadcaster Alice Zaslavsky with host Jaclyn Crupi.
On the Table: A Matter of Taste
PAST EVENT
Super Bloom: Jaclyn in conversation with Jac Semmler
Jaclyn Crupi visits Heartland, the home garden of Jac Semmler, author of Super Bloom: a field guide to flowers for every gardener to talk gardening, beauty, the book and of course maximum flowers in a special one off podcast.
PAST EVENT
Jaclyn in conversation with Anna Krien and Favel Parrett
For October’s Double Booked Club, we’ll hear from two acclaimed Australian authors, whose new works of fiction take readers to distant corners of the globe … and back again.
PAST EVENT
Jaclyn has programmed and hosted many events at Hill of Content Bookshop
The Writers on the Hill event program began in 2018 and has gone from strength to strength. Authors interviewed include Sarah Krasnostein, Helen Goh, Chloe Hooper, Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Jennifer Down, Paul Kelly, Alice Robinson, Guy Grossi, Jane Lopes, Charlotte Wood, David Holmgren, Kirsten Bradley, Nick Ratar, Belinda Jeffery, Natalie Paull, Scott Pickett, Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan.
Jaclyn was interviewed by The Age journalist Cara Waters at Basils Farm as part of Queenscliffe Writers Festival
PAST EVENT
This lunch event sold out in record time. Diners enjoyed Italian dishes, some of them from recipes in Jaclyn’s books, and good conversation about the Italian art of living well.
PAST EVENT
Soil and Seeds
The Winter Productive Garden
The Autumn Productive Garden
The Spring Productive Garden
