Public Intimacies – Writing About Family

Sun 8 Sep 2019

Lucy Treloar + Ben Hobson + Karen Foxlee

Auditorium 2, State Library of Queensland

Panel

8114

#Performances

#About the event

Duration: 60 minutes

Fiction can explore the intimate push and pull of family life like no other form. Three authors discuss how they portray the complexity of families in their work and where their fictional families come from.

#Artists

Lucy Treloar

ucy Treloar is a writer, occasional creative writing teacher, and artist in residence at Melbourne’s Meat Market. Her award-winning debut novel, Salt Creek, was also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the UK’s Walter Scott Prize, and was published internationally in 2017. Her short fiction has been published in Sleepers, Overland, Seizure and Best Australian Stories, and her non-fiction in Meanjin and The Age among others. Wolfe Island is Lucy's second novel. Lucy lives in Melbourne with her family, and is working on her next novel and a PhD.

Ben Hobson

Ben Hobson is a teacher, and an author, based in Brisbane. To Become a Whale, his debut novel, was released in 2017. It was longlisted for the ABIA Debut Fiction award and shortlisted for the Courier-Mail's People's Choice Award. His second novel, Snake Island, a literary thriller, was released in 2019. He also runs Ben's Book Club, a monthly online book club for libraries, and the Burgers, Beers and Books podcast. The Death of John Lacey is his third novel, and was released in February, 2023.

Karen Foxlee

Karen Foxlee is an Australian author who writes for both kids and young-adults. She grew up in the Australia outback mining town Mount Isa and still frequently dreams she is walking barefoot along the dry Leichhardt River. One of four children she started telling stories when she was young. She filled countless small exercise books with sweeping sagas of orphaned girls illustrated with pictures cut from the back of Readers Digest magazines. Her award-winning novels include The Anatomy of Wings, The Midnight Dress, Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy and A Most Magical Girl. Her latest story for all ages is Lenny’s Book of Everything. It recently won the Children’s Book of the Year Indie Award. Karen lives in South East Queensland with her daughter and several animals, including two wicked parrots who frequently eat parts of her laptop when she isn’t looking. Her passions are her daughter, writing, day-dreaming, baking, running and swimming in the sea.

#Moderator

Frances Whiting

Frances Whiting loves words. As one of Australia's most respected journalists, Fran writes award winning, long form features, and was recently the recipient of the prestigious Clarion Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism. As Australia's longest running, nationally syndicated columnist, her weekly column has been going for 26 years, not out. As an author she has penned two best sellers, Walking on Trampolines and The Best Kind of Beautiful, currently optioned for an eight part television series. She is an outstanding interviewer, and regularly hosts the Brisbane City Council's Writers in Residence series. When she is not doing all of the above, you will find her with her nose in a book.