Nikki Gemmell - Author Q & A
- Visit us
- Using the library
-
Explore our collection
- Online library
-
Local history
- Woollahra Council Plaque Scheme
- Discovering and Rediscovering Woollahra
- World War 1 Remembered
- World War 2 Remembered
- A brief history of Woollahra
- Council history
- Council records
- External resources
- Family history
- Galleries
- Local areas
- Local history fast facts
- Oral history
- Searching your property
- Women in Woollahra
-
Readers advice
-
Author Q & A
- Phillip Adams - Author Q & A
- Margaret Rice - Author Q & A
- Greig Beck - Author Q & A
- Vanessa Berry - Author Q & A
- Tim Bowden - Author Q & A
- Helen Brown - Author Q & A
- Melissa Bruce - Author Q & A
- Darleen Bungey - Author Q & A
- Luke Carman - Author Q & A
- Claudia Chan Shaw - Author Q & A
- Jessie Cole - Author Q & A
- Peter Corris - Author Q & A
- Sibella Court - Author Q & A
- Sam Crosby - Author Q & A
- James Curran - Author Q & A
- Mark Dapin - Author Q & A
- Michelle de Kretser - Author Q & A
- Robert Dessaix - Author Q & A
- Michael Duffy - Author Q & A
- David Dyer - Author Q & A
- Elizabeth Farrelly - Author Q&A
- Tim Ferguson - Author Q & A
- Jesse Fink - Author Q & A
- Tim Fischer - Author Q & A
- Kate Forsyth - Author Q & A
- Candice Fox - Author Q & A
- Peter Garrett - Author Q & A
- Nikki Gemmell - Author Q & A
- Richard Glover - Author Q & A
- Libby Hathorn - Author Q & A
- David Hunt - Author Q & A
- Maggie Joel - Author Q & A
- Mark Johnston - Author Q & A
- Meg Keneally - Author Q & A
- L.A. Larkin - Author Q & A
- Kate McClymont - Author Q & A
- Fleur McDonald - Author Q & A
- Hugh Mackay - Author Q & A
- Gretchen Miller - Author Q & A
- Patti Miller - Author Q & A
- Margaret Morgan - Author Q & A
- Chris Muir - Author Q & A
- Judy Nunn - Author Q & A
- Helen O'Neill - Author Q & A
- Gill Paul - Author Q & A
- Roland Perry - Author Q & A
- Ailsa Piper - Author Q & A
- Michael Robotham - Author Q & A
- Mandy Sayer - Author Q & A
- Sam Twyford-Moore - Author Q & A
- Terry Smyth - Author Q & A
- Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist - Author Q & A
- Sarah Turnbull - Author Q & A
- Nancy Underhill - Author Q & A
- Josh Wakely - Author Q & A
- Dr. Tanveer Ahmed - Author Q & A
- Adam Spencer - Author Q & A
- Louis Nowra - Author Q & A
- Jane Caro - Author Q & A
- Jessica Rowe - Author Q & A
- Grace Tobin - Author Q & A
- Elizabeth Coleman - Author Q & A
- Dr Peter Sheridan - Author Q & A
- Michael Speechley - Author Q & A
- Jacqueline Harvey - Author Q & A
- Staff and reader picks
- What's new on the shelves?
-
Author Q & A
- Community languages
- Magazines and newspapers
- What's On
- Children's services
- Youth services
- Local history
- Newsletters
- News
- Volunteer
VISIT US
Hours
| Monday: | 9am-8pm |
| Tuesday: | 9am-8pm |
| Wednesday: | 9am-8pm |
| Thursday: | 9am-8pm |
| Friday: | 9am-8pm |
| Saturday: | 10am-4pm |
| Sunday: | 10am-4pm |
| Closed on public holidays | |
Address
Woollahra Library
Level 1, 451 New South Head Road
Double Bay NSW 2028
Hours
| Monday: | 9:30am-6pm |
| Tuesday: | 9:30am-6pm |
| Wednesday: | 12pm-8pm |
| Thursday: | 9:30am-6pm |
| Friday: | 9:30am-6pm |
| Saturday: | 10am-4pm |
| Sunday: | 10am-4pm |
| Closed on public holidays | |
Address
Paddington Library
Paddington Town Hall
247 Oxford Street,
Paddington NSW 2021
Hours
| Monday: | 2pm-5pm |
| Tuesday: | 9:30am-5pm |
| Wednesday: | 12pm-7pm |
| Thursday: | 9:30am-5pm |
| Friday: | 2pm-5pm |
| Saturday: | Closed |
| Sunday: | Closed |
| Closed on public holidays | |
Address
Watsons Bay Library
The Tea Gardens
8 Marine Parade
Watsons Bay NSW 2030
5 minutes with Nikki Gemmell
Nikki Gemmell is the author of nine novels and four works of non-fiction. Her books have been translated into 22 languages. She is a columnist for The Australian.
What was the last good book you read?
Women and Power, by Mary Beard. There's so much common sense in it, examining the suppression of the female voice over several thousand years. And it's short. I love short right now. Have no time for anything else - just too swamped.
Do you have a favourite Library?
My beloved and deeply eccentric London Library, where I wrote three novels while living in that glorious city. The library was set up by Dickens in the 1840s as a toolhouse for writers, and has admirably served its purpose ever since. In one of its dictionaries there's Virginia Woolf's thumb print next to the F word - the library is brimming with delicious stories like that.
When I was writing there Tom Stoppard was its president. It's run along the lines of a gentleman's club - you have to be a member. But anyone can join, and it's worth every cent/pence. I'd encourage any Aussie in London to do it.
In your neck of the woods - the Watsons Bay Library. I went to a book launch there and was blown away by the beauty of the location, right on the harbour's edge, and the cool factor of that tiny space. I'll declare it right now: Watsons Bay Library is the coolest library in the world.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever read about yourself or your work?
That I am the female Jack Kerouac (according to a a French publication). Really? Hopefully a little more clean living.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Write as if you're dying - it's a great motivator. And try and try again. Writing is all about tenacity and persistence, as is any artistic endeavour. You've got to have grit to succeed.
What inspired you to write your book?
I was drowning in noise. I had an agitation of the soul, living within the madness of the city, and couldn't simplify my life. While working on my book I wrote myself into quiet - it was medicine for the soul. Good medicine. Quiet rescues.
Want to read more about On Quiet?
International bestselling author Nikki Gemmell writes on the power of quiet in today's shouty world.
Quiet comes as a shock in these troubled times.
Quietism means 'devotional contemplation and abandonment of the will . a calm acceptance of things as they are'. Gemmell makes the case for why quiet is steadily gaining ground in this noisy age: Why we need it now more than ever. How to glean quiet, hold on to it, and work within it.
On Quiet is available now from Melbourne University Press