Dean Manning: An Evening with the Author

Join Dean Manning, in conversation with Simon Marnie, to talk about his book Mr Blank, in-store at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore.

While visiting his ailing father in Sydney, the author discovers an old suitcase chucked out for a council clean-up. Curiosity gets the better of him and he opens it. Inside are hundreds of photographs, newspaper clippings and letters, all addressed to Mr Blank. And so the process of discovery begins: Who is Mr Blank? A maverick entrepreneur with the Midas touch, a convicted criminal with impeccable tastes, a publican and theatre impresario, a gap-toothed lover of beautiful women from all over the world. Mr Blank flew above the law and mainly below the radar of twentieth century Australia. And not everyone wants his past, or their part in it, to be revealed.

He was a charismatic man much loved and much forgiven, and his story, brought to life by Manning from the fragments inside the suitcase, is a superbly idiosyncratic window onto mid-twentieth century Sydney; its glamour and hedonism, and the hard edges underpinning them.

About the Author: Dean Manning

Dean Manning is a musician and visual artist. After completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree at Newcastle University he joined Mojo Advertising as a copywriter. He left to form his first pop group Leonardo's Bride, achieving critical acclaim and commercial success. Mushroom Music Publishing administer his catalogue of over a hundred songs including the APRA Song of the Year Even When I'm Sleeping. Manning regularly exhibits his paintings and Super 8 films and has been a finalist in the Archibald, Sulman and Moran Portrait prizes.

About the Host: Simon Marnie

Simon Marnie is an Australian radio and TV presenter having presenting the Weekend Mornings program on ABC Radio Sydney and ABC NSW and as a co-presenter of ABC TV’s “Escape From The City” Beginning at Triple J he has worked in community and commercial broadcasting, both behind the scenes and in front of the microphone and has diverse interests in arts, music, food and culture.