The Geography of Friendship for TV adaptation

I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Rose Byrne’s Dollhouse Pictures join forces with Australia’s Aquarius Films and screenwriter Giula Sandler to adapt The Geography of Friendship for screen as a limited 6-part TV series. That such a powerhouse of female producers and creatives is to bring this story about the fear women feel and the threats they face in the world to the screen is beyond my wildest dreams.

The full press release - aptly announced on International Women’s Day - 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)

Arts Queensland Grant

I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I’ve received funding from Arts Queensland to work on my third novel Bone Memories. It is a work of literary fiction that asks questions about place and how we memorialize trauma ground. It explores how physical and psychological trauma is held in the body and in the earth and how these traumatic connections are reconciled. It also interrogates prejudicial media representations of female victims of crime.

Thanks and gratitude to the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland for their support of this project.

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

I’m really looking forward to taking writers on a deep dive into their relationship with the natural world in this three-hour workshop hosted by Avid Reader Bookshop. 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. All you need bring with you to this workshop is a 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 the workshop can be made through the Avid Reader website.

Sorry, this event is now SOLD OUT.

Stories Beneath the Clock Tower Fundraiser

Image courtesy of Avid Reader Bookshop

With large areas of the country still burning, assistance for those affected by the fires is as great as ever. To help those in need a mixed dozen of Queensland authors are coming together for an intimate evening at Brisbane City Hall to share the books and words that stopped us in our tracks, lit fires in our bellies or whispered to the future writer we dreamed of being. All proceeds from the night will go to the Australian Red Cross. Authors I’ll be sharing stories with on the night are Melissa Ashley, Matthew Condon, Trent Dalton, Nick Earls, Ashley Hay, Anita Heiss, Krissy Kneen, Melissa Lucashenko, Kris Olsson and Rebecca Sparrow. Avid Reader will be selling books on the night with 20% of sales donated to the Australian Red Cross.

Bookings for this very special night can be made here.

Sorry, this event is now SOLD OUT.

Rose Scott Women Writers' Festival

I will be on a panel with Amy McQuire and Ashley Hay at the Rose Scott Women Writers’ Festival in September where we will be talking about our contributions to Griffith Review 65: Crimes and Punishments. I have an extract from my third novel Memorial Park in the issue, and I couldn’t have asked for better company than the work it appears alongside, to include Matthew Condon, Gideon Haigh, Kristina Olsson, Behrouz Boochani and many others.

There is a great list of other authors appearing at the festival, to include Michelle de Krester, Drusilla Modjeska, Bernadette Brennan, Kate McClymont, Delia Falconer, Claire Corbett, Debra Adelaide, Josephine Rowe, Roanna Gonsalves, Kylie Bolton and Donna Abela.

For more information or to book for the festival visit the RSWWF website here.

Venue: The Women’s Club

Address: 4th Floor, 179 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW

Date: 13-14 September 2019

UK Blog Tour for Grace's Table

With the publication of the UK edition of GRACE’S TABLE by Legend Press on 1st August, the novel will be going on a Blog Tour for the month of August. Check out the schedule below if you would like to see what UK readers are saying about the book.

The Geography of Friendship launched in the UK.

P&G Wells Bookshop in Winchester is the oldest (over 200 years old) literary venue I’m ever likely to do an event at, but it was a perfect one to bring friends old and new together for the UK launch of THE GEOGRAPHY OF FRIENDSHIP. The bookshop keeps good company as it’s next door to Jane Austen’s house and apparently her brother kept an account at the shop.

Grace's Table UK cover reveal

I love this cover design for the UK edition of GRACE’S TABLE. And I’m absolutely thrilled that the story is being given the opportunity to find a whole new readership by Legend Press, who will publish it in the UK on 1 August 2019.

Shortlists announced for the 2019 ABIAs

For THE GEOGRAPHY OF FRIENDSHIP to make the longlist for the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards in the Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year category last month was exciting enough, but to hear today that it’s made the shortlist…now that takes excitement to a whole new level! Congratulations to all those authors shortlisted and longlisted across all 12 categories. What’s so good about these awards though is that they celebrate and acknowledge the great achievements of those who work within Australia’s publishing industry - the publishers, editors, publicists, booksellers, graphic designers, librarians, agents, media, and writers and readers. So hats off to everyone who contributes in their various ways to making the Australian literary landscape the vibrant, exciting and eclectic one that it is. The winners of the awards will be announced at a red carpet event at Sydney’s International Convention Centre on Thursday 2 May. Tickets for this event can be purchased here.

UK Book Launch of The Geography of Friendship

The UK publication of The Geography of Friendship will be celebrated at P&G Wells Booksellers in Winchester, Hampshire on Thursday 9 May from 6:30 - 8:30pm. This is a free event but please RSVP to Legend Press to assist with catering. I look forward to raising a glass with my UK friends on the night!

Longlist for the 2019 ABIAs

I am absolutely thrilled that The Geography of Friendship has been longlisted in the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards in the Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year category, and that I find my book in such fine company! These awards are voted by the ABIA Academy, a group of more than 250 publishers, booksellers, agents, media and industry representatives, so I feel even more honoured to have my novel voted in by those who lead, promote, and nurture the Australian publishing industry to the extent that they do. Congratulations to all those authors longlisted across the 12 categories. To see the full list you can visit here. The shortlist will be released on 11 April, with the winners announced at a red carpet event at Sydney’s International Convention Centre on 2 May. Tickets for this event can be purchased here. I don’t know about yours, but my reading pile just grew much taller with the announcement of the ABIA longlists!

The Geography of Friendship goes on tour!

The Geography of Friendship was released in the UK and Ireland on 1st February by Legend Press. To coincide with its release it is going on a Blog Tour throughout all of February. Stop by if you can and check out the reviews!

Books to binge on this summer...

The Geography of Friendship is sharing some very fine company in this list released by 10 daily of the 11 best books of 2018 to binge on over summer. It’s just added a few more books to my TBR pile!

The Geography of Friendship is out as an audio book

Another cover to love for The Geography of Friendship, this one is for the audio version of the book released this month by Audible and brilliantly narrated by Felicity Jurd. The audio book can be purchased through Audible. You can listen to a sample of the narration here.

Eight weeks on...

It’s been a busy time since the publication of The Geography of Friendship eight weeks ago, but it’s also been a great time. I’ve travelled to Sydney and Melbourne, visited numerous bookshops while there, and I’ve had some terrific in-conversations, safe in the hands (and minds) of stellar writers Emily Maguire, Toni Jordan and Cass Moriarty. I’ve chatted with several radio stations and podcasters, from east coast to west (a number of those interviews are on the Books page of my website) and I’ve been part of the Lord Mayor’s Writers in Residence Author Talk series at Brisbane libraries. And now I’ve started to eat cake, courtesy of the book clubs I’m visiting, one of my favourite things to do in this writing life because I finally get to hear how readers connect with the story. So far so good!

The kindness and interest my book is being shown has been humbling, but also a relief. Because as any writer will tell you, putting your work out there feels a little like perching your confidence and heart on a cliff edge and hoping a gale doesn’t come along and blow them off. So thank you to all the readers, booksellers and reviewers for your kind words of support.

Here are a few pics from the past eight weeks.

Celebration of Books Maleny

I had an absolute ball at the Celebration of Books Maleny over the weekend. This beautiful Sunshine Coast hinterland community of artists and book lovers bring such enthusiasm and support to this annual event organised by Claire Booth and her indomitable team, now in its seventh year. 

This is my third year attending this friendly festival, but this year I had the privilege of being invited onto the Sunday morning panel 'Talking Writing' chaired by the wonderful Kate Evans, presenter of ABC Radio National 'The Bookshelf'. My fellow panelists where the genre-diverse writer and Stella Prize-shortlisted Mirandi Riwoe (The Fish Girl, Seizure) and Walkley award-winning journalist and all round funny man Trent Dalton (Boy Swallows Universe, HarperCollins).

Other literary treats across the weekend included Kate in conversation with Bri Lee about her confronting, call-to-action memoir Eggshull Skull (Allen & Unwin) on Friday evening and the 'Poetry on the Precinct' readings on Saturday morning under Maleny's glorious blue skies. There was also the Big Book Club event on Saturday afternoon, where more than 70 people came together to chat about Sarah Krasnostein's non-fiction book The Trauma Cleaner (Text Publishing), plus many other writing activities and workshops for children throughout the day. 

I can't wait to go back for my fourth year in 2019!

The Geography of Friendship is launched

I couldn't think of a better team at my side to help welcome The Geography of Friendship to readers at Avid Reader Bookshop on Friday evening than these gals - my wonderful editor Jacqueline Blanchard, friend, writer and book launcher extraordinaire Kris Olsson and bookseller and friend to all authors Fiona Stager. Thank you everyone who came along and made it such a rowdy and fun celebration.

Two-book deal to UK publisher Legend Press!

I lived in the UK from 1997-2005 and it was during this time that I first started writing. I had some early publication successes with a couple of short stories while there and I flirted with writing novels, not publishable ones but they were all part of the long apprenticeship that writing is and seems to remain. University of Queensland Press announced last week that they have sold both of my Australian novels – The Geography of Friendship, released last week, and Grace’s Table (2014) – to UK publisher Legend Press, to be published in the UK and Ireland in 2019. To have my writing returned to the site of where I had my earliest naïve and clumsy aspirations to be a novelist feels all the sweeter.

The Australian Women's Weekly

I'm thrilled beyond belief that Australia's most iconic magazine has selected The Geography of Friendship as its 'Great Read' for July. The honour comes with a bit of book cover bling. 

The Geography of Friendship Book Launch

It must be real...the launch of The Geography of Friendship (UQP) is now up on the Avid Reader Bookshop events page. I'm thrilled to have friend and book launcher extraordinaire Kris Olsson sending it on its path to readers. It's a free event but you will need to book your place through Avid if you'd like to come along and join in the celebration. I hope to see you there!

Date: 6 July 2018

Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Venue: Avid Reader Bookshop, 193 Boundary Road, West End, QLD 4101