Created this jpg this morning as the thought has been running around in my head for a while now and its become my personal motto!
(C) T. Altman 2017
writing
What Inspires Me: Quote by Walt Whitman
This quote prefaced in Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass” sings to me….
“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”
Poem: Letter to Younger Self
Dear F
Things will change and you will be free.
No more suffocating your inner banshee.
Ignore what they say about your quirks.
No more pretending to hide what irks.
Allow you higher self to shrine through.
Because no one else will do.
Love T
© Image and Text – T. Altman 2017
2017 Reading Challenge
Taken from the Modern Mrs Darcy website I took up the following challenge for 2017 and here is my completed list:
A book you chose for the cover:
A Vocation and a Voice: Stories by Kate Chopin
A book with a reputation for being un-put-down-able:
Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
A book set somewhere you’ve never been but would like to visit:
History of Ancient Egypt by Erik Hornung
A book you’ve already read:
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
A juicy memoir:
Of Ashes and Rivers that Run to the Sea by Marie Munkara
A book about books or reading:
The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1918 by Arthur Quiller-Couch
A book in a genre you usually avoid:
Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descaties
A book you don’t want to admit your dying to read:
The Feminist Manifesto by Mina Loy
A book in the backlist of a new favorite author:
Transformations by Anne Sexton
A book recommended by someone with great taste:
The Yellow Wallpaper; The Wallpaper Replies by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A book you were exited to buy or borrow but haven’t read yet:
Collected Poems: 1969-1999 by John Forbes
A book about a topic or subject you already love:
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
Love Your Bookshop Day – 12th of August
This year bookshops across Australia are throwing a party and you are invited! Love Your Bookshop Day is a chance to celebrate what makes your local bookshop great. Whether it’s for their amazing staff, their carefully curated range or specialisation or a must-see events program, we encourage you to visit your favourite bookshop on Saturday 12 August and join in with the celebrations.
Don’t forget to tag using #loveyourbookshopday and share why your bookshop is special using the hash tag #whyIlovemybookshop
Melbourne Writers Festival 2017
The Melbourne Writers Festival is happening in Melbourne, Australia from 25 August till 3 September.
Victoria’s premier annual literary event. The Festival connects writers and stories to celebrate a world of literature, explore universal ideas, and inspire a global community of readers.
This year’s Festival theme is exploring the theme of revolutions past, present and future, it’s revolutionary ideas and fresh new voices that will power this year’s Festival – and invigorate everyone who reads.
For all sessions and workshops check out their website here:
Poem: Never Enough
Never…
Thin
Smart
Young
Tall
White
…Enough
© T. Altman 2017
Melbourne Rare Book Week & Rare Book Fair
Melbourne Rare Book Week commenced in 2012 as a partnership between ANZAAB, the University of Melbourne and eight other literary institutions. In 2015, over 44 free events were held at libraries, literary and historical societies and bookshops throughout Melbourne, attracting local, national and international visitors. Melbourne Rare Book Week is now well established in the City of Melbourne’s event calendar. It is a major attraction for book collectors, librarians and all who have a love of words, print on paper and literary heritage.
The Melbourne Rare Book week in 2017 is from 30th June to the 9th of July:
The Melbourne Rare Book Fair in 2017 is from July 7-9, 2017.
For more info go to their website by following this link:
Emerging Writers Festival
The Emerging Writers Festival is happening in Melbourne, Australia next month.
The Emerging Writers’ Festival is a not-for-profit organisation whose foundations are built on supporting emerging writers. They are a place where creativity and innovation is celebrated, where new talent is nurtured and where diverse voices from across Australia are represented.
For all sessions and workshops check out their website here:
Poem: Hot New Trend
Superfoods are all the rage
Despite race, sex or age
Urine drinking on trend
To heal or send round the bend
Everyone’s a bloody sage
© T. Altman 2017
tinaaltman.com 
