Celebrate the release of the 20th anniversary edition of Unpolished Gem at Footscray Library. Award-winning local author Alice Pung will revisit her debut memoir, reflecting on the book’s legacy and her body of work.

An audience Q&A will follow. Books will be available for purchase, with a signing opportunity after the event.

An evening with Author Kate Mildenhall & Dr Rose Searby

After visiting Greenpatch camping ground in 2014, Kate Mildenhall became fascinated with the story of the shooting at Cape St George in 1887 and went on to write her debut novel – Skylarking – based on those events. Ten years on, Kate returns to the region to discuss Kate and Harriet’s story, the real-life epilogue she found and the enduring impact of the book on readers. With Dr Rose Searby.

A brave, beautiful and richly textured book that delicately explores the fault lines in love and friendship – Lucy Treloar

Alice Pung OAM is an acclaimed Australian author, lawyer, and educator. Her beloved debut memoir Unpolished Gem, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. She has since built an extraordinary body of work, including Her Father's Daughter and Laurinda. Alice is also a celebrated editor, essayist, and advocate for multicultural voices in Australian literature and remains one of our most vital and beloved storytellers. She is also a proud participant in the Stella In Schools Program, connecting young readers with powerful, diverse storytelling.

In her new book The Ruin of Magic, award-winning author Kate Holden brings both humour and sorrow to her exquisitely researched ruminations on longing and belonging in our strange times. She is joined in conversation by Catherine McKinnon.

Saturday Night Live! is a dynamic exploration of artificial intelligence, featuring the world premiere of Written In Our Voices, an immersive performance that invites audiences to become active participants in a shared journey through the enduring power of books, writing, and libraries. This new work acknowledges AI’s growing presence and challenges artists to respond creatively to today’s shifting cultural landscape. The evening continues with a conversation featuring leading AI expert Professor Toby Walsh, known for his insightful and accessible perspectives on the future of technology and ethics. Together, this thought-provoking event offers creativity, dialogue and fresh ideas.

Moreno Giovannoni's latest book, The Immigrants, is a story of love, dreams, exile and tragedy, told with heartbreaking beauty.

In the Victorian town of Mitrefò, tobacco is grown, an Italian cinema and café open, and people travel back and forth from Italy. A boy fishes, wanders the countryside and watches a community form, with its joys, scandals and shared understandings. Interspersed are the ‘grotesques’ – indelible and terrible events that sit alongside the better future they all seek.

In The Immigrants, Moreno Giovannoni depicts a family as they build a new life in a strange land. Through love and exile, industry and tragedy, their unspoken dreams and fears unfold in this astonishing and moving book.

Join us at Croydon Library to hear first-hand from Moreno about his journey to publishing this powerful story.

About the author

Moreno Giovannoni is the author of the critically acclaimed The Fireflies of Autumn and a freelance translator of long standing. His essay 'The Percheron' was published in Southerly and selected for The Best Australian Essays in 2014. He was recipient of the prestigious Deborah Cass Prize in 2016. 

How do we know what’s real? It’s one of those questions that sounds simple until you start pulling at it.

Astrophysicist Geraint F. Lewis takes us through the long, strange history of how humans have tried to answer it. From ancient philosophers to quantum mechanics, and how each answer tends to open up more questions than it closes.

A talk for the curious. 

Free event. All welcome.