Round three began with quotes.
“They danced by the light of the moon.”
Hmmm…. Nope. Doesn’t ring a bell.
“I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Yet another blank answer on our trivia sheet.
“A horse’s back is good enough and hence the vulgar bull.”
We were probably the only table using a smart phone and it still wasn’t helping. That quote does not exist on Google.
Our team didn’t care if we won. The main goal of the trivia night was to raise money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, an Australian organization that supports literacy within remote Indigenous communities.
On the other hand, we didn’t necessarily want to lose by such a large margin. We had come in thinking the questions would be typical pub quiz stuff and we were quite surprised to realize the focus was literature and the majority of the teams were in the publishing industry.
“Who was the 2014 prize winner for the Miles Franklin Literary Award?”
Judging by the reaction in the room, that must have been an easy question.
“Which author was the first to win four Miles Franklin Literary Awards?”
“What the hell, Emma.” One of our teammates finally exclaimed. “What have you signed us up for?”
“Who was the first indigenous author to win the Miles Franklin Literary Award?”
Come on! You can’t ask three questions about the same award!
Put the following books in order of publication:
George Clooney’s Haircut, The Mud House, Why Men and Necessary, and Desperate Husbands.
You could buy an answer to one question each round and we had our hands up every time. The host, ABC’s Richard Glover (also the author of the aforementioned books), saw us raise our hands and declared, “Not this table again. Very wealthy but a bit dumb.”
During the intermission the audience was encouraged to bid on the silent auction items and purchase more raffle tickets. My friends and I had been outbid on all our items, so we took the time to confer with the second half of our group that was seated at another table. They were having an existential crisis. While Emma assured them they were smart enough and did actually belong there, one of the staff members came by. “Did your table write I have no fucking idea on their sheet?”
“Yes.”
“Ok, I just need your team name at the top.”
We were assured that the next round would be easier.
Name a Nobel Prize winner in literature from each of the following countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, and South Africa
“OH MAN!” I exclaimed. “Who’s that Irish guy? You know, what’s his face?!” Everyone else at the table looked at me blankly. “I know this! AHHHHHHHH. What’s his name?”
Emma drew a stick figure with an inquisitive look and above it she wrote ‘High-brow eyebrow’.
How many countries are larger than Australia?
Earlier that night my friends and I were reading ‘most popular’ pub quiz questions in the taxi. Our Canadian driver gave us this answer; that ride was money well-spent.
What house does Harry Potter belong to?
Yes! It felt good to finally get one question right without the assistance of Canadians or cell phones. Our team was probably in the bottom three, but like Richard Glover said, it was our deep pockets that counted most.
About: Indigenous Literacy Foundation
