Inga Simpson in conversation at the NLA
6pm Thursday 22 June
National Library of Australia
Parkes Place, Canberra ACT
Join Inga Simpson as she discusses her latest book Willowman.
Entry is free to this event but bookings are essential. You do not need to book a ticket to watch the event online. Following the discussion in the Theatre, Inga Simpson will be available for book signings in the Foyer.
Reader Cricket Bats, one of the last traditional batmakers back in England, has a contemporary home in the Antipodes, with Allan Reader keeping the family business alive in a small workshop in Melbourne. When Todd Harrow, a gifted young batter, catches Allan's eye, a spark is lit and Allan decides to make a Reader bat for him, selecting the best piece of willow he's harvested in years to do so.
As Harrow charts a meteoric rise to the highest echelons of the sport, leaving his equally talented sister's dreams in his wake, Allan's magical bat takes centre stage as well, awakening something in him. But can Allan's fledgling renaissance - hanging as it does on the magic of that bat - carry on after Harrow is stricken by injury and a strained personal life?
About Inga Simpson
Inga Simpson is an Australian novelist and nature writer. She has PhDs in creative writing and English literature, with her most recent thesis exploring the history of Australian nature writing. Her short stories and essays have been published in Wonderground, Chicago Quarterly Review, Openbook, Review of Australian Fiction, Griffith Review, Clues, Writing Queensland and The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Inga was also the winner of the (final) Eric Rolls nature writing prize for her essay Triangulation.
Inga's latest book, Willowman, has been longlisted for the 2023 Indie Book Awards. The Last Woman in the World (Hachette, 2021) was shortlisted for the Margaret and Colin Roderick literary Award and the Indie Book Award for Fiction. Her first novel, Mr Wigg (Hachette, 2013), was shortlisted for the Indie Award for Debut Fiction. Nest (Hachette, 2014) was longlisted for the Miles Franklin, the Stella Prize, and shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal. And Where the Trees Were (Hachette, 2016) was longlisted for the Miles Franklin, an ABIA Award for Fiction, The Green Carnation Prize, and shortlisted for the Indie Award for Fiction. Understory: a life with trees (Hachette, 2017), Inga's first book-length work of nature writing, was shortlisted for the Adelaide Writers Week prize for nonfiction. The Book of Australian Trees (Lothian, 2021) illustrated by Alicia Rogerson is Inga's first book for children.
Inga's first career was as a professional writer and researcher, including for federal Parliament and the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
She grew up in central west NSW, and has lived in Canberra, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast hinterland. She has now settled on the far south coast of NSW.
Venue
Parkes Place
National Library of Australia