Brisbane Writers Panel

Sally Piper

27 September 2026

I will be on a panel with Brisbane writers Anita Heiss, Mirandi Riwoe and Kris Kneen, each of whom has published a novel this year, at Riverbend Books. We will be talking about what we think makes the Brisbane lit-scene so collegial, how bookshops like Avid Reader and Riverbend Books help nurture that supportive culture, the choices we make about setting our books in Brisbane or not and what we learn about our city and state if we do.

Tickets for the event can be purchased here. I’d love to see you there.

Venue: Riverbend Books

Address: 4/77 Oxford Street, Bulimba

Date: Tuesday 29 September

Time: 6pm for a 6:30pm start.

Sally Piper on Instagram

What makes the Brisbane lit-scene so special? What does literary collegiality look like? What have bookshops like @avidreader and @riverbendbooks contributed to our careers? How has our writing altered the way we see our city or our state? Come along and hear the answers to these questions and a whole bunch more. It should be fun! Tickets can be booked through the link in my bio. @dranitaheiss @mirandiriwoe @kkneen

A nest, largish, made of coarse vines so not very cosy, quite drafty and possibly not completed before being blown from the tree. Not sure what species of bird.🐦‍⬛

A packed house for the launch of THE WEIGHT OF WITNESS @loftwestend and hosted by @avidreader tonight, an anthology written by Australian and New Zealand health care workers about their experiences serving in Gaza and published by @readerswritersagainstgenocide. The conversation was a beautiful tribute to the resilience, gratitude and generosity of the Palestinian people and the importance of words; that criticizing a genocide is not antisemitic and how threatening and silencing people who speak up doesn’t alter the truth of the ongoing genocide being committed against the Palestinian people.

More evidence that they’re on the move, this one shed in the bay leaf tree 🐍💚 #carpetsnake

A lovely visit to the good folk @paperchainbookstore while in Canberra. Signed copies of PEOPLE LIKE US instore now. @uqpbooks #peoplelikeusnovel

Thank you @thebookcowkingston and to the wonderful Canberra audience for your warm welcome, thoughtful questions and shared conversation last night. It warmed my heart to see you were all as passionate about the story of Tina in PEOPLE LIKE US as I am. And a very special thank you to @karen_viggers - I knew you’d be the perfect conversation partner for the event. It was an absolute joy to sit down with you and talk about my novel, its characters and the themes it addresses. If you’d like to hear Karen interview other authors, then check out her and @irma.gold’s podcast @secretsfromthegreenroom. They’re literary legends as interviewers of authors, and you can listen back to just how legendary on their free podcast at wherever you listen to your pods. @uqpbooks #peoplelikeusnovel #housingisahumanright

Ground feeding male Red-rumped Parrot.

Snake trails on the trails today 🐍

A glorious Queensland day for a coastal book shop visit to sign books and have lunch with friends on the Sunshine Coast today. A big shout-out to Cat @harryhartog.maroochydore and Rachel @anniesbooksonperegian for the very warm welcome. Signed copies of PEOPLE LIKE US in-store now. And @hollygoeslightly I love that our novels are sharing a shop window looking out across beautiful Peregian Beach. 🌊🐚📚🩵 @uqpbooks #peoplelikeusnovel

I’m very excited to be heading to Canberra next week, and not just for the planned wander round Lake Burley Griffin, but to chat with @karen_viggers about PEOPLE LIKE US @thebookcowkingston. I’ve spoken with many people about this book now and it’s really tapped a vein, because the crisis of older single women living in insecure housing is real, can be someone within our family or friendship groups, and is in need of urgent solutions. Through Tina’s struggles, pushbacks, friendships and humour, the novel brings a human face and individual story to the more than 400,000 older single women in Australia who are living on the edge of homelessness. Come along and hear about my research for the book, the forces that put and keep women in this situation and some of the solutions needed to address this growing problem. It’s a free event but you’ll need to register for it, which you can do via the link in my bio. @uqpbooks #peoplelikeusnovel #housingforall #housingisahumanright