Speakeasy on Campus: aka The Day we had Ten out of Sixteen Readers Debuting and Everyone was Marvellous

What do you get when you put writers and lovers of stories in a room with snacks and wine?

You get an explosion of talking and creativity known as Speakeasy; an event where writers perform creative readings to an audience hungry for stories.

Taeghan Buggy opened the first set by giving us poetry with some skin crawling bodily descriptions. Caitlin Westphal continued the poetry tour with an entertaining piece criticising materialism. Lisandra Linde then brought us into the world of her novel by reading a segment; Ceri Glenie proved herself a dazzling first-time reader with a hilarious story about a girl being a ghost. Aidan Peckham brought us back to the world of poetry with some lines about a separated family. Cameron Lowe closed the first set with a tale set in post-apocalyptic outback Australia.

After a brief break, Amelia Hughes opened the second set by bringing us into her novella world; Marina Deller-Evans followed next with an emotional autobiographical piece about her mother, whilst Stuart Jefferies took us on a masterfully-crafted literary ride with references to The Smiths. Jasmine Koop delivered us a tale of chaos and people being slaughtered like animals. Richard Falkner closed the second set with an entertaining mix of reading and singing, an homage to Shane McGowan and The Pogues.

Sean Stockham began the third set with ‘I Love the Smell of my Quilt’; a piece he’d written in second year. Caitlin Lang gave us a tale about relationships and a man who used to carry a picture of Johnny Cash in his wallet. Ebony Leverington followed up with a light-hearted flash fiction story that featured dogs from the perspective of a statue. Nicole Sleep sang us a song about life at Flinders; a first for Speakeasy to feature music as a way of telling a story. Kayla Gaskell completed our final set with a pro-vegetarian piece inspired by a conversation she once had.

Although the April Speakeasy is over, and the Multimedia Lounge is now quiet, the conversations and new friendships formed will continue on. However, Speakeasy will return again at the end of the semester for its public event at the Wheatsheaf. If you want fun intellectual talks, or wish to travel to other worlds but are sick of waiting until NASA perfects human travel to Mars, then this next event is for you.

words by Cameron Lowe