What do libraries mean to you?
All The Best partnered with the State Library of NSW to mark 200 years and to celebrate 60,000 years of storytelling. The live storytelling event was the Special Collections: A night of live storytelling at the Library Bar at the State Library of NSW.
We heard so many beautiful stories on the night from the storytellers and the audience!
This is just part 1! Look out for part 2!
History or Hoarding? by Rachael Cusick
In this first story, Rachel Cusick tells us about the whispers from the library quarters that go beyond the books you see on the bookshelves.
That story was performed live by Rachel Cusick.
What’s really cool about this is that it was also a sneak peek into a new ABC podcast hosted by Annabel Crabb.
You can listen to the first few episodes of the podcast here: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/history-or-hoarding-with-annabel-crabb
Three Poems by Nathan Mudyi Sentance
Award-winning Wiradjuri poet Nathan Mudyi Sentance returns to the site of his first job to read poems connected to his time there, where he noticed how libraries record and can rewrite culture.
The poems were We Refuse to Be Shooed, The Diary That Lied and Too Quiet for the Living
Written and performed by Nathan Mudyi Sentance.
Write a letter by Rania Omar
Libraries are not just passive places; they are places to act.
In this last story, we hear from another poet, Lebanese-Australian storyteller and activist Rania Omar, who urges us to etch ourselves into the personal and political page.
Written and performed by Rania Omar
All The Best Credits
Host: Gabriella Accaria
Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell
Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos
Production Manager: Kwame Slusher
Digital Trainee: Imogen Brosnan
Mixed & Compiled: Emma Higgins
Theme Music composed by Shining Bird
Special shout-out to all our volunteers