Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 11 May
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Find it hard to keep up with The Next Big Thing in books and writing? We’re here to help. The Next Big Thing is all about showcasing exciting new writers – those we believe are ones to watch.
Each month, we’ll focus on a different Australian state or territory. We started with our home base of Victoria in March, then New South Wales in April. In May, it's South Australia's turn.
This is a golden opportunity to discover the work of writers hand-picked by us from around Australia, in the cosy surrounds of The Moat, where you can enjoy a drink and a bite as you’re entertained and enlightened.
These are the literary stars of tomorrow. Come and hear from them today.
In May, we'll feature Patrick Allington, Katerina Bryant, Rebekah Clarkson and Margaret Merrilees.
Featuring
Patrick Allington
Patrick Allington’s novel Figurehead was published by Black Inc. in 2009 and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. His short fiction, essays and reviews have appeared widely in newspapers, magazines and online. As the inaugural ABR Fellow, he wrote a major essay about the Miles Franklin Literary Award and 'Australianness'.
He is an experienced editor, and is currently editing a project called ‘Rhetoric’ for publication in Seizure later in 2015. Patrick is a lecturer in English & Creative Writing at Flinders University.
Margaret Merrilees
Margaret Merrilees’ debut novel The First Week was published in 2013 after winning the Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award at Adelaide Writers’ Week. The book was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award and for a NSW Premier’s Literary Award.
In 2014, Wakefield Press published Fables Queer & Familiar (illustrated by Chia Moan). The Fables have also been broadcast as a weekly radio serial.
Mag's short work has appeared in Meanjin, Island, Griffith Review and others. In March 2015, she represented Flinders University at a Melbourne symposium showcasing some of the best practice-led PhD projects from a decade of creative arts programs in Australia and New Zealand.
Katerina Bryant
Katerina Bryant is a writer based in South Australia. Her work has appeared in Griffith Review, Island and Voiceworks, among others. She has been shortlisted for the 2019 The Lifted Brow & RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Writing, the 2018 Feminartsy Memoir Prize, and the 2016 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers. She is currently a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at Flinders University.
Rebekah Clarkson
Rebekah Clarkson’s short stories have been published widely, most recently in Best Australian Stories, Australian Book Review, and Something Special, Something Rare: Outstanding short stories by Australian women published by Black Inc. Her stories have also been recognized in major awards in Australia and overseas, including the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, Fish Publishing Short Story Prize, Glimmer Train and the Carmel Bird Long Story Award.
She is completing a PhD at the University of Adelaide where she also teaches and later this year she has been invited to teach Fiction Writing at the University of Austin, Texas. Rebekah is working on her first collection of interlinked stories set in the town of Mount Baker, where she lives.