First Dog On The Moon Lands At Brisbane Writers Festival

First Dog On The Moon aka Andrew Marlton calls himself Australia’s handsomest, humblest, Walkley Award-winning marsupial based cartoonist – he's also a political cartoonist for The Guardian.

Mr Onthemoon will appear at The Edge during the Brisbane Writers Festival, and honestly, who wouldn’t want to spend an evening with this self-described 'national treasure'?

“Look, I tell people – and I probably shouldn’t – it’s an hour-long PowerPoint presentation. But, it’s a lot better than that. It's me talking about the political and cultural one as a nation, using cartoons. And there is some dancing, not much,” Mr Onthemoon says.

During the hour-long show, Mr Onthemoon will not only instruct us on how to be more helpful and stop being so terrible, he will also tell us how to save the earth, however, he’ll try not to yell at us.

“I'm not sure if it’s a lot of yelling, but certainly it's tough love. Look, I have a number of series about democracy and satire, now the satire will have political cartoons. But in my job, my political cartoons are used as a way of turning the nation around and getting it back on track. [The show]'s partly about that and partly about the nature of the danger we face, as a nation, and how it’s everyone else’s fault but mine.”

Generous as he is, Mr Onthemoon has also agreed to let the audience pick his brain by hosting a Q&A session post-show. “The last show I did was set for an hour and was all PowerPoint presentation, and people didn’t really get to know the real me. That’s why I've added this Q&A at the end,” he says.



And if you think you’ll be able to shake him with difficult questions, think again! “I'm not afraid of anything! I'm happy to answer questions on anything at all. Except, I don’t answer questions about my private life, I'm a deeply private person,” he laughs. “No, you should see me on Twitter. If people have awkward and difficult questions I'll be like a politician. I won't answer them directly, but I will respond appropriately in the best interests of the Australian people.”

Mr Onthemoon, who is also currently the Official Cartoonist for the Western Bulldogs AFL Team, could not believe his luck with the timing for his upcoming Brisbane visit. “If people come along to the show and come along to the Brisbane Writers Festival, then come along to the Western Bulldogs-Lions game.”



When asked what he wants the audience to be left with after attending his show, he humbly says: “hope, inspiration, and I would love for them to feel like they should go to the 'First Dog On The Moon' website and buy a detail. I want them to feel like there is someone out there, somewhere, who understands their hopes and aspirations for the nation and that we fear something in common. A common bond, which is that we all want Australia to be the best Australia, it can be. And buy a detail.”

‘First Dog On The Moon’ speaks as part of the Brisbane Writers Festival at The Edge 4 September. Andew Marlton will also appear in other events on 5 & 6 September.