'Each year we endeavour to bring you an event that showcases both new and established writers and to dive a little deeper into the writing process as well as the stories themselves.
This year we have four very different writers with four very different books - selected because they have been significant reads for me during the year and and/or because I know they are hugely engaging speakers.
Consider this your winter literary treat.'
From the author of the acclaimed Cherry Beach comes a thrilling exploration of love and desire — obsessive, all-consuming, and impossible to look away from.
On an ordinary day, two women meet on a train.
Heloise — the older woman — lives with her boyfriend in Melbourne.
Lacey — the other woman — is from Aotearoa and studies the clouds.
What follows is anything but ordinary, a passionate affair that will consume them both in mismatched and maddening ways.
Propulsive and lyrical, Worry Doll examines desire, memory, and the delusion of love.
Laura McPhee-Browne is a writer, social worker, and counsellor living in Melbourne on Wurundjeri land. Her short stories have been published widely in Australia. Her first two novels, Cherry Beach (2020) and Little Plum (2023), were published with Text Publishing to critical acclaim.
