Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 24 January
7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Neil Gaiman is a writer with a rock star following. He has a reputation for reinventing genres – and for following his imagination wherever it leads. He’s written everything from journalism to episodes of Doctor Who, fantasy horror for kids (Coraline, The Graveyard Book) to inventive comics for adults (Sandman).
In Melbourne for one night only, Neil will once again be our guest at the Wheeler Centre, following his sold-out event last year. He’s hard at work on his next novel, which will be released in May. Here’s an exclusive sneak peek at his work in progress – a tantalising glimpse at The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a delicate fable with a decidedly dark edge: at once both elegant and dangerous.
Forty years after a family lodger commits suicide in a car, the narrator is terrorised by ancient powers stirred up by the event. His only defence is three women who live down the lane: one of them believes that her duckpond is an ocean, and the oldest can remember the Big Bang.
Be among the first to enter the latest world dreamed up literature’s dark magician.
Neil will be in conversation with Alicia Sometimes.
Featuring
Alicia Sometimes
Alicia Sometimes is an Australian poet, multi-media artist and broadcaster. She has performed her spoken word at many venues, festivals and events around the world. Her poems have been in Best Australian Science Writing, Best Australian Poems, Meanjin, Griffith Review, The Age and many more. She is director/co-writer of the art/science planetarium shows, Elemental and Particle/Wave—a creative multi-media show about gravitational waves with sell-out shows as part of Melbourne International Arts Festival, World Science Festival Brisbane and featured at New Scientist Live (UK).
Alicia’s TedxUQ talk in 2019 was about combining art with science. In 2021 she completed the Boyd Garret residency (City of Melbourne) and a Virtual Writer in Residency for Manchester City of Literature. In 2023 she has received ANAT’s Synapse Artist Residency and has co-created an art installation for Science Gallery Melbourne’s exhibition, Dark Matters.
View Profile
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers and award-winning books, including Neverwhere, American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and the Sandman series of graphic novels. His work crosses genres and reaches audiences of all ages. His titles for children include The Graveyard Book, Coraline, and Fortunately, the Milk, along with several picture books. His fiction has received Newbery, Carnegie, Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner Awards. In 2017 Gaiman became a Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. He is a Professor in the Arts at Bard College and a fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.
View Profile