On Tuesday 20 August, we were delighted to attend Meet the Author: Hayley Scrivenor at Harry Hartog ANU, held by the Australian National University and the Canberra Times! Hayley was in conversation with Chris Hammer about her second novel, Girl Falling, published by Pan Macmillan. The conversation between Hayley and Chris was enlightening, and Hayley gave us the inside scoop on her next book – set in a travelling circus! The event was recorded as a podcast, which is available to listen to here.

About the event

Best-selling author of Dirt Town, Hayley Scrivenor is in conversation with Chris Hammer on her second novel Girl Falling.

Why would my best friend want to destroy my life? Finn and her best friend, Daphne, have grown up together in the Blue Mountains. Bonded by both having lost a younger sister to suicide, they've always had a close - sometimes too close - friendship. Now in their twenties, their lives have finally started to diverge: Daphne is at university and Finn is working in the Mountains, as well as falling in love with a beautiful newcomer called Magdu.

Unused to sharing Finn, Daphne starts to act up in ways that will allow her to maintain the control over her best friend she's always relished. Then, one fateful day, Finn, Daphne and Magdu all go rock-climbing - and Magdu falls to her death. Is it suicide, or a terrible accident - or something more sinister?

Bold, dramatic and utterly compelling, Girl Falling forces us to confront the stories we tell ourselves about the people we love. Displaying all of Hayley Scrivenor's razor-sharp skills for character, landscape and narrative, this is a breathtaking read.

Hayley Scrivenor has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wollongong and is a former Director of Wollongong Writers Festival. Her debut novel, Dirt Town, was a number-one bestseller and won multiple awards, including Sisters in Crime’s 2023 Davitt Award (Best Debut Book), the ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, and the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year 2023. Hayley is an alum of our HARDCOPY program, which ran from 2014–2019.

Chris Hammer's first book, Scrublands, became an instant bestseller when it was published in 2018 and has been released as a TV series on Stan. Subsequent novels - Silver (2019), Trust (2020), Treasure & Dirt (2021) The Tilt (2022), The Seven (2023) - have all also been bestsellers. Chris has a new novel in the Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic series coming out in October, The Valley.