Holly Ringland in conversation with Ashley Hay (journalist and award-winning author of many works of fiction and non-fiction including 'The Body In The Clouds', 'The Railwayman's Wife' and 'A Hundred Small Lessons') at the launch of 'The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart' The book is available here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/the-lost-flowers-of-alice-hart Flowers, fire and fairy tales are the elements that will forever shape nine-year-old Alice Hart's life, in this remarkable debut by Holly Ringland.Agnes loves flowers and teaches her daughter their hidden meanings, but when Agnes is killed in a fire, Alice is sent to live with her paternal grandmother, who she's never met before. There, Alice realises that her grandmother -- whose farm provides a refuge to women who, like Alice, are lost or broken -- also speaks the language of flowers, and Alice soon begins to do the same, using flowers to say those things that are otherwise too hard to speak. There are some things, however, that even flowers cannot say. As Alice grows older and flees her grandmother's home after discovering the truth about her past, she has to learn a new language -- the language of love, and loss -- for, if she's to find her place in the world, she must first start listening to her heart . . . This podcast was recorded at Avid Reader Bookshop in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we have coming up, visit our website: http://www.avidreader.com.au

Avid Reader Events

Holly Ringland 'The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart'

Karen Healy launches 'The Skilled Communicator in Social Work' launched by Christine Craik, National President of Australian Association of Social Workers. The Book is available HERE: http://avidreader.com.au/products/the-skilled-communicator-in-social-work A vital part of a social worker's role is to build strong relationships based on confidence and trust, with people across all stages of the life course and from a broad range of backgrounds, in what can be extremely challenging circumstances. In this, her latest collaboration with Palgrave, bestselling social work author Karen Healy turns her attention to the key topic of communication and the importance of developing into a skilled communicator across all areas of professional practice. Split into two distinct sections, the text provides a thorough exploration of: #65533; The foundations of effective communication in social work practice, focusing on the basic knowledge and skills that are essential to forming working alliances with service users in a broad range of practice situations; and #65533; The specialised communication skills required to work with people with specific capacities and needs - from children, young people and older adults to people from diverse cultures and linguistic groups, those who experience trouble with verbal communication and those with mental health challenges. With helpful learning features such as practice exercises and chapter summary questions to enable you to review and reflect on what you have learned, this is an essential resource for social work students new to this complex area of practice. This podcast was recorded at Avid Reader Bookshop in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we have coming up, visit our website: avid reader.com.au/

Karen Healy 'The Skilled Communicator in Social Work'

Ann-Marie Priest talks about her new book, 'A Free Flame' with ABC Radio's Rhianna Patrick The book is available for purchase here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/a-free-flame HIGHLY COMMENDED IN THE 2016 DOROTHY HEWETT AWARD FOR AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT 'I need to be a writer, ' Ruth Park told her future husband, D'Arcy Niland, on the eve of their marriage. 'That's what I need from life.' She was not the only one. At a time when women were considered incapable of being 'real' artists, a number of precocious girls in Australian cities were weighing their chances and laying their plans. A Free Flame explores the lives of four such women, Gwen Harwood, Dorothy Hewett, Christina Stead and Ruth Park, each of whom went on to become a notable Australian writer. They were very different women from very different backgrounds, but they shared a sense of urgency around their vocation - their 'need' to be a writer - that would not let them rest. Weaving biography, literary criticism and cultural history, this book looks at the ways in which these women laid siege to the artist's identity, and ultimately remade it in their own image. This podcast was recorded by Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we having coming up, visit our website: www.avidreader.com.au/

Ann-Marie Priest 'A Free Flame'

US Author Sarah Sentilles in conversation with Bri Lee about Sarah's fourth book, 'Draw Your Weapons'. This book is available for purchase here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/draw-your-weapons “Now more than ever, the world needs a book like Draw Your Weapons. With mastery, urgency, and great courage, Sarah Sentilles investigates the histories of art, violence, war, and human survival. In her haunting and absorbing narrative, the act of storytelling, itself, becomes a matter of life and death.”— Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being How to live in the face of so much suffering? What difference can one person make in this beautiful, imperfect, and imperilled world? In 'Draw Your Weapons', Sarah Sentilles offers an impassioned defence of life lived by peace and principle. Through a dazzling combination of memoir, history, reporting, visual culture, literature and theology, Sentilles tells the true stories of a conscientious objector during World War II and a former prison guard at Abu Ghraib. In the process she challenges conventional thinking about how violence is waged, witnessed and resisted. 'Draw Your Weapons' stirs and confronts, disturbs and illuminates. A single book might not change the world, but this utterly original meditation on art and war might transform the way you see the world—and that makes all the difference. This podcast was recorded by Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we having coming up, visit our website: www.avidreader.com.au/

