Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Wednesday 05 November
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Ceridwen Dovey’s beautifully crafted, cerebral collection Only the Animals channels the voices of ten animals, who each tell us about their lives and deaths, as impacted by human action and conflict. In The Australian, Stephen Romei called her ‘a singular talent’; the Sydney Morning Herald lauded it as ‘an audacious work of the imagination’. And Michelle de Kretser called it ‘enthralling and sorrowful … wholly extraordinary’.
Emily Bitto’s rave-reviewed debut novel, The Strays, was inspired by Australia’s bohemian art world of the 1930s, and explores art and its portrayal, gender and stereotype, and the artist and the family. She takes inspiration from the Heide circle, but has created her own intricate universe. Tony Birch calls it ‘a perfectly crafted novel’ and Bitto ‘a writer to remember and watch for’.
Hosted by Michael Williams.
Now Read This
We’ve all heard of Tim Winton – and now, Hannah Kent. But who are the next crop of top-tier Australian writers? The writers who critics laud, serious readers love – and, most importantly, who we believe should be read by anyone who wants to keep up with the best of new Australian writing.
These are the writers whose books will be on the next national literary prize shortlists; the ones other writers love, and whose words will grab you and not let you go.
In Now Read This, we’ll introduce you to the Australian writers who are making a big splash right now, in an event that pairs two terrific writers with a host, and puts them on stage together to talk about their work.
Featuring
Emily Bitto
Emily Bitto is a Melbourne-based writer of fiction, poetry and non-fiction. She has a Masters in Literary Studies and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne. Her debut novel, The Strays, was the winner of the 2015 Stella Prize.
Emily's fiction, poetry and non-fiction has appeared in various publications, including Meanjin, The Age, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, The Big Issue and The Sydney Morning Herald. In 2018, she was awarded a six-month Australia Council International Residency in Rome to work on her second novel and debut poetry collection. She has been teaching creative writing for over a decade and is currently a tutor at the Faber Writing Academy. She is also the co-owner of Carlton wine bar Heartattack and Vine.
Michael Williams
Michael Williams is the editor of The Monthly. He was previously the Artistic Director of Sydney Writers’ Festival. He has spent the past decade at the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas in Melbourne as its ...
Ceridwen Dovey
Ceridwen Dovey’s debut novel, Blood Kin, was published in 15 countries, shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Award, and selected for the US National Book Foundation’s prestigious ‘5 Under 35’ honours list. The Wall Street Journal has named her as one of their ‘artists to watch.’ Her latest book of fiction is Only the Animals, described by the Guardian as a ‘dazzling, imagined history of humans’ relationship with animals.'
She was born in South Africa and raised between South Africa and Australia. She studied social anthropology at Harvard as an undergraduate and received her Masters in social anthropology from New York University.
Ceridwen lives in Sydney.