Looking Past the Shadow of History

Mirandi Riwoe is the author of Sunbirds. Her novel, Stone Sky Gold Mountain, won the ARA Historical Novel Prize and the Queensland Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Her novella The Fish Girl won Seizure’s Viva la Novella and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize. Her short fiction and novellas can be found in the collection The Burnished Sun. Mirandi has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (QUT).

Christine Leunens is the author of: Primordial Soup, described by The Sunday Times as 'a remarkable debut novel'; A Can of Sunshine, selected as one of the Best Books of the Year 2013 by the New Zealand Herald; Caging Skies, adapted into the Academy Award-winning film Jojo Rabbit, and her new novel, In Amber’s Wake, currently being adapted into a film by the producer of the Academy Award-winning film, Thelma & Louise. Christine's novels have been translated into over twenty languages. She has a Master’s degree in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University and a PhD in Creative writing from Victoria University of Wellington.

Annabel Abbs is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her first novel, The Joyce Girl, tells the story of James Joyce's daughter, won the Impress New Writer Prize, was translated into 10 languages and is currently being adapted for the stage. Her second novel, Frieda: The Real Lady Chatterley, was a Times Book of the Year 2018, and was translated into seven languages.

Her memoir and history of wild walking women, Windswept, was published to great acclaim in June 2021. Her third novel, The Language of Food, tells the story of poet and cookery writer, Eliza Acton. It has been translated into 20 languages, and is currently being adapted for the screen by CBS Studios.

Annabel has a degree in English Literature from UEA and is a Fellow of the Brown Foundation. She grew up in Wales but now lives in London and Sussex where she spends her time cooking, walking, reading and writing.

Fiona Stager co-owns Avid Reader and Where the Wild Things Are, two award winning independent bookshops located in the heart of West End.