ALL DRESSED UP
Do see Women He's Undressed, the wonderful documentary about the Australian-born Hollywood costume designer Orry-Kelly, made by a team led by director Gillian Armstrong and writer Katherine Thomson. Who knew Orry George Kelly, a boy from Kiama, had dressed film stars such as Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Fonda and won three Oscars? And who knew the young gay man had lived with Archie Leach, who would become the famous actor ... (I won't spoil it)? But don't miss the book behind the film: Orry-Kelly's "lost" memoir, which was kept by his grand-niece until she heard Armstrong interviewed on Newcastle radio. Random House has published Women I've Undressed as a suitably gorgeous hardcover, illustrated with photographs and film stills, his drawings and a few photos of the man himself. The film is a gripping piece of detective work, piecing together the stories of Orry-Kelly, costume designers and the not-so-secret life of gay men in Hollywood. The memoir, which may have been suppressed to protect the famous, adds more of Orry-Kelly's own voice, which is observant, gossipy, funny, sometimes melancholy and even homesick.
BYRON, BENDIGO AND UBUD FESTIVALS
The writers' festival calendar is so full these days that there are often double-ups. For most of its 18 years I have taken part in Byron Bay Writers Festival. But this year it is on the weekend of August 7-9 when I will be at the four-year-old Bendigo Writers Festival for the first time. Both programs look first-class with the Pakistani-born political writer Tariq Ali managing to be on both. In Bendigo I will be in conversation with Vietnamese-Australian writer Nam Le, who is living in Melbourne after years overseas and will talk about his life and work since he burst onto the scene with the internationally acclaimed story collection The Boat. Le will also appear at Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (October 28-November 1) with Australians Graeme Simsion, Sofie Laguna, Emily Bitto, and Tony and Maureen Wheeler, founders of The Lonely Planet Guides, and Chinese-American memoirist Anchee Min, North Korean defector Hyeonseo Lee, Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid, and many others from Asia and beyond. Early-bird tickets are on sale now and the full program will be announced on August 19, with the theme 17,000 Islands of Imagination, shared with the Frankfurt Book Fair, where Indonesia is this year's guest of honour.
A SAFE PLACE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Sydney author Susanne Gervay has won the Lifetime Social Justice Literature Award, given by the International Literacy Association. The daughter of Hungarian refugees, Gervay is well-known for the I Am Jack series of books, in which a boy faces challenges such as bullying and his mother's breast cancer. "I write so that young people have a safe place to be," she said on receiving her award. "Inside my stories there are friends, humour, love and ways forward to navigate a world that is overwhelming. I write small stories of ordinary lives, but they are big stories ..." Gervay is an ambassador for the Room to Read literacy program and works endlessly to encourage reading. As owner of the Hughenden Hotel in Woollahra she hosts literary events, displays illustrators' work and is organising a new mini-festival, Writers in the Park, which will be in nearby Centennial Park on September 27 with a great program for all ages, to be announced soon.
