[photoblog]

Even Books is a regular night that combines literature, music, art, theatre and booze to be one of the most unusual book clubs around. Each night is themed around a different book, and last week’s theme was Miranda July’s collection of short stories, “No-one Belongs Here More Than You“.

The vibe was kinda like a chilled house party, with some activities and live music thrown in.

There were interactive projects, based on Miranda’s writing and web art.

Sui Zhen, Daisy M. Tulley (Bridezilla) and The Maple Trail played some folk tunes for the gathering.

The “positive message table”.

Sui Zhen even made a diorama inspired by Miranda July, especially for the night.

The winners of the inaugural SMAC Awards (Sydney Music, Arts & Culture) were unveiled to the world on sunday night, at a party held down at the Sydney Opera House. The awards, presented by Timeout Sydney & FBi 94.5, were thought up as a way to honour Sydney’s cultural innovators with traditional categories such as “Best Music Performance” mixed in with other more unusual ones, such as the “Remix the City” Award, rewarding the person or team who have used the city’s space in the most creative way.

Fergus Linehan took out the SMAC of the Year Award, for his sterling work directing the lineup of the annual Sydney Festival for the last three years.

• SMAC OF THE YEAR AWARD – FERGUS LINEHAN
• SMAC REMIX THE CITY AWARD – BIENNALE AT COCKATOO ISLAND
• SMAC IN YOUR FACE AWARD – RAISE THE BAR
• BEST MUSIC EVENT – SYDNEY FESTIVAL BECKS BAR/SPIEGELTENT
• BEST MUSIC PERFORMANCE – DAPPLED CITIES
• RECORD OF THE YEAR – THE PRESETS Apocalypso
• BEST MUSIC NEWCOMER – CLOUD CONTROL
• BEST ARTS EVENT – UNDERBELLY PUBLIC ARTS LAB AND FESTIVAL
• BEST VISUAL ARTIST – KILL PIXIE
• BEST ACTOR/ PERFORMER – BRENDAN COWELL – Hamlet
• BEST ARTS NEWCOMER – GREEDY HEN

Next sunday the 25th of May, the Museum of Contemporary Art in collaboration with the Sydney Writers’ Festival and the Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics (UNSW) will be hosting a Zine Fair. There’ll be artist talks, panel discussions & live music as well as 50 stalls full of zines. Lee Tran and I will be down there, flogging our zine Settling Scores On A See-Saw, a compilation of stories & photos from the blog. See you there.