Brisbane Writers Festival

I’m looking forward to sharing a conversation with Katherine Johnson, Brooke Davis and Michael Mohammed Ahmed about SOCIETAL DISCONNECT, panel chaired by Ashley Hay, at Brisbane Writers Festival.

Panel blurb:

What’s the cost of breaking the rules? And what’s the legacy of abuse? These evocative, tense and captivating narratives expose the intricacies and intimacies of family dynamics and reveal how the choices we make can both rewrite the past and reimagine the future.

It is a ticketed event and bookings can be made here. I’d love to see you there.

Venue: Brisbane Powerhouse, Underground Theatre

Address: 119 Lamington Street, New Farm

Date: Friday 9 October 2026

Time: 8PM

King St Book Club

I love a book club visit and I especially love King St Book Club for their robust and in-depth conversation, led by veteran book club facilitator Jennifer Stephens. If you’d like to drill down into the themes of PEOPLE LIKE US to a plot-spoiler level, then come along and join in the conversation.

Bookings are essential for this event and can be purchased here. Included in the price of your ticket is a copy of the book, King St Eats on the night and a glass of wine.

Venue: Library at Rydges Hotel

Address: 601 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, QLD 4006

Date: Tuesday 8 September 2026

Time: 6PM

PEOPLE LIKE US as an audiobook

I’m absolutely thrilled to share that the audiobook for PEOPLE LIKE US is now available through Audible and that it has been narrated by Helen O’Leary. Helen is an incredibly talented voice artist and actor. She narrated my previous novel, BONE MEMORIES, and did a superb job in bringing that novel’s characters to listeners, so I was stoked that she was available to take the story of Tina from the page to your ears. Here she is at the mic with sound engineer Ben Vlad. I couldn’t be happier with the final results from these two. And I’m so happy that PEOPLE LIKE US is now available to readers unable to access books via text and to those who just prefer to consume stories through their ears rather than their eyes. I hope you enjoy the listen!

Weekend Sunrise on Channel 7

I’ve been so grateful to have opportunities to sit down with Susan Davies, president and co-founder of Sharing with Friends, to talk about the different but complementary approaches we have taken to address the frightening increase in the number of older single women living in insecure housing.

Susan is bringing about change through her organisation by providing secure and affordable housing solutions for vulnerable older women and I’m raising awareness through my novel about an older woman who has lost her family home after a divorce and is now living in a caravan. But to have the opportunity to sit with Susan for an interview on Weekend Sunrise on Channel 7, was more than either of us could have hoped for!

Grab a coffee and join us if you can on Saturday 25 July at 8:45AM.

Hosts: Monique Wright and David Woiwod

Scrumptious Reads - Author Event

I’ll be sitting down with Anita Heiss (The Paradise Pact) to chat about PEOPLE LIKE US at Scrumptious Reads in their beautiful event space that allows for a more intimate conversation.

Numbers are limited for this ticketed event, which includes food and wine. To secure your place, you can book for the event here.

Venue: Scrumptious Reads

Address: 92A Arthur Terrace, Red Hill, Brisbane

Date: Tuesday 18 August 2026

Time: 6:30PM for a 7PM start.

Rosetta Books - The Red Room

I will be in conversation with Lea Dodd about my novel PEOPLE LIKE US in The Red Room at Rosetta Books.

Lea will be donating $5 from every book sale on the night to the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre to help in their work supporting homelessness in the area.

There is a $5 charge for the event, which includes a glass of wine and cheese/fruit platter. Bookings for the event can be made here.

Venue: The Red Room, accessed via the carpark behind Rosetta Books

Address: 30 Maple Street, Maleny, QLD

Date: Tuesday 28 July 2026

Time: 5:30PM for a 6PM start

Book events for People Like Us

I will be doing a number of author events throughout Brisbane to talk about my new novel PEOPLE LIKE US. I’d love to see you there.

30 June at 6PM for a 6:30PM start - The Official Book Launch at The Loft in West End, where I will be in-conversation with Susan Hocking. Royalties from my book sales on the night will be donated to Sharing with Friends, a not-for-profit organisation that is providing innovative housing solutions to older women living in precarious housing. It is a free event but you will need to register for it through the Avid Reader website.

3 July at 4-5PM - I will be on a Local Writers Panel, supported by the Copyright Agency, at the Association for the Study of Australian Literature Conference at University of Queensland, City Campus, Level 2, 308 Queen Street, Brisbane. Bookings for the event can be made here.

9 July at 6PM-7:30PM - I will be giving an author talk as part of the SPARK Ipswich Arts Festival at Ipswich Central Library, Nicholas Street Precinct, 11 Nicholas St, Ipswich. It is a free event but you will need to register for it here.

11 July at 10AM-11AM - I will be in-conversation with Susan Johnson at Indooroopilly Library, Level 4, Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, 322 Moggill Road, Indooroopilly. It is a free event but you will need to register for it here.

16 July at 6PM for a 6:30PM start - I will be in-conversation with Kris Olsson at Books@Stones, 360 Logan Road, Stones Corner. It is a free event but you will need to register for it here.

29 September at 6PM for a 6:30PM start - I will be on a panel with fellow Brisbane writers Anita Heiss, Kris Kneen and Mirandi Riwoe where we will chat about Brisbane’s thriving literary landscape at Riverbend Books, 4/77 Oxford Street, Bulimba. You can book for this event here.

People Like Us Book Launch

Please join me for the launch of People Like Us, where I will be in conversation with Susan Hocking.

**I will be donating my royalties from book sales on the night to Sharing with Friends, a not-for-profit organisation committed to finding a solution to homelessness in older women.

Venue: The Loft, in association with Avid Reader Bookshop

Address: 100 Boundary Street, West End, Brisbane

Date: Tuesday 30 June 2026

Time: 6pm for a 6:30-7:30pm event

It is a free event but please register your attendance at Avid Reader Bookshop.

ABOUT THE BOOK

After Tina Lamb loses her family home in a bitter divorce, she finds herself living in a caravan on the city's fringes. Having raised four children and nursed her dying mum, she was not anticipating making a new start alone or from scratch. And while some of her new neighbours are welcoming, she soon finds herself getting far more attention than she bargained for.

When Tina finds work caring for a wealthy elderly woman, it is a welcome break from an ageist, sexist job market. But Mrs Bell is anything but predictable. Highly educated, acerbic and intimidating, she is not the straightforward charge that Tina had hoped for. As the two women form an unlikely friendship, they soon discover that financial security is about more than having money.

Topical and absorbing, People Like Us celebrates the power of female friendships and the promise of new beginnings found in unexpected places.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sally Piper is the author of four novels: Grace’s Table; The Geography of Friendship, which was shortlisted for the ABIA Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year; Bone Memories, a finalist in the Queensland Literary Awards for a Work of State Significance and the People’s Choice Book of the Year Award, and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and a Davitt Award and her latest People Like Us. Her short fiction and non-fiction have been published in Australia and the UK, including Griffith Review, The Saturday Paper, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Weekend Australian. Sally holds a Master of Arts (Research) in Creative Writing from Queensland University of Technology. She is an active member of the Queensland writing community, where she presents workshops, leads in-conversations and mentors other writers.

Cover reveal

I am very excited to show you the cover for my new novel People Like Us to be published by University of Queensland Press on 30 June 2026.

The cover was designed by the very talented Christa Moffit of Christabella Designs.

The book is available for pre-order at UQP, all good bookstores such as Avid Reader Bookshop, or online at Booktopia or The Nile.

About the book

After Tina Lamb loses her family home in a bitter divorce, she finds herself living in a caravan on the city’s fringes. Having raised four children and nursed her dying mum, she was not anticipating making a new start alone or from scratch. And while some of her new neighbours are welcoming, she soon finds herself getting far more attention than she bargained for.

When Tina finds work caring for a wealthy elderly woman, it is a welcome break from an ageist, sexist job market. But Mrs Bell is anything but predictable. Highly educated, acerbic and intimidating, she is not the straightforward charge that Tina had hoped for. As the two women form an unlikely friendship, they soon discover that financial security is about more than having money.

Topical and absorbing, People Like Us celebrates the power of female friendships and the promise of new beginnings found in unexpected places.