New members are welcome to join the Classics Book Club at any time. Meetings are held monthly at:

•Blayney Library on Tuesday 17 November from 11am - 12 noon to talk about Jude the Obscure or Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.

•Orange Daytime Group on Thursday 19 November from 12.30pm - 1.30pm to discuss the author of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

•Orange Evening Group on Thursday 19 November from 5.30pm - 7pm to discuss the author of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

•Cowra Library on Tuesday 24 November from 12.30pm - 1.30pm to talk about The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

 On-Line Book Chain

The on-line book chain has begun.  It works like a regular book club but via your email in-box.  Readers wanting to take part in the book chain will be asked to submit a book title of their own choosing then their comment about the book when they have finished reading it.  Members of the book chain receive details of two surprise reads during this time and give their comments.  Book chain members source the books through Central West Libraries.  It is a first for us and lots of fun.   If you would like more details, send an email to jvidler@orange.nsw.gov.au 

Congratulations to all the performers and fun audience at the Poetry Slam Regional Heat 09 held at Cowra Library.  Winners Josh Simpson, of Bathurst, and Alan Fragar, of Cowra, performed their winning poems at the State Final held at the State Library of NSW on Friday 13 November.  Well done guys!  The State winners from Katoomba and Newcastle now go on to perform in the National Australian Poetry Slam 09 title in Sydney on 3 December.

This year’s Banjo Paterson Writing Awards attracted entries from around the country with a total of 171 entries received in the adult section and with 89 for the prose section, 54 entries in the Open Poetry section and 28 Bush Poetry entries.  The Awards recognise Orange’s literary history and further encourage writers to develop their craft.  Thank you to all the entrants and congratulations to the winners:

Prose: 
Peter W. Bishop, of Scone, NSW for “Lukey”
Panagiotis Papathanasiou, of Hackett, ACT, for “The Lure”
Sarah Michell from Lithgow, NSW for “Going Without” 

Open Poetry:
Judy Johnson, Cardiff, NSW for “The Bushranger’s Bible”                       
Mark Miller, of Shoalhaven Heads, NSW for “Small-Town Journal”
Jo Mills, of Darlington, WA for “Ledge Beach”

Bush Poetry:  
Ron Stevens, of Dubbo for “The Shame of Staying Put”
Ellis Campbell, of Dubbo, NSW, for “Eulogy of Crows”
Kristen Martin, of West Beach SA, for “Memories by the Murray”

Children’s Writing Awards: 
Isaac Bath, of Duramana, NSW for his poem “Bushfire”
Samuel Bath, of Duramana, NSW for his poem “Ducks of the Wild”
Rebekah Ritchie, of Forest Reefs, NSW for her story “The Climbing Experts”   

The Yvonne Zola Encouragement Award goes to Lachlan Fenemor, Orange for his story “Doggie Adventure”.

 The Banjo Paterson Writing Awards are launched each year on Banjo’s birthday 17 February. For an entry form contact writing@orange.nsw.gov.au. Entries for this year's awards closed Friday 17 April, 2009.