The Next Big Thing
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Angela Meyer’s haunting debut, A Superior Spectre, follows the treacherous experiments and desires of a dying man as he becomes entangled in a surreal plot that melds historical and speculative fiction. In the post-megastorm world of Vincent Silk’s first novel, Sisters of No Mercy, a group of rebels upset the establishment in their quest for survival. And in Margaret Morgan’s The Second Cure, an inexplicable outbreak bends society in bizarre ways – revealing dilemmas at the core of what makes us who we are, and how we make sense of our predicaments.
These three new Australian novels each chart a rupture – personal, political, psychical – and an unexpected encounter with danger. Join their three authors, plus Grace Hart, reading her piece 'mad' from Voiceworks #111, for readings that plumb the unease of our era.
Readings will be our bookseller at this event.
Who?
Angela Meyer
Angela Meyer’s writing has been widely published, including in Best Australian Stories, Island, the Big Issue, the Australian, the Lifted Brow and Killings. Her debut novel A Superior Spectre will be released in August 2018 (Peter Bishop Books/Ventura). She has previously published a book of flash fiction, Captives (Inkerman & Blunt). By day she works as a commissioning editor and is behind books like The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris, Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic and Ida by Alison Evans. She lives in Melbourne.
Vincent Silk
Vincent Silk is a Melbourne-based writer working in fiction and non-fiction. His work has been published in the UTS Writers’ Anthology, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Archer and Seizure, among other places. In his non-fiction, he blends poetics and facts, and in his fiction he explores possibilities. Sisters of No Mercy is his first novel.
Margaret Morgan
After practising in criminal law, Margaret Morgan became a professional writer, screenwriter and script editor in television for many well-regarded Australian drama series (including Water Rats, A Country Practice and GP). Margaret’s short fiction has been published in Meanjin and Going Down Swinging, and her works for stage (librettos for music theatre) have been performed at major Australian arts festivals.
Grace Hart
Grace is completing her honours thesis in creative writing at the University of Melbourne. She enjoys writing creative non-fiction and has been published in Voiceworks.
The Next Big Thing
New and emerging writers often produce adventurous, experimental or honest work – with the lesser burden of expectation, habit and legacy allowing for more careful or bold ideas.
A Wheeler Centre stalwart, our Next Big Thing series showcases the best in fresh Australian writing – with a focus on a different genre each month. You’ll hear from future favourites, and discover new darlings while you enjoy a drink and a bite in the intimate surrounds of The Moat.
Why wait for everyone else to catch up? Find tomorrow’s literary stars today.
