Pirate Radio: Tell-a-thon, The Good Copy

Past program

Free entry

NGV International

Forecourt

Ground Level

Got a question about writing? Ask it at the Tell-a-thon. On the third day of the Pirate Radio broadcast, local word nerds The Good Copy cast the advice net wide, roping in panellists from the mysterious worlds of copywriting, crosswords, proofreading, poetry and more. Bring a question, make a donation to Wildlife Victoria’s bushfire appeal and the Tell-a-thon team will … ahem … tell you what they know.

The writing-themed Pirate Radio broadcast will be happening all day, from 10am to 5pm. Feel free to pull up a stool and watch it live.

The Tell-a-thon help desk will be set up next to the Pirate Radio station at the St Kilda Road entrance.

If you decide to book a chat with a Tell-a-thon panellist, don’t worry, it won’t be broadcast! Your donation buys you a one-on-one conversation with a word nerd.

To book in for a chat, visit the Tell-a-thon help desk in person any time from 10am on Sunday 15 March and make your donation for Wildlife Victoria. You can donate $3 for a 3-minute chat, $5 for a 5-minute chat or $10 for a 10-minute chat.

The Good Copy is a writing school and a shop for word people. A proud team of nerds, they run workshops, sell books, and host Collingwood’s longest-running crossword club.

The Good Copy is a writing school and a shop for word people. A proud team of nerds, they run workshops, sell books, and host Collingwood’s longest-running crossword club.

Show past events

Sun 15 Mar, 10.30–11.30am (Past)

Settle in for an hour of cryptic crossword instruction live on air with Antonios Sarhanis, solver extraordinaire. Cryptic crosswords and instructions sheet provided!

Need one-on-one advice? Make a donation and take a question to our Tell-a-thon panel. They’ll be ready to tell you about clue types, solving strategies, and tips for beginners. Any and all crossword conundrums welcome!

Sun 15 Mar, 11.30am–12pm (Past)

A special half hour dedicated to the times when words fail us. Dark strategies for saying less with more. Pull up a seat for an interview with Nicholas Johnson, an award-winning magician and a best-selling author who’s currently working on a book about what people say when they don’t want to say anything.

Sun 15 Mar, 12–1pm (Past)

Welcome to the studio … Louisa Fitzhardinge: comedian, cabaret performer and huge grammar nerd. We’ll talk punctuation problems, and Louisa will sing some hits from her legendary stage show ‘Comma Sutra’.

Need some one-on-one advice? Make a donation and take your questions to our Tell-a-thon panel. A crack team of teachers and students from RMIT’s Professional Writing and Editing course will be ready to haul out the reference books and confront your queries.

Sun 15 Mar, 1–2pm (Past)

A rare treat. This mysterious, vinyl-hoarding duo doesn’t appear often in public. But today they grace us with a lunch-hour dedicated to WORD JAZZ. Think Ken Nordine and the Fred Katz Group and then keep thinking.

Sun 15 Mar, 2–3pm (Past)

‘Everything is copy,’ said Nora Ephron. And copy is everything. But it’s easier said than written. In this one-hour segment about words and money, we chat with writer and straight-talker Brodie Lancaster to get some tips on the freelance life. We’ll also quiz word-guy Tait Ischia about turning copywrong into copywriting.

Do you need some pitching pointers? Some encouragement to take the freelance plunge? Some behind-the-scenes editorial know-how? Some hard-core invoicing strategies? Make a donation and book in for a chat with one of the helpful editors on our Tell-a-thon panel.

Sun 15 Mar, 3pm (Past)

‘Brief, risible, finicky—the limerick is a form whose greatest successes never rise above the mildly embarrassing.’ Australian academic Dr Justin Clemens has written a book of seventy-seven limericks about writers and philosophers—from St Thomas Aquinas to Simone Weil. We’ll interview Justin about the book, which is out now through Surpllus. Then we’ll sit back to hear Dr Ken Gelder reprise his legendary limericks speech. It’s been heard only once before: at Justin’s book launch. Don’t be the person who misses out twice.

Sun 15 Mar, 4–5pm (Past)

It’s question time! We’ll grapple with grammar and provide punctuation pointers. Make a donation at the Tell-a-thon desk to submit your question and we’ll attempt to answer it on air.

Grammar grievances also accepted. If you would simply like to complain about excessive apostrophes on signage, or dangling modifiers, or radio announcers starting their sentences with ‘so’, please submit your concerns so they may be aired in this public forum.