Literature
There is a greater number of bookshops per capita in Melbourne than any other Australian city. In August 2008, Melbourne was designated as a City of Literature in UNESCO's Creative Cities Network program, recognising the role literature plays in the cultural life of Melbourne through its festivals, libraries, bookshops, publishing and other literary events and activities.
The Melbourne Writers Festival plays a significant role in establishing Melbourne's credence as a city which promotes and respects literature.
The Wheeler Centre a literary and publishing centre housed in the southern wing of the State Library of Victoria opened in February 2010.
Fergus Hume's The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), set in boom time Melbourne, remains a classic of crime fiction. Hume gathered material for the novel during sojourns in Melbourne's slums and Little Bourke Street.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Melbourne
Famous quotes containing the word literature:
“I did toy with the idea of doing a cook-book.... The recipes were to be the routine ones: how to make dry toast, instant coffee, hearts of lettuce and brownies. But as an added attraction, at no extra charge, my idea was to put a fried egg on the cover. I think a lot of people who hate literature but love fried eggs would buy it if the price was right.”
—Groucho Marx (1895–1977)
“In literature the ambition of the novice is to acquire the literary language: the struggle of the adept is to get rid of it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“What makes literature interesting is that it does not survive its translation. The characters in a novel are made out of the sentences. That’s what their substance is.”
—Jonathan Miller (b. 1936)