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Emily Bitto: Wild Abandon

When

Event Status

This event, originally scheduled for 6.30pm Tuesday 26 October, will now be released as a podcast only. This is in response to current COVID-19 health advice and restrictions. While it is unfortunate that we can’t present this conversation as originally planned, we invite you to subscribe to the Wheeler Centre podcast.


Wild Abandon, the second novel from Melbourne writer Emily Bitto (The Strays), follows its protagonist Will, heartbroken at the end of his first serious relationship, as he flees Australia for New York City and then into the American heartland on an odyssey that seems fated to have a dark conclusion.

This breathtaking new novel has been chosen as the October book in the 2021 Melbourne City Reads initiative, supported by inner-city bookshops. Bitto will join Jason Steger, books editor of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, to discuss the novel and its haunting, headlong tumble through the hyperreal world of end-days capitalism.

The online bookseller for this event is the Paperback Bookshop

Melbourne City Reads is supported by the City of Melbourne, Victorian Government and ABC Radio Melbourne

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 a... Read more

Jason Steger

Jason Steger is books editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

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