Trent Dalton: Lola in the Mirror

‘This story was inspired by one of the most intimate and confronting things we earthlings do each and every day: looking in the mirror. That still and illuminating moment when we see all of our irretrievable past and all of our tricky present and all of our possible futures.’ Before he found runaway success with his debut novel, Boy Swallows Universe, and follow-up All Our Shimmering Skies, Trent Dalton spent decades as a journalist investigating the real-life social inequities that underpin his third novel, Lola in the Mirror: poverty, violence, homelessness – and the power of hope. The result is a moving, darkly funny story about life and death that is by turns heart-breaking and eye-opening. In conversation with musician and writer Clare Bowditch at Melbourne Town Hall, Dalton discusses Lola in the Mirror and the passion for social justice that inspired him to write it. Presented in partnership with Readings.

Spring Fling returns in 2023, and this year we’re going Above and Beyond. We’re looking further, delving deeper, and asking bigger questions with outstanding thinkers who are reshaping our world and envisioning extraordinary futures. Spring Fling is supported by the Victorian State Government.