Sarah Sentilles 'Draw Your Weapons'

Lloyd Jones in conversation with Krissy Kneen about his new book, 'The Cage'. The book is available for purchase here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/the-cage-1 The three salon readers who read their works-in-progress at the beginning of this event were (in order) Chloe Cooper, Holly Robertson, and Admas Tewodros. Two mysterious strangers appear at a hotel in a small country town. Where have they come from? Who are they? What catastrophe are they fleeing? The townspeople want answers, but the strangers are unable to speak of their trauma. And before long, wary hospitality shifts to suspicion and fear, and the care of the men slides into appalling cruelty. Lloyd Jones’s fable-like novel The Cage is a profound and unsettling novel about humanity and dignity and the ease with which we’re able to justify brutality. This podcast was recorded at Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we having coming up, visit our website: www.avidreader.com.au/

Lloyd Jones 'The Cage' + Salon Readings

Laura Elvery launches Trick of the Light featuring Madonna Duffy, publisher at UQP and Kristina Olsson, hosted by Krissy Kneen. The book is available for purchase here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/trick-of-the-light An art teacher sends four of her students on a guerrilla mission. A young runner struggles to make sense of his best friend's death. A health-food company adopts a farcical promotional strategy. A factory worker spends her days applying radioactive paint to watches, while dreaming of a future with her new suitor. With a keen eye for detail and rich emotional insight, Laura Elvery reveals the fears and fantasies of everyday people searching for meaning. Ranging from tender poignancy to wry humour, this beguiling collection marks the debut of one of Australia's rising stars. This podcast was recorded at Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we having coming up, visit our website: http://www.avidreader.com.au/

Laura Elvery 'Trick of the Light'

Eleanor Limprecht in conversation with Ashley Hay (author of 'A Hundred Small Lessons' and 'The Railwayman's Wife') about Eleanor's new book, 'The Passengers'. The three salon readers who read their works-in-progress at the beginning of this event were (in order) Carly Smith, Rebecca Starford, and Kali Napier. The book is available for purchase here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/the-passengers A war bride and her granddaughter are on a cruise from San Diego, California to Sydney, Australia. The grandmother, Sarah, was born in Australia and has not returned since she left in 1946, after she married an American serviceman during World War II and travelled to the US after the war on the 'Bride Ship' the USS Mariposa to start life with her new husband. During the journey back to the country of her birth, Sarah tells her granddaughter Hannah the story of her life. Hannah - who is the same age Sarah was when she made her first journey - listens avidly, seeing her grandmother for the first time as a woman and a person with a past. Her grandmother gives Hannah new perspective on the stories she has always told herself: that she will never be content with the way she looks, that the desire she feels is ugly and that she doesn't deserve happiness. It is when they arrive at their destination that Hannah realises the immensity of Sarah's life and what she has given up. 'The Passengers' is a luminous novel about love: the journeys we undertake in its name, the sacrifices we make and the heartache we sometimes suffer. It is about how we most long for what have left behind. And it is about the past - how close it can still feel - even after long passages of time and when so much has changed. Eleanor was raised in the US, Germany and Pakistan but now lives in Sydney. Eleanor's previous novels, 'What Was Left' and 'Long Bay' were both published to critical acclaim. This podcast was recorded at Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we having coming up, visit our website: https://www.avidreader.com.au/

Eleanor Limprecht 'The Passengers' + Salon Readings

Dave Graney in conversation with Leanne de Souza (Director of the Rock & Roll Writers Festival) about Graney's new book 'Workshy'. The book is available for purchase here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/work-shy Legendary Australian showman Dave Graney returns to the page and reveals the lengths he has gone to avoid anything that really feels like work. In his inimitable style, Graney veers from a feckless childhood in blue-collar South Australia, to the punk rock scene of 1980s London, and beer-soaked nights touring Australia where he worked very hard at not working at all. But in slacking off, Graney became one of the hardest working musicians in the industry, constantly evolving, reinventing, staying one step ahead of everyone – even himself. Workshy is half written by Dave Graney the consummate and tireless performer, and half-written by Dave Graney the bludge. The magic is that you’re never sure which is which. This podcast was recorded at Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we having coming up, visit our website: http://avidreader.com.au/

