Join this Canberra Writers Festival event on Saturday 25 October. Image: Canberra Writers Festival.
What does it mean to truly know a place as a writer? From her first step into the fantastical realm of ice, rock, and shimmering aurora as a teenager, Hannah Kent formed an unbreakable bond with Iceland and the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir – and was compelled to return time and again as wonderfully told in Always Home, Always Homesick. In Elegy, Southwest Madeleine Watts puts us in the scene of wildfires raging as a couple desperately traces the Colorado River through the American southwest. Her work is an elegy for lost love and for the landscape that makes us. From different perspectives, these authors are in a position to masterfully reflect on the art of unlocking place. New sentence to say: Join them in conversation with local author Theodore Ell (Lebanon Days) as they discuss the art of unlocking place through storytelling.
Hannah Kent’s first novel, the award-winning bestseller Burial Rites, has been translated into over 30 languages and is being adapted for film. Her novels The Good People and Devotion, have also been widely translated, shortlisted for numerous awards and are being adapted for film. Her original feature film, Run Rabbit Run, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Her latest book is Always Home, Always Homesick. Hannah is also the co-founder of Kill Your Darlings. She lives and works on Peramangk and Kaurna country.
Madeleine Watts is the author of the novels Elegy, Southwest and The Inland Sea, which was shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, The Believer, The Baffler, and HEAT, among others. Originally from Sydney, and after a decade in New York, she currently lives in Berlin.
The Details
What: Unlocking Place: From Iceland to the American South West
When: Saturday 25 October from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Where: Theatre | National Library of Australia
Cost: $28. Buy tickets.
