“Even though sixteen years have passed, Billie will never recover from the murder of her daughter, Jess, and clings to her memory — and the site of her death — like a life raft. Daniel, who was a toddler when his mother was killed, can recall little of what happened but knows if he’s to have any chance of a better future he needs to move on from that defining event – if only his grandmother would let him. Meanwhile Daniel’s stepmother, Carla, also feels trapped by Jess’s legacy but has a plan that she believes will help everyone to escape from the long shadow of the past.

Deeply human, evocative and beautifully written, Bone Memories explores themes of human connection and the memorialisation of place.”

Sally Piper

25 March 2022

Stan-Lionsgate alliance to develop The Geography of Friendship

Sally Piper

25 March 2022

Australian streaming service Stan and Lionsgate have struck a television development alliance and will be working in partnership with Rose Byrne’s Dollhouse Pictures and Aquarius Films to bring The Geography of Friendship to screen in a limited series.

More information about the partnership can be found in a press release in Variet y.

Sally Piper

25 March 2022

Witnessing Landscapes: Nature Writing Workshop

Sally Piper

25 March 2022

In this half-day workshop, Sally will take writers on a deep dive into their relationship with the natural world. Through a series of writing exercises, readings and discussions, participants will explore their connections to certain landscapes, beginning with the senses then taking it into the emotional, philosophical and political realm.

All participants need to bring to this workshop is pen, paper and a passion for the places that sustain us, and a desire to write about them in new and meaningful ways.

Bookings for this workshop can be made here.

Venue: Avid Reader Bookshop

Address: 193 Boundary Road, West End QLD 4101

Date: Saturday 18th June 2022

Time: 10:00AM - 1:00PM (AEST)

Sally Piper

25 March 2022

Bone Memories Book Launch

Sally Piper

25 March 2022

Kristina Olsson will be in-conversation with Sally Piper to launch her third novel Bone Memories at Avid Reader Bookshop, instore and online via ZOOM.

Drinks will be available for purchase at the Avid Reader bar from 5:30PM.

The event is free but it is essential that you register for it here.

Venue: Avid Reader Bookshop

Address: 193 Boundary Street, West End QLD 4101

Date: Friday 3rd June 2022

Time: 6pm for 6:30-7:30PM event (AEST)

Sally Piper

11 March 2021

The Geography of Friendship for TV adaptation

Sally Piper

11 March 2021

Rose Byrne’s Dollhouse Pictures and Australia’s Aquarius Films have joined forces to develop The Geography of Friendship as a limited 6-part TV series.

The deal, announced on International Women’s Day, represents the coming together of two female-led production houses alongside Giula Sandler who will write the adaptation.

‘I’m thrilled to champion a story with great potential and fascinating lead roles for two generations of women in front of the camera,’ said Byrne. ‘Sally Piper’s story explores so many unspoken issues that need to be addressed in a wider sphere and we intend to delve into that more decisively.’

Fielder and Staniford said, ‘This book feeds directly into the conversation today around the way inequality and fear of violence shapes the everyday experience of women.’

‘The Geography of Friendship is a provocative novel that reads like a Thelma & Louise journey for contemporary times,’ said Carrera. ‘As it oscillates between past and present, what unravels from the depths of their friendship is a story about survival, shame and rage - how so often the people we are running away from are ourselves.’

The full press release can be read at Variety.

Shannon Murphy, Krew Boylan, Jessica Carrera, Rose Byrne and Gracie Otto (Dollhouse Pictures)

Polly Staniford and Angie Fielder (Aquarius Films)

Sally Piper

18 February 2021

In-conversation with Magnolia Cardona and Ebony Lewis

Sally Piper

18 February 2021

I will be in-conversation with co-authors Dr Magnolia Cardona and Nurse Ebony Lewis about their book When the Time Comes: Stories from the End of Life (Hammersmith Books). This accessible and important collection, curated jointly by a doctor and nurse who work in end-of-life care, explores the personal, cultural, spiritual and medical influences on end-of-life choices and experiences. It is a collection that will assist the general public and health professionals alike to begin or continue conversations about end-of-life preferences, to include the right to die and the futility of over-treatment, with the aim of opening the way for a collaborative approach to achieving a good quality end-of-life experience for individuals and their families.

Hosts: Avid Reader Bookshop

Date: Thursday 25th March 2021

Time: 6:30PM - 7:30PM (AEST)

To listen to the conversation, visit here.

Sally Piper

18 June 2020

Crafting Words Workshop - Witnessing Landscapes: Writing the human connections to place

Sally Piper

18 June 2020

In this 3-hour workshop, Sally will take writers on a deep dive into their relationship with the natural world. Through a series of writing exercises, readings and discussions, participants will explore their connections to certain landscapes, beginning with the senses then moving through to the emotional, philosophical and political. All participants need bring with them to this workshop is a pen, paper and a passion for the places that sustain them, and a desire to write about those places in new and meaningful ways.

Bookings for this workshop are essential and can be made through the Avid Reader website.

Sally Piper

4 August 2019

Rose Scott Women Writers' Festival

Sally Piper

4 August 2019

Amy McQuire and Sally Piper will be in-conversation with Ashley Hay about their contributions to Griffith Review 65: Crimes and Punishment at the Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival. Bookings for the festival can be made here.

Venue: The Women’s Club, 4th Floor, 179 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW

Date: 13-14 September 2019

Panel: Crimes and Punishment

Time: 11:20am - 12:20pm

Sally Piper

11 July 2019

In-conversation with Tabitha Bird

Sally Piper

11 July 2019

If you would like to meet Tabitha Bird and hear all about her wonderful debut novel A LIFETIME OF IMPOSSIBLE DAYS (Penguin Books Australia), then come along to Books@Stones where I will be in conversation with Tabitha. It is a free event but please register your interest here.

Venue: Books@Stones

Address: 360 Logan Road, Stones Corner, QLD

Date: Thursday 18 July

Time: 6pm-8pm

Sally Piper on Instagram

To avoid doing the work today, I’ve been remembering the various visitors I’ve had at my study window over the years.

Here’s me standing (and yakking) in one of the co-housing units that’s close to completion and which will provide secure and permanent housing for five single older women, all made possible by the the hard-working team @sharingwithfriends_foundation My new novel PEOPLE LIKE US is about a woman in a similar situation to the women soon to move into these homes. Reimagining how people need and want to be housed, and opening the way to make initiatives like this easier, is one solution to a problem that is only getting worse. As for the yakking, I’d love to see you at my event to launch the book on 30 June. It’s a free event but you will need to register for it via the link in my bio. My royalties from book sales on the night will go to Sharing with Friends. @uqpbooks @dmcprmedia

To anyone wanting to pit their literary trivia wits against the scarily literary savvy booksellers @riverbendbooks, then here’s your chance! And this month, proceeds from the night will be donated to @sharingwithfriends_foundation - a charity dedicated to providing co-housing communities for vulnerable older women. Tickets for the event can be booked through the link in my bio. #riverbendbookshop #trivianight #sharingwithfriends #cohousing #homesforall

It’s National Reconciliation Week so a good time to reflect on the First Nations authors I’ve read, what they’ve taught me and how much I still have to learn. It’s a glorious work in progress, guided by such talent and generosity of the authors in the books pictured, plus in the many copies of @griffithreview behind, with space still for the books I’m yet to read. National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. The theme for this year is All In, a call for all Australians to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation every single day. Because reconciliation will not happen by itself, and it will not happen without all of us. Artwork credit: Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung artist Otis Hope Carey. #nrw2026

When your pals @avidreader bookshop put the poster for your book launch in the window at the shop’s front door, your heart swells 💗

Five weeks today till PEOPLE LIKE US is published. I’d love to see you at the launch to be held on publication day at The Loft in West End, where I’ll be in conversation with Susan Hocking. I’ll be donating my royalties from book sales on the night to the not-for-profit organisation @sharingwithfriends_foundation. It’s a free event, but you will need to register your attendance via the @avidreader website. Link in my bio. I hope to see you there. 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. @uqpbooks @dmcprmedia #peoplelikeusnovel

This morning’s visitor cruising past my study window.

I was so pleased to see this full page ad in the @satpaper on the weekend for @launchhousing. To me it reflects that housing insecurity of older women is slowly getting the recognition it deserves in Australia, certainly given an estimated 240,000 women over 55 are currently in precarious housing (HILDA) and that number is growing year on year. Innovative housing solutions that offer safe, secure and affordable homes are one option, such as the co-housing model undertaken by @sharingwithfriends_foundation here in Queensland, but the economic disadvantages and inequalities that lead to homelessness of older women in later life also need to be addressed, such as the gender pay gap, currently at 21.1% (WGEA) and women’s lower superannuation balances due to a disrupted employment history because of family caring roles. #housingasahumanright #homesforolderwomen #housinginsecurity

I’ve been hearing great things about PHANTOM DAYS by @angelaokeeffewriter so I can’t wait to dip in. I also can’t wait to meet Angela and hear her talk about her third novel at the Magandjin-Brisbane launch @avidreader on 5 June. @uqpbooks #phantomdays #angelaokeeffe #booklaunch

I have a new novel coming out on 30 June called PEOPLE LIKE US. Amongst other things, this novel explores housing insecurity of older single women. I wrote it because I believe safe, secure and affordable housing is a human right for all but is sadly one that some people are denied. And disturbingly, women over 55 are the fastest growing group in Australia at risk of homelessness with 500,000 older women living in precarious housing. While writing the novel, I was fortunate enough to become involved with a group of women who founded a not-for-profit organisation called @sharingwithfriends_foundation. After almost six years of hard work, commitment, setbacks and perseverance, this organisation will very soon deliver its first co-housing community in Darra (Brisbane) which will provide forever homes for five women with limited means. This Mother’s Day, Sharing with Friends is asking for our help, and I extend this request to you. Please consider making a donation to support the important work and ambitions of this visionary organisation so that they can continue to build something different and create homes and supportive communities for vulnerable older women. Donations can be made via the link in my bio. Thanks so much for your help. #sharingwithfriends #peoplelikeusnovel #housingsolutions #cohousing #affordablehousing