Dave Graney 'Workshy'

This event was co-sponsored by the Environmental Defenders Office Qld and Beyond Zero Emissions. The audio features short talks from individuals from both organisations. Mark and Tom Delaney launch their book 'Low Carbon and Loving It'. The book is available for purchase here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/low-carbon-and-loving-it Climate change is the most serious issue of our generation. It will likely bring sea-level rise displacing millions, lead to the loss of thousands of species, reduce food production and create geopolitical tensions – all by the end of this century. The fact that human-caused climate change is happening is now beyond dispute in the scientific community, yet despite the awful consequences, many people are apathetic. 'Low-Carbon and Loving It' is an ordinary person’s, easy-to-read guide to climate change. The book is broadly divided into two sections: The problem of climate change explores its causes, consequences, and reasons why we've done so little so far. The solutions to climate change include the ‘big picture solutions of science and politics as well as ‘small picture solutions’ - ways for the reader to lead a lower-carbon life. The images, cartoons, ‘Science Geek’ and ‘Myth-busting’ boxes make it an enjoyable read. The book gives readers an excellent understanding of climate change and empowers them to start making a personal response. However, 'Low-Carbon and Loving It' is also the story of the Delaneys, an ordinary Australian family who have made some extraordinary choices. Mark and his wife have lived much of their working lives in India, living with poor neighbours who struggle to survive day to day. The Delaneys have continued this lifestyle of voluntary simplicity for two decades. Their experience has given them a very different perspective on life. It is these unique perspectives which allow father Mark and co-author son Tom to see afresh the climate crisis to which many in the West are blind. From their lives, they know a lower-carbon life is possible and even fulfilling, not only in India but also in middle-class Australia. Mark Delaney completed Law & Commerce degrees at the University of Queensland in the 1990s and a Masters in International Development from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2005. After a short-term trip to India in 1989 he became passionate about serving the global poor. He married Cathy in 1993 and they left for India in 1995, where they have spent 20 years in the slums, raising their two sons Tom and Oscar. Mark and his family continue to live in poor neighbourhoods (that Westerners might call slums). There they attempt to bring a little more compassion and justice, through informal responses to community issues, relationships with neighbours & working with local community organisations. Tom Delaney is 21 years old. He has spent most of his life in Indian slums, periodically visiting family and friends in Australia. He has also studied at the University of Queensland, been a disability support worker and now teaches Hindi literacy to child labourers. Tom and his family have attempted to lead very low-carbon lives in the context of the high-carbon West and low-carbon slums. They’ve discovered that it is not only doable but can be fulfilling and fun. This podcast was recorded at Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we having coming up, visit our website: http://avidreader.com.au/

Mark & Tom Delaney 'Low Carbon and Loving It'

Dr Charlie Corke in conversation with Daniel Lalor about Corke's new book 'Letting Go: How to Plan for a Good Death'. The book is available for purchase here: http://avidreader.com.au/products/letting-go-how-to-plan-for-a-good-death 'Too frequently, we leave it too late to start to think - but a crisis is never the best time for careful thought.' As Australia's population ages, many individuals are faced with making complex medical decisions, for themselves and for others, in times of great stress. How far should doctors go when trying to prolong life? How can we decide what is 'too far' and 'not far enough' for our loved ones unless we know what their wishes are? 'Letting Go' is an important and timely introduction to, and discussion of, the kinds of decisions that individuals, families, and medical personnel face in a medical crisis. It shows us how to start thinking about our end-of-life stage before we get there; how to make an advanced-care plan that will help people make decisions on our behalf; and how we can maintain our dignity and autonomy for as long as possible. Drawing on many years of experience as an intensive-care specialist, and writing with great insight and compassion, Dr Corke shows us all the ways in which people can make a mess of dying - and, more importantly, in doing so, he teaches us how we can do it better. This podcast was recorded at Avid Reader Bookstore in Brisbane as part of our year-round events schedule. For more information and to see what we having coming up, visit our website: http://avidreader.com.au/

Dr Charlie Corke 'Letting Go: How to Plan for a Good Death'

Avid Reader Bookstore hosts book launches, in-conversation sessions, panels, bookclubs, and all kinds of other events year-round. For more information please visit our website!

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Avid Reader Events